St. Patrick’s Day is an Irish export on a par with Guinness. Obviously it’s huge in the US where – according to Americans at least – there are approximately ten times the amount of Irish people living than there are in Ireland. Thanks to a dedicated community of volunteers the festivities and good cheer have spread to Sweden in recent years too.

The Stockholm St. Patrick’s Festival includes a parade which sets off from the Royal Library at 1300 on March 16. It’s a family event which includes music, theatre and comedic performances.

Afterwards many will gather for an obligatory pint or two at The Dubliner – Stockholm’s only Irish owned bar – at The Liffey or Wirströms in Gamla Stan. And on March 22 there is still the Sweden-Ireland game at Friends arena to look forward to.

“The Festival reflects the depth and diversity of Irish culture,” says James Carroll, the Irish Ambassador in Stockholm. “It includes new staging’s of Dermot Bolger’s The Parting Glass and Beckett’s classic Krapp’s Last Tape, an exhibition of paintings and prints by artist Stephen Lawlor, comedy from some of Ireland’s leading stand-ups, and concert performances by Anúna, Aslan and the Hothouse Flowers.”

Stephen Lawlor’s exhibition at the Våga Se gallery opens March 16. Becket’s Krapp’s Last Tape opens the same night at Stockholm Stadsteater. The Bolger play – The Parting Glass – is showing at The Liffey on March 21. For full details of the festival click here.