It’s time to paint the town green — a beloved St. Patrick’s Day tradition is back in full swing this year.

The Whidbey Irish Wildlife Society’s 49th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place at 4 p.m. this Thursday, March 17. The traditional route tracks down Pioneer Way and up to Ireland Street, where Pastor David Lura and St. Patrick will meet paraders at the Blarney Stone for a prayer and a blessing.

Society President Susan “Sooz” Konopik said after the parade, participants and onlookers can meet up for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner at the American Legion Hall. Dinner costs $12 per plate and will be served alongside family-friendly fun, including a clarinet choir performance and a sing-along.

“The corned beef and cabbage is the best you’ll find this side of Ireland,” Konopik said. “It’s really, really good.”

At dinner, lucky paraders will be bestowed with awards in four categories — the Grand Marshal’s award, chosen by this year’s parade marshal, Maria McGee; Best Irish Spirit, awarded by the society; Best Children’s Entry, selected by the society’s youngest member; and Most Likely to be Full of Shenanigans, awarded by the Oak Harbor police and fire departments.

As of Monday, just under 40 participants had registered for the parade, though last-minute entries are welcome. Konopik said the line-up so far includes representatives from local businesses and nonprofits, children on bicycles and possibly even some goats.

The parade managed to hang on during the COVID-19 pandemic, though in a scaled-back way. In the interest of maintaining its unbroken streak, the society held a drive-by parade last year in which participants decorated their cars in the spirit of the holiday and drove by the Blarney stone.

In 2020, Konopik said her nephew held a one-man parade; he donned his kilt and marched up and down the street waving an Irish flag “to very confused onlookers.”

This lone display of Irish pride was something of a tribute to the earliest, informal St. Patrick’s Day parades held in Oak Harbor. Konopik’s late father, George, a former director of what was then known as the Community Band, instigated the tradition more than 50 years ago by taking to the streets with his clarinet and playing until the police sent him home.

Later, a local family, the McWilliams, helped him establish a more formal event, Konopik said. Some McWilliams descendants are still members of the society today.

The parade won’t be the only Irish fun the society sponsors March 17. Society members and others will be setting out by tour bus that same day to determine which Oak Harbor eatery will be crowned this year’s “Best Irish Pub.”

The winner will become the host of the society’s meetings for the next year and will receive the coveted “Grand Potato,” a gold-painted Mr. Potato Head trophy that is only pronounced correctly when said with an Irish accent, according to Konopik.

This award-determining pub crawl is facilitated by Wandering Trail Tours. Konopik said the Wicked Teuton Brewing Company has been victorious for the last three years, but an upset is always possible.

Anyone is welcome to join the Whidbey Irish Wildlife Society, regardless of heritage — even Konopik herself doesn’t have Irish roots, she said. A lifetime membership costs $10, and the group meets about once a month.