Martinsburg hosts fourth-annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration

By Vanta Coda III, RealWV.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – The fourth annual Main Street Martinsburg St. Patrick’s Day Celebration kicked off with a bang on Saturday, as revelers gathered to celebrate the day that marks the observed death date of St. Patrick. Decked out in green, visitors lined Queen Street in the heart of the City, for what has become one of West Virginia’s largest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Since 2022, the event has grown to welcome nearly 15,000 visitors each year, something which Main Street Martinsburg Executive Director Robby Blair never expected.

“Back in 2021, we had our very first ever food truck festival,” Blair said. “Since food trucks were trendy at the time, it was super successful. We thought we should do something similar again in December for Christmas, which turned out even bigger. Following that, we planned for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and now it has grown into what you see today.” 

Main Street Martinsburg is a non-profit organization, dedicated to ensuring that the Martinsburg historic downtown district remains the “heart of the community.” The non-profit is a collaboration of volunteers, business owners, citizens, and local government officials who promote and strengthen the economic vitality of the downtown area.

“Everything we do for our downtown is in the spirit of what our community deserves,” said Blair. “We deserve to have a downtown that we love where we can eat, drink, play, and stay.” 

Raven Lamp, promotions manager for Main Street Martinsburg, says that the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration wouldn’t be possible without their board and volunteers that cycle through to help with the event throughout the day.

“We roughly, have about 80 volunteers breaking them up into six shifts throughout the day from early as 6 AM helping us set up and get vendors in the right places, to as late as 9 PM with cleaning the city up after the event,” said Lamp. “When we first started having these large events, we were like, oh my goodness, we need way more, way more volunteers and manpower, so we have definitely learned with the growth of the event.”