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Davenport family keeps Irish tradition going strong

Every year the Ryan family cooks mounds of corn beef and serves up multiple kegs of beer for their St. Patrick’s Day neighborhood celebration. The event d...

DAVENPORT, Iowa-- Every year the Ryan family cooks mounds of corn beef to make your mouth water and serves up kegs of beer for their St. Patrick's Day neighborhood celebration.

For more than a decade now,  the celebration features Irish dancing, a bag pipe player and of course plenty of cases of Guinness.

The tradition first started after Ryan's parents passed away fifteen years ago.  They were of Irish descent from a small populated town of 90 in Ireland.

They decided to share their celebration to the whole neighborhood and last year more than 100 people came to celebrate in their Irish green and gold.

"The event just kept growing and growing and growing to which the point they had quite a few kegs hundred pounds of corn beef, gobs of potatoes dancers a lot of cultural stuff," said Ryan.

With the help of his 12 year-old son Liam, and his brother Mike sporting a green beard and bowler hat, they worked the day before to get the decorating done. Other family members also pitched in with the cooking and entertainment.

Professional crews were hired to help pitch a giant tent that holds dozens of people at a time.

"It takes a lot of work and it takes several hours the cleanup probably takes more it's even harder to do but it's a lot of fun it's very rewarding," said Ryan.

It takes weeks of preparation that leads up to St. Patrick' Day, but Ryan says it's all worth it.

The family expects around 100 neighbors to show up depending on the weather.

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