Mark your calendar as Saturday, March 14, will be Sacred Heart Church’s 98th annual St. Patrick’s Dinner at Monsignor Moran Hall. Did you know that it is Susanville’s oldest continuous annual event? If you were wondering what the second is, it is the Lassen County Fair established in 1922.

So how did this event come to be? It was Father P.J. O’Reilly who established this enduring tradition. Father O’Reilly wrote in the parish register, “The first entertainment in honor of St. Patrick was given by me in Susanville on Saturday night March 17, 1917. It will become an annual event.”

The St. Patrick’s Dinner has undergone many changes over the years. One prime example has been the menu. Actually it was in 1975, when Father William Storan requested a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage be served—though that first year of change allowed the option of spaghetti and roast beef.