San Diego’s annual ShamROCK celebration, a St. Patrick’s Day block party in the Gaslamp Quarter, will not be happening in 2026.
“ShamROCK is taking a wee break,” is a message posted on the event’s website. “Back with luck in 2027.”
And just like that, as quick as an Irishman will strike up a conversation with a stranger and down a beer, the event is in limbo. Which leaves those of us in San Diego looking for alternatives but not to worry as there are many. There is the Lucky’s St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl (Saturday, March 14, 4-10 p.m.) and the 6th annual Downtown Drunken Leprechaun Bar Crawl (March 13, 14 and 17, 8:30 p.m.-2 a.m.) both in the Gaslamp Quarter, a bar crawl and block party in Pacific Beach (check in at The Beverly by 4 p.m.), and the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and post-party at Balboa Park, both of which are on Saturday the 14th.
ShamROCK was a big music and beer event that took up several blocks of 6th Ave. Within its grounds were stages with bands, Irish step dancers and, at night, tribute bands (a Taylor Swift tribute band played in 2025). There were also games and contests throughout the day and night.
It attracted several thousand people for hours, providing a festive Irish-themed event for San Diegans. It was an annual tradition that lasted for 29 years. It suppored the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation and was canceled only once previously, during the 2020 pandemic.
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