Kansas City St. Paddy's Tradition Endures: Browne’s Irish Marketplace

To start this morning we take a quick peek at local ethnic pride that doesn't inspire reactionary angst amongst the middle-class . . .

However, let's not remember this local Irish hangout was hit with anti-immigrant rhetoric during their tenure.

Nevertheless . . .

Most Kansas City residents, justifiably, love this place. 

Here's customary celebration of this local institution . . .

A locally designated historic landmark, Browne’s is also the oldest Irish business in the world, a recent upgrade from “oldest Irish business in North America.”

The honor can be verified by Enterprise Ireland, a government agency responsible for supporting Irish businesses both at home and abroad.

“Over COVID we figure they had time to update,” Browne jokes one morning before the marketplace opens, then launches into the physical improvements her husband and partner John McClain made throughout the lockdown.

To be sure, no one is complaining that the new title arrived just in time to kick off the first event in a yearlong celebration marking Browne’s 135th anniversary.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Sláinte! Browne's Irish Market Turns 135 ! Browne's Irish Marketplace Turns 135

Spirits are high at Browne's Irish Marketplace at 3300 Pennsylvania Ave. on the Friday before St. Patrick's Day. Surrounded by a horseshoe of Irish whiskey, fiddler Peter LaFond appears barely able to arc his bow for fear of toppling bottles off the shelves when Ian Browne-McClain, 18, suddenly enters the frame to add the grace notes of an Irish tin whistle.