It’s Easy to Be Green This Weekend

The weekend is packed with events in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. (If drinking alcohol is part of your party plan, the LAPD-Budget Paddy Wagon program will be in operation again. The free rides are offered from about 400 bars and restaurants around the city, from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Sunday. Call [800] 70-PADDY.)

The celebrating begins Saturday in Hermosa Beach, with a festival (arts and crafts, food and entertainment on two stages) from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on lower Pier Avenue, between Hermosa Avenue and the Strand. The parade, including bagpipes, bands, clowns and color guards, begins at 11 a.m. at Pier Avenue and Valley Drive. Free parking and shuttle at Mira Costa High School, 701 S. Peck Ave., Manhattan Beach. Free. (310) 379-8828.

The eighth annual Ventura St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Irish Festival gets underway Saturday at 9 a.m. with an Irish breakfast, followed by the parade at 10 a.m. along Main Street. Actor George Kennedy is the grand marshal. The festival runs from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in Mission Park on Saturday, moving to Ventura Harbor Village on Sunday, noon-4 p.m., on Spinnaker Drive. Admission: $1. (805) 644-7794.

Irish pipers, bands and storytellers will fill the cobblestone streets of Old World Village on Center Avenue near Huntington Beach Mall on Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Proceeds from food and beverages benefit the Salvation Army. Free. (714) 847-6286.

On Sunday, the festivities in Old Pasadena begin at noon with a parade down Green Street, featuring the Young Dubliners, marching clubs, floats and equestrians. Festival follows from 1-6 p.m. at Old Train Station, 180 S. Raymond Ave. Irish food and music, arts and crafts, medieval jousting, Irish stew cook-off and more. $4; ages 2-12, $2. (818) 796-5049.

As the horse racing commences at Santa Anita Park, family festivities are planned for Sunday, noon-4 p.m. in the infield. Irish music, clowns, face painters, a Moon Bounce for kids, an Irish parade and pony rides. 285 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia. $4; ages 17 and younger, free. (818) 574-7223.