LOWELL — There were two notable differences at the Gaelic Club’s St. Patrick’s Day party this year. For the first time in its 29 years, there was no aroma of the signature corned beef dinner wafting through the 4,000-square-foot building. And, most notably, it was the very last St. Patrick’s celebration for the soon-to-be closing private club.
Saturday’s festivity had an undercurrent of finality. A larger-than-normal crowd pushed the downstairs bar and upstairs function room to capacity as nearly 300 green-clad people braved the cold in search of the familiar warmth within the 255 Chelmsford St. address, where Irish flags share the façade with the Stars and Stripes.
Owner Jack Brady has sold the building and the business, and will latch the front door for good at the end of March. He said it was not a choice borne of finances.
“I’ve just had enough,” he said.
For the former boxer, throwing in the towel was not an easy decision. The 70-year-old lifelong resident of Lowell has won many fights — in the ring, on the golf course and most recently against lung cancer.
Even acquiring the club’s license in 1989 was a battle worth fighting.
“Back then there was an Armenian-American Club, two Italian clubs, a Portuguese club and a Polish-American Club. It was only fair that the city allow for an Irish club,” he said. “After all, the Irish helped build this city. They dug the canals, constructed the mills and even provided the early workforce.”
The Irish continue to have a presence in what is now a very culturally diverse city. But they will no longer have the Gaelic Club to gather at. The current roster of 80 members, along with a parade of regular visitors, arrived en masse for the last Paddy party. Many beers and several tears later, the reality of the moment mingled with the cigarette smoke and Celtic music.
“It’s like a family in here,” said Bobby Roy, a former doorman here who has been a member for 25 years. “Everyone is friendly and there’s really no place better in the area. We are all going to miss it, and especially Jack and Catherine (Brady’s wife and partner).”
The closing will leave scores of loyal patrons and employees to find new haunts. “It’s very sad,” said 20-year member Rachel Butze.
“I fear that all the customers are going to disperse and find new places to hang out. Maybe we won’t ever see each other again. This is a place of comfort for me and the friends I’ve made here.”
Curt Salter, a former Chelmsford resident who now lives in Fitchburg, came to say hello to old friends and goodbye to an old hangout. The outfits were green, the mood was blue, and the white lights above the bar shone onto the faces of the regulars.
Brady, a former corrections officer, had mixed emotions. The former welterweight, a third-generation Irish immigrant, occupied his usual spot at the corner of the oak bar, greeting people for St. Patrick’s Day while consoling them about the future. His own future is filled with plans of more golf, daily walks and time with family.
Most of the 13 employees are part-timers with other careers, but the sting, according to one bartender, Kerrie Shaw, “is more devastating emotionally than it is financially. We have all been talking about how and where we will be able to meet in order to keep in touch.”
Shaw will not seek to fill her schedule with another bartending gig, but believes that many of the others have already found work.
The club opened on St. Patrick’s Day in 1989, a date that serves as a bookend to the recent news. And in a final slice of irony, March 17 is not the date of St. Patrick’s birth, but of his death.