On a warm, late winter day earlier this week, a burly DPS officer with a nametag reading “G. Daniels” approaches a green table decked out with shamrocks in Red Square to request a shirt in an XXL size. Unfortunately for Officer Daniels, the Georgetown University Irish-American Society is out of shirts in that size, and he trudges away in disappointment, as though someone had stolen his lucky charms. Another visitor has better fortune, picking out a green plastic hat adorned with a “Luck O’ the Irish” logo and a single green feather peeking out from behind the words. “An Irish pimp hat,” he proclaims, clearly satisfied with his selection. As it has in the past, the GUIAS is bringing all things green and Irish to the Hilltop in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, from the club shirts ($10), designed by Social Chair Will Powers (COL ’08) to shamrock smiley pins ($1). But this year, GUIAS is offering a little extra color and a bit more pep to the festivities. Powers, along with fellow board members Joe Leveroni (COL ’07) and Patrick Cox (COL ’08) are stepping up programming for March 17 this year even more than they have in years past. The leaders pointed to an Irish whiskey-tasting and dinner of corned beef and cabbage at Martin’s Tavern on Prospect Street on Thursday. “Billy Martin [Jr.] himself had a hand in planning it,” Leveroni said, referring to the local Georgetown celebrity and fourth-generation Irish-American restaurateur. The GUIAS board approached the public relations manager of the Tavern two weeks ago with the idea for the event. Martin, whose father and grandfather were both Georgetown alumni, was quickly sold on the unique proposal. The group said Wednesday that while rife with food, drink and revelry, the event at Martin’s will offer academic aspects as well. A professional whiskey maker would educate participants on the history of Irish whiskey, the difference between Irish and Scotch whiskey and the proper way to sip a Fitzgerald, Jameson or Tullamore Dew. The group added that chefs at Martin’s Tavern would also share the tricks of their trade and teach the group how to cook traditional Irish delicacies such as Boiled Boxty and Dublin Coddle. Martin’s famous restaurant has become a mainstay of the Georgetown neighborhood and a celebrated establishment within the Hilltop community. “We get the debate society every Thursday night for the last three or four years,” Martin said in a phone interview. “They come in around 10:30. They don’t eat a whole lot, but they do like to eat. We’ve changed the hours of our kitchen to 11:30 on Thursdays to accommodate those guys.” Powers and his buddies on the board are especially enthusiastic because March 17 falls on a Saturday this year. With a full day to eat, drink and be merry, the guys at GUIAS expect a massive celebration. “There will be a social gathering of some sort,” Powers said, smiling slyly. “It will be an all-day social gathering at the headquarters, incorporating Irish food and the Irish dance team component of the club.” The board embraces the fact that the spirit of the holiday is observed by many that are not of Irish descent, opening its events and club activities to all interested Hoyas. “It’s kind of our Christmas,” Cox explained, chuckling. “Let’s just say, you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the Chieftains,” Leveroni explained. Although this week is the biggest of the year for GUIAS, to the board, it is only the beginning of a small overhaul of the club. Powers, Cox and Leveroni have been working diligently to increase the visibility of their organization, which at all other times of the year resembles a sleeping giant more than a lively leprechaun. “Historically, it’s been under-advertised,” Cox said of the group. “I think this semester we’re trying to put more effort into [GUIAS] and expand it a little,” Powers added. “We’re trying to really spearhead it and make it into a part of the Georgetown community.” But the GUIAS is, in a sense, still in the stages of its infancy. Cox, Powers and Leveroni are the club’s three remaining board members — the two co-chairmen of the club, Caitlin Kelly (SFS ’07) and Regina Moore (COL ’08), are currently abroad — and guide a bevy of new members. While all GUIAS members are quick to expound on the current goings-on, none are quite certain on the exact history of the club. “We’re learning the ropes as far as SAC is concerned,” Powers said. As for membership, there are plenty of e-mail addresses on the listserv — upwards of 500 or 600, according to the board — but only a handful of them show up for meetings on a consistent basis. “It’s one of those clubs that 500 people sign up for during the SAC Fair,” Cox said. As the weather warms up, GUIAS plans to remedy that problem. “We’re looking to kind of make the membership more stratified … trying to make a better organizational structure in the club so that we have the means to do more events,” Cox said. The board is bringing back its annual tour of the Irish embassy, a tradition that has been dormant in the recent past. A trip to see the Irish Tenors in Bethesda, Md., is in the works, and Leveroni is busy selling Georgetown as a possible venue for a theater production during the annual District-wide Irish Folk Festival this summer. Still, the week of St. Patrick’s Day is understandably the club’s primary focus in terms of annual events, as celebrations have been shaped by Irish-Americans throughout the years. While St. Patrick’s Day has origins in Ireland, its meaning changed with the tides of immigrants flooding into America. “Clearly, it started out as a holy day,” Cox explained with a grin. “In Ireland it’s celebrated as a very strict holy day. I had a friend who went on a rugby tournament to Ireland, and he was expecting to have a really good time, but all the pubs were shut down.” Over the years, Saint Patrick’s Day has morphed into a broader celebration of the Irish culture accessible to all kinds of people, and not just the Irish. On this side of the ocean, the holiday has taken on a distinctly American character that distinguishes it from celebrations in Ireland. For example, while corned beef and cabbage are the staples of a St. Paddy’s Day menu today, bacon was originally the main component of the dish. Poor Irish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century replaced the expensive bacon with cheaper corned beef and unintentionally tweaked a tradition for future generations to come. Brendan Lane (COL ’09), an Irish-American Hoya who is not actively involved in the GUIAS, pointed to the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City as an example of the fusion of Irish and American cultures. The parade is led by the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, more commonly known as the “Fighting 69th” or the “Irish Brigade.” The pageant features Irish-Americans marching under the different banners of the counties from which they immigrated. Washington, D.C. celebrated its own St. Patrick’s Day parade Sunday, under the theme “Volunteers Weave Communities Together.” And at Georgetown, community plays a large role in celebrating the holiday. “There’s the religious aspect of the day,” Lane said, “but the deeper significance for those of us today in America is appreciating the heritage of your own family and thinking of where your family came from, and also thinking about the fact that all these different generations of Irish men each faced different struggles and grew up in a different world.” “It’s a way to incorporate our Irish heritage and our American heritage, too,” said Powers. With help from the GU Irish-American Society, some green is bound to blend with the Hoya blue that flows through the veins of Georgetown students this Saturday. Despite one’s own heritage, St. Patrick’s Day gives Hoyas the opportunity to experience a culture rich with tradition. From green-dyed beer to home-made Irish soda bread, this weeked is the perfect time to experience the magic of Ireland. Billy Martin Jr. agreed that there’s something special about St. Patrick’s Day. “As the old saying goes,” Martin said, “there are only two kinds of people in this world: those who are Irish and those want to be Irish. That’s especially true on St. Patrick’s Day.