About the Erin Express®

The Erin Express® is Philadelphia's original St. Patrick's Day bar crawl — a city tradition that has grown from a small gathering of friends into one of the biggest drinking holidays in Philadelphia. Every March, thousands of revelers pack into bars and celebrate St. Paddy's Day across Center City, University City, and beyond.

How It Started

The original Erin Express was started more than 60 years ago by the owners of Cavanaugh's, Smokey Joe's, and Mace's Crossing. According to Brian Pawliczek, whose family has owned Cavanaugh's since 1934, it began simply: a group of older men in Irish sweaters riding the Fairmount trolleys to local bars, playing a few guitars along the way.

"The first years were lean," Pawliczek told PhillyVoice. "Things began to grow. Trolleys turned into buses. Two guys playing guitar turned into bands; older crowd became younger. Things tend to grow and evolve."

What started as a modest pub tour kept expanding. More bars joined, more buses rolled, and the crowd got younger and bigger. By the mid-2000s, Cavanaugh's began securing block party permits for the event, turning 39th Street between Chestnut and Walnut into an all-day party just steps from the Penn and Drexel campuses. Cavanaugh's and nearby Blarney Stone sold cheap beer, set up port-o-johns, and hired DJs to spin all day.

The Erin Express Today

Today, the "official" Erin Express draws thousands of college students and recent graduates each year. The bars are all packed tightly together, so the crawl is entirely walkable — no buses needed — with the event unfolding over the Saturday and Sunday before St. Patrick's Day.

Don't be fooled by imitations. "Erin Express®," the Erin Express wordmark, and the Erin Express logo are registered trademarks. Tickets are only sold through Eventbrite and POSH under the "Erin Express" name — anything else is a different crawl or a scam.

The Basics

• Where: Center City, Rittenhouse, University City & South Street Philadelphia · Check-in at Cavanaugh's Rittenhouse, 1913 Sansom Street
• When: Saturday, March 13 & Sunday, March 14, 2027 · 12 PM – 8 PM
• Who: 21+ only, valid ID required
• Weather: Rain or shine

Presented by

Urban Craft & Crawl — a Top Organizer on Eventbrite with 40+ events, seven years of hosting, and 37,000+ total attendees.