One of my favorite events all year in this wonderful coastal town, is the Annual Saint Patrick's Day Festival. Turnout is expected to be around 20,000! The event takes place in the Emerald Plantation Shopping Center, in the eastern part of town. Physical address is 8700 Emerald Drive, Emerald Isle, NC 28594.

The festival is always on the Saturday prior to Saint Patrick's Day, which falls on Saturday, March 14th, 2009. The event is scheduled to occur between the hours of 9am- 5pm.

There is a kid zone, filled with rides for the younger revelers. Children ages 2-5 are eligible to participate in the Little Leprechaun Contest.

For the adults, there is a beer garden, with tables, chairs and great music. There is a midway, with wonderful food and drink, featuring Irish and coastal foods. This year, we are scheduled to have over 75 vendors selling authentic handmade arts & crafts, and their will be three separate stages featuring live entertainment. Be sure to catch Barefoot Wade, and Pamlico Joe. They are two of my favorites!

Island Dave and I look forward to celebrating Saint Patrick's Day with you, so please try to attend this wonderful festival!

As a lot of my readers may know, I own and operate a vacation home cleaning business. In all of the years (approximately six years now), this is the first luncheon that I have been invited to. A few generous home owners honor the property management company that take such wonderful care of their beach homes. I'm not complaining, in fact I don't work directly for the management company, I am an independent contractor.

Being an independent contractor has it's advantages, I essentially work for myself, and choose to be on everybody's side. I love living on the Crystal Coast more than anywhere else in the Continental, United States of America. I represent my community as a whole, and have appointed myself an unofficial Emerald Isle Ambassador.

The homeowners of this lovely three bedroom condo in Indian Beach, NC were adamant that I attend. That astounds me, but I am very honored that I was able to meet them for the first time and attend such a lavish lunch. Mrs. H. really knows how to entertain. She provided several dishes (homemade no less) that I've not had in a gathering of so many people! Including a fresh fruit dessert tray accompanied by a fondue pot filled with delicious dark chocolate! My other favorites were the artichoke dip, smoked salmon, and the cream cheese / wasabi dip.

Thank you Major and Mrs. H for a lovely afternoon, and for the wonderful bottle of wine that I have yet to share with my husband, and thank you for the Virgina peanuts for my crew members. They are already enjoying them!

We've posted a couple of times about fun things to do in Emerald Isle with kids. What about the adults in the party? Well, if you like bars or cocktails with your dinner, there are several to choose from here in town.

• Kathryn's Bistro and Martini Bar: Located near the center of town on the North side of Emerald Isle
• Flipperz Family Bar & Grill: in K&V Plaza across from CVS
• Portofino Ristorante & Wine Bar: in the shopping plaza on Coast Guard Rd near the Emerald Isle Bridge.
• Paddy's Pub: Also located in K&V Plaza, at the north end of the plaza.
• The Emerald Club: On Emerald Drive next to Jordan's Seafood.
• El Zarape: Located on Reed Drive opposite the Emerald Plantation shopping center (across Emerald Drive)
• Rucker Johns: in the Emerald Plantation shopping center
• Jordan's Seafood: in the downtown on Emerald Drive near Bogue Inlet Pier

One of our favorite places to dine in Emerald Isle is Rucker Johns. Situated in a beautiful canal-side spot in the Emerald Plantation shopping center, the restaraunt features seafood, steaks, burgers, huge fresh salads, island favorites, and much more. They offer crayons and coloring pages for kids, and have a fully stocked bar and bar area for adult patrons.

Having eaten there dozens of times over the years, I'd say my favorite appetizer is the calimari, and my Tiff would undoubtedly pick the beer-battered mushrooms. You can't go wrong with any of the main courses, and the specials are often some of the best fresh seafood Emerald Isle has to offer.

For a bit of history, we turn to the official Rucker Johns about page:

Our immediate family/owners right now is made up of Chris Johns, his wife Polly Rucker Johns and Deborah Rucker who has the double pleasure of being the Mother-in-law of Chris and Mom of Polly. Now just because the order ended up being Rucker first (SO IT WOULDN'T be called JOHNSRUCKER or JOHN RUCKER), Polly and Deborah will be the first to tell you that the success behind this business goes mainly to Chris' great leadership and wisdom. Chris and Polly had gained restaurant experience while attending college and after they were married. I don't think either of them had any idea God was putting them together for a bigger plan such as the one that developed and was born right here on Emerald Isle in 1987. Yes we gave birth (it felt like it) to RuckerJohns that February and I (Mom) had to go home on opening night and keep a sick grandchild for Polly's sister Cyndi who started off helping them with bartending and serving. ”I was the most expendable one that opening night so I lay on the couch with a sick Steven and prayed for my family. This was to be pretty much a role of mine continuously through many of the growing steps we had to master."

For more on Rucker Johns in Emerald Isle (or sister location in Wilmington), visit their website, where you can also view the Rucker Johns menu.