PORTLAND, Maine — St. Patrick's Day is the one day a year the world celebrates the Irish culture. Beyond filling the streets and pubs all day long, some Mainers used the holiday as an opportunity to learn more about Ireland's heritage.
One nonprofit preserving the Irish culture in Maine, the Maine Irish Heritage Center, held a St. Patrick's Day celebration Sunday afternoon.
About 1 in 6 Mainers can trace their roots back to Ireland, the nonprofit said. A total of 15.4 percent of Maine's population reports of having Irish heritage, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's heritage data report. New Hampshire reports 19.7 percent and Massachusetts reports 18.34 percent.
In the 1800s, thousands of Irish immigrants arrived in Maine after they fled Ireland due to disease and starvation.
"Coming here was a chance at a really different life," the center's executive director Eric Brown said.
On Sunday, people filled the Maine Irish Heritage Center to celebrate, including the former church built by Irish immigrants in the late 1800s.
"We embrace that idea that it's a platform for us, for the attention to be on the Irish, so we can talk about all the things that are important to us and to our mission as a nonprofit in Portland," the center's treasurer Jean Haney said.
Irish-Mainers took advantage of the center's library, which houses more than 5,000 books and resources to learn about the Irish culture. Some people even met with genealogy experts to help trace their family trees back generations.
While Portland is almost 3,000 miles away from Ireland, Brown said he's heard immigrants say Maine's coastline reminds them a lot of home.
"I do think there's a hominess to this place and area that is special," Brown said.