Faces of St. Patty’s Past

March 10, 2026

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Sophie Kuijper Dickson

sophie@theequity.ca

As Pontiac residents are once again gearing up for the region’s annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, digging out their favourite Kelly Green top hats and scarves and leprechaun tights, tuning up their fiddles and polishing off their step dancing shoes, THE EQUITY is sharing a few glimpses into St. Patrick’s Days past.

These archival photos, recently discovered in the stacks of film negatives we are slowly digitizing, were taken by THE EQUITY reporters over the years, before our team moved to digital photography in the early 2000s. All photos featured in this series were taken at parties in Quyon, mostly at the infamous Gavan’s Hotel, between the years of 1981 and 1997.

To see these and more like them, browse all film photos digitized to date on our website: https://theequity.ca/the-way-we-were-photo-archives/.

Gavan’s Six Fine Fiddlers, Dominic, Ervin, Emmett, Liz, Carl and Francis (last names were not included in original cutline), pictured during the 1981 St. Patrick’s party at Gavan’s Hotel.

Lennox Gavan (circa 1981) with the same old Shillalleagh his father brought from Ireland.

Ada Daley and Bill Dryden hit the Gavan’s dance floor at the 1985 St. Patty’s party.

St. Patrick’s Day festivities pack the main hall at Gavan’s Hotel in 1992.

Willy Rivet gets his toes tappin’ at the 1991 party.

Two kids show of their step dancing skills during the 1991 celebration.

Jonathan Polaski, April Verch and Nathan Polaski performed a lively set at the old Fairbanks Hotel in Quyon in 1990.

With Kerry Voilloncourt on guitar, brothers Daniel (left) and Louis Schryer amazed the crowd at Gavans with their champion musicianship in 1995, and for many years since.

Joan Gavan (left) flew in from Denver, Colorado to spend St. Patty’s at Gavan’s in 1983. Her nephew and niece, Robert and Kathleen Knox, travelled with their family from Trois Rivieres.

Two kids took the stage in costume during 1983 St. Patty’s party.

Over in the pub room at Gavan’s, Mel Daley pounded the old piano that was rescued from Quyon’s oldest building, Granny Bean’s Stopping Place, before it was demolished. Joined here by his son Randy in 1990, Mel would make the trip to Gavan’s from Burlington every year for this weekend.

Gordon McAlpine’s hands were a blur as he played the spoons in accompaniment to the entertainment on stage at Gavans in 1997.

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