This traditional mid-March party combines:

• the Ides of March and J. Caesar's bloody death (red) with
• St. Patrick's Day (green or orange, depending on your ancestry).

A typical calendar entry:

The annual Ides of St. Patrick Party & Food Fest is at the home of Bill Plachy in San Marcos. Come and partake of the world’s best corned beef & cabbage plus the creative collations of the Food Contest entrants. See real, live Mensans compete for honest-to-goodness valuable (mostly) prizes which will be awarded in completely subjective and arbitrary categories. Note that in honor of our Irish/Italian motif, all of the entries must be Red and/or Green and/or Orange ... and edible. And, if you submit an entry, you also get a discount at the door. $5.00 ($3.00 if you bring an entry). Guaranteed to be worth a trek to darkest North County. Info: Bill Plachy, (760) 741-9700. SO

For Bill's address, please check the directory or give him a jingle at the number above.

Once you've got Bill's address, turn-by-turn directions from your home are a snap at Yahoo Maps.