Members of the Bend Fire Pipes and Drums band perform in front of McMenamins Old St. Francis School during a past St. Patrick's Day celebration at the hotel. This year's celebration takes place Friday and Saturday. (Liz Devine/Submitted photo)

For the members of Five Pint Mary, St. Patrick’s Day is almost like Christmas.

Central Oregon’s most prominent Irish rock band got its start playing a St. Patrick’s Day show in 2009 at The Annex, and every year since it has ramped up its performance schedule this time of year. This year, the group has five shows booked for Friday and Saturday, including its annual slot at McMenamins Old St. Francis School for the hotel’s St. Patrick’s Day bash.

“Especially around here, we get sought after pretty well and we kind of have it all mapped out about six months ahead of time,” band co-founder, vocalist and Irish whistle player Sarah Holmes said recently, sitting with husband and bandmate Michael Holmes in the restaurant at the Old St. Francis School. “But then things keep trickling in and we try to squeeze in as much as we can. … We’ll try to put out about three shows a day during those two or three days (around St. Patrick’s Day) if we can, because it’s just fun.”

With St. Patrick’s Day falling on Friday this year, Five Pint Mary has even more chances to celebrate. McMenamins has taken advantage of this, too, expanding its annual St. Patrick’s Day Across the Land celebration — which includes live music, drink and food specials — to two full days, Friday and Saturday.

The Old St. Francis School event is one of many occurring at McMenamins locations across the Pacific Northwest. “As far as I understand, it’s been something we’ve done in the company forever and ever,” McMenamins talent buyer Lori Killen said. Killen handles music programming for all of McMenamins’ hotels.

Five Pint Mary will anchor the live music schedule on both days at the Old St. Francis School, performing outside at O’Kanes at 5:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday. The band has been playing the celebration for at least the last six years, according to Michael Holmes, as well as McMenamins’ Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day bash in September.

As usual, the performers this year run the gamut stylistically, including traditional Irish (Five Pint Mary), classic rock (tribute band Watkins Glen, performing Friday at 8 p.m. in Father Luke’s Room) and Americana (Trailer 31, 4 p.m. Saturday in the Fireside Courtyard). The focus is on local musicians, as well as regional favorites such as Portland-based rock group the Quick & Easy Boys (8 p.m. Saturday in Father Luke’s Room).

“One of the reasons that we set up multiple stages (is) because we want everyone to feel like they can explore the property, come see all the fun artwork, try the food and drink a little bit,” Killen said. “With (the Old St. Francis School) being positioned where it is in downtown Bend — because the downtown area there has that great ability for just being able to walk and hit everything in the downtown area. So Old St. Francis is positioned really well to be a part of that revolving door of the crowd that comes through and checks everything out and then goes back into the streets again.”

The Holmeses, the only remaining original members in Five Pint Mary, are preparing to play five hour-long sets at McMenamins — three hours on Friday and two hours on Saturday. Along with traditional Irish songs — favorites such as “Whiskey in the Jar” and “Danny Boy” — the band will play original material from its two studio albums as well as new songs from its third album “Variations,” which Michael Holmes said should be ready by St. Patrick’s Day.

In the last five years, Five Pint Mary’s lineup has settled around the Holmeses, their son Evan Holmes on fiddle, banjoist Rick Havern, mandolinist Matt Gwinup and bassist Tyler Cranor. That core instrumentation has remained the same even as the band has changed members and even styles.

“When we first started out, it was almost more of a punk rock band,” Michael said. “We had a full drum kit, and I was blaring away on the electric guitar. After a while, about two, three years of doing that, not only did we experience some personnel turnover — some people moved out of town or moved on to other projects — just the acoustic sound that we have now started sounding fresher, more original to me. Kind of like The Pogues on the early Pogues albums, you know — it was just four or five guys, all acoustic instruments, and it just kind of had that raucous pub kind of sound.”

Michael and Sarah both come from eclectic musical backgrounds. Prior to forming Five Pint Mary, Klamath Falls native Michael played bass for a gospel choir; in the ’90s he played African marimba music, as well as punk rock with his band Jo Jo Beanstalk. Sarah, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, played in rock and blues bands. And from 2005 to 2007, the couple owned and operated the now closed Bebop Coffeehouse, a performance haven for local jazz musicians.

“When I was younger, I was really interested in the latest and the newest kind of most high-tech music out there,” Michael said. “Then the years went on, and I just kind of developed an interest in older music, which — it started sounding fresher. It seems like a contradiction, but the older music sounded fresher than the newer music.”

The Holmes’ love of traditional Irish songs is most clearly reflected in Five Pint Mary’s live show. Though March is the busiest time of year, the band gets plenty of festival work locally and throughout the Northwest, including multiple appearances at the Irish Music Festival at Galway Bay Irish Pub in Ocean Shores, Washington; and the Tortuga Pirate Festival in Lebanon.

Michael, the band’s main songwriter, said “Variations” will feature more traditionals than original songs — seven “trads” and four originals.

“We do play some songs that are literally a couple hundred years old that have just been done over and over,” Sarah said. “And it was from a time when that was the news — those stories were told through music. And so it’s pretty cool to be doing songs that we know that are that old, that somebody 200 years ago was doing.”

“But the trick is … what can you bring to the form? What do you bring to a song?” Michael added. “Because a lot of these songs, yeah, everyone’s done ’em. So what can you bring to this song that’s maybe a little more personal for you? Or how are you going to arrange it in a slightly different way to kind of make it your own a little bit? It’s a challenge.”

Music schedule

Friday

O’Kanes:

The Pitchfork Revolution — 3 p.m.

Five Pint Mary — 5:30 p.m.

Father Luke’s Room:

Watkins Glen — 8 p.m.

Fireside Courtyard:

Coyote Willow — 4 p.m.

Roaming:

Cascade Highland Piper — noon to 1 p.m.

Bend Fire Pipes and Drums — 2 to 3 p.m.

Saturday

O’Kanes:

Five Pint Mary — 3 p.m.

Cedar Teeth — 5:30 p.m.

Father Luke’s Room:

The Quick & Easy Boys — 8 p.m.

Fireside Courtyard:

Trailer 31 — 4 p.m.

Roaming:

Cascade Highland Piper — noon to 1 p.m.

Bend Fire Pipes and Drums — 2 to 3 p.m.