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Young Irish Fellowship Club Returns For Annual South Side Pub Crawl

By Howard Ludwig | January 23, 2017 7:58am
 Members of the Young Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago pictured here enjoy the South Side Pub Crawl in 2012. The event returns this year from 1:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday.
Members of the Young Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago pictured here enjoy the South Side Pub Crawl in 2012. The event returns this year from 1:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday.
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BEVERLY — The Young Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago's annual South Side Pub Crawl serves as a homecoming for Mallory McSweeney and many others.

An Old Town resident, McSweeney is the president of the social club based in the West Loop. But she grew up in Beverly and Mount Greenwood, along with many other members. Her father is a retired Chicago Police officer.

"When we get a chance to go back to our neighborhood and show it off to everybody, it is great," McSweeney said Friday.

The fifth annual pub crawl takes place from 1:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday with stops at Reilly's Daughter in south suburban Oak Lawn, Cullinan's Stadium Club in Morgan Park, McNally's in Morgan Park, O'Rourke's Office in Morgan Park and Barney Callaghan's in Beverly.

Those attending the event from other parts of the city are invited to board a bus headed to the South Side at 12:15 p.m. at Galway Arms at 2442 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park. Bus transportation along the route will be available throughout the pub crawl, McSweeney said.

Tickets to the pub crawl cost $25 per person and include a T-shirt. The money raised from the event will be donated to March4Meg and Weish4Ever, a cancer charity named for former Brother Rice High School football star Andrew Weishar.

March4Meg raises money in the memory of Meg (Donovan) Moonan, 43, who died on March 30, 2012 after battling melanoma. The charity offers free skin cancer screenings and helps to spread awareness about the often deadly disease.

"I think that melanoma and skin cancer in general is something that is really prevalent in our community," said McSweeney, adding that her own mother successfully battled the disease.

She expects about 150 people to attend the event. Besides native South Siders, McSweeney said the pub crawl also introduces the neighborhood to members of the club unfamiliar with the Beverly area.

South Side members of the club also enjoy the event as an opportunity to gather with friends close to home, as most of the group's gatherings are held Downtown or on the North Side, McSweeney said.

She expects Ireland's 2016 Rose of Tralee will participate in the pub crawl this year too. Maggie McEldowney works as a fundraiser at her alma mater Marist High School, and won the international pageant Aug. 23 in County Kerry, Ireland.

McEldowney lives in the South Loop but was also raised in Beverly. She is board member of the Young Irish Fellowship Club and attended St. Barnabas Elementary School in Beverly. She also graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

"We are so proud of her winning the Rose of Tralee," said McSweeney, whose cousin Maeve McSweeney competed in the pageant in 2014 and 2015.

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