Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all my Irish friends and family. Turns out, a road trip is needed to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day in Texas.

Saint Patrick's Day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and, by extension, celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Throughout Texas today and over the weekend, many Saint Patrick's Day traditions took place. Right here in Wichita Falls was our downtown Street Festival. In Dallas, they had the parade, San Antonio dyed the river walk green, and Irish music is abound in Austin the live music capital of the world.

However, one Texas city is the only one that can claim, they're the official Saint Patrick's Day Celebration in Texas. Turns out, it's a very small town in the panhandle of Texas.

Shamrock, Texas with a population of just over 1,700 people attracts thousands every Saint Patrick's Day for their annual parade. The town fully embraces their Irish name. The high school team is The Irish. The town slogan is "Top O' the Mornin' to Ya" and in what maybe the strangest thing in the town. They have a chunk of Blarney Stone you can kiss.

Back in 1959, the town of Shamrock, Texas got a portion of Blarney Stone from Cork, Ireland. Allegedly, a piece of the Blarney Stone broke off in the 1950's. Shamrock, Texas got word of this and asked Ireland if they could have it to promote Irish tourism. Some folks in Ireland were not too happy a portion of the Blarney Stone was being taken out of Ireland and it was moved using armored vehicles.

Fun Fact: The Movie Cars is Inspired by Shamrock, Texas

Shamrock, Texas is located on Historic Route 66. For the 2006, Disney/Pixar movie Cars, the town of Shamrock was used as inspiration for Ramone's body shop in the movie. The famous U-Drop Inn looks eerily similar to Ramone's body shop in the film. They even have a Ramone's at Disneyland when at night, looks just like the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas

So if you're looking to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day in Texas, the best place to do it is in Shamrock. Back in 2013, Texas officially recognized it as the Saint Patrick's Day Celebration in the state.