Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at a South Bay pub usually means donning bright green and downing a pint. At 30-year old Fibbar MaGee’s in Sunnyvale, however, this year’s festivities are especially meaningful — a testament to the pub’s good luck amidst an uncertain economy and a celebration of strong community ties.
Located in the heart of downtown on Murphy Avenue, the old-fashioned Irish pub serves authentic meals and craft beers to locals. Each March, the staff spends weeks lining the wood-paneled bar tables with shamrocks, organizing music and prepping copious amounts of corned beef and barrels of Guinness for an all-out St. Paddy’s Day party.
“It’s not all about eating and drinking,” owners Des Nolan and Liam Balfe, who both immigrated from Ireland, said in a statement to this news organization. “It’s about the community coming together and celebrating a culture that has a strong presence all around the world. We’re very proud to be Irish and happy to celebrate with all our friends and neighbors.”
But Fibbar MaGee’s used to have friendly competition on St. Patrick’s Day with nearby Irish pubs Murphy’s Law and Lilly Mac’s. Both closed down in 2023, making Fibbar’s the only one remaining on Murphy Avenue.
“We don’t feel good about it,” Nolan said. “Murphy’s Law was in business for a long time. Both pubs contributed to Murphy Avenue. Times are tough right now for small business owners. We know the owners of both businesses and it’s difficult to see anyone close their doors. We consider ourselves fortunate to have lasted 30 years.”
Fibbar regular Andy Daniell also use to frequent the two other bars and noticed the change as well.
“Fibbar’s is a good bar, about the only one I come to on this street anymore,” he said recently while sitting at a table next to green-colored lights and Guinness posters. “I use to go bar to bar — have a drink go to the next one. You knew everyone. They’re slowly all closing.”
The pub’s three decades of success stands out among the city’s small downtown businesses, some of which still struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Deputy City Manager Connie Verceles, who oversees the city’s Economic Development division. Many eateries lost customers when nearby companies switched to remote work, she said. Traffic has improved now that shelter-in-place and social distancing measures have lifted, but not entirely.
“Some of the businesses also relied on after-work crowds for dinners,” she said. “We’re just starting to see that start to come back, but it’s not at 100% yet.”
The local restaurant industry’s challenges echo a nationwide problem. Elevated costs, shallow labor pools and uneven customer traffic levels are now the norm for many restaurants, according to a February report by the National Restaurant Association. Half the nation’s restaurant owners recorded a drop in sales from 2022 to 2023, with 38% reporting that they were not profitable.
There is a stroke of good luck coming to Sunnyvale, though. In spring 2023, the city moved ahead with plans to reinvent the downtown, including adding hundreds of homes in a residential tower as well as two office buildings on a site by South Taaffe Street, West Washington Avenue, South Murphy Avenue and West McKinley Avenue. The completed project will bring in more customers and traffic to downtown areas, Verceles said.
The new locals will also have a chance to get acquainted with Fibbar MaGee’s and its St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which is already a hit with residents.
A regular for the last 20 years, Sunnyvale resident Don Jenkins says Fibbar’s consistently good food, rotation of drinks and friendly staff are the secrets to its success. He stops by for a drink once week, and has attended a few of their St. Paddy’s Day festivities.
“It’s a good time,” he said. “I never had any issues, everyone’s always happy and there’s green beer — if you’re into that thing.”
Last year, while walking along Murphy Avenue on March 17, San Jose resident Peter Andrada was surprised to see large crowds pouring out of the pub. A guitarist with a proclivity for playing Irish music, he asked the Fibbar staff if he could play inside for them. They politely turned him down, so the amateur musician performed outside on the streets to help attract more customers, he said.
Andrada can’t make it to the event this year — a real bummer, he said — but he has his heart set on asking staff if he can make a St. Patrick’s Day musical debut at the pub in 2025. There’s something about the vibe of Fibbar’s that makes him want to be a part of its community.
“The vibe here is like, let’s sit down, have a conversation, maybe explore some topics while you’re having a pint,” he said recently, having returned to the pub with some friends for an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration. “I’ve been to Ireland many times, so this has more of that vibe to me.”
The holiday is spectacular, but it isn’t for everyone. Daniell, for example, likes to enjoy a drink a Fibbar’s in the late afternoons, when the crowds are slower. As much as he enjoys being at the establishment, he stays away on March 17.
“It’s way too many people,” he said, “It’s not a celebration for me. I’ll run and hide.”