Fountain Hills expands St. Patrick's Day festival | The Locally Times
The Town of Fountain Hills will host its annual St. Patrick's Day celebrations with an expanded Irish Fountain Fest, featuring new attractions and a larger beer garden.
The Town of Fountain Hills will host its annual St. Patrick's Day celebrations, featuring the Irish Fountain Fest on Saturday, March 14, 2026, and the Greening of the Fountain on March 17, 2026. The festival, held at Fountain Park, will include a larger event-wide beer garden and a curated lineup of local food trucks offering Irish-themed items. New for 2026 is the introduction of Guinness 0.0, a non-alcoholic option, alongside other beer and seltzer choices. The Kids’ Zone has also been enhanced, featuring free rock walls, inflatables, crafts, and face painting. The country's tallest fountain will be dyed green three times: twice on March 14 (noon and 4 pm) and again at noon on March 17, as detailed in the same Town of Fountain Hills record. ## Transparency Gaps While the Town of Fountain Hills promotes the festival's expansion, the public record lacks specific budget allocations for the new features. The Meeting Record: March 14, 2026, does not detail the financial contributions from the town versus private sponsors or vendors, nor does it outline the procedural mechanism or public discussions that led to the decision to expand the event. No specific metrics or historical data are provided to support the claim of it being the "biggest yet" or to quantify its projected economic impact on local businesses. Residents can monitor future Town Council agendas for any discussions or reports related to the festival's financial performance or the decision-making process behind its expansion.