Kuala Lumpur, 18 March 2013 – Over the weekend, more than 15,000 partygoers in the Klang Valley reveled in St Patrick’s festivities hosted by the World’s favourite black brew GUINNESS®. True to the theme of ‘March More Fun’, the 3-day citywide celebration of all things green started on Friday, 15 March and during the three day celebration, thousands of Guinness fans came together to raise a pint in more than 60 outlets across the city centre.
The countdown to the official St Patrick’s Day was truly a spectacular one as Guinness, yet again, turned the streets of Changkat Bukit Bintang green! More than 5,000 people thronged the street of Changkat and enjoyed the festivities. Fettered by the presence of fancily dressed Stilt Walkers, Mime Artists, Jugglers, Irish Dancers, Drumliners, Guinness Bikers, St Paddy’s Caddies and beautifully made-up black and green denizens, the street was nothing less than a sprawling mini black and green village. As the crowd enjoyed the ambience and delicious food and GUINNESS® on offer, the talented performers enthralled the massive crowds with something to suit all tastes. Serena C, resident Guinness Girl, along with Prem from Fly Fm, Jeremy Teoh from Red Fm and Daryl B were the celebrity hosts of the festivities at Changkat Bukit Bintang that night.
Everyone seemed to be happy to turn ‘Irish for the day’ with cheers of ‘Slainte’ ringing out every so often as visitors applauded the performers. The spirit of camaraderie, accompanied by GUINNESS® and hearty GUINNESS®-infused cuisine turned out to be everything it promised to be – great fun with barrels of laughter.
Malaysia’s Biggest Guinness St Patrick’s Pub Crawl
This year GUINNESS also decided to take the party up a notch by giving 200 lucky GUINNESS fans from the Klang Valley the rare opportunity to be part of the nation’s biggest Guinness Pub Crawl. These very privileged pub crawlers were chauffeured in the exclusive GUINNESS ST Patrick’s Bus to more than 20 bars across the Klang Valley on 15 and 16 March. As exclusive guests, they also received a St Patrick’s goodie bag consisting of 6 free Guinness Pints and a limited edition Guinness St Patrick’s Pub Crawl T-Shirt. Adding to the fun factor were renowned comedians – Kuan Jen Han and Douglas whose humour got all the pub crawlers in stitches. As part of the journey, a scavenger hunt was also organised for the pub crawlers and some of them were lucky enough to go home with Ipad Minis and 24 cans Guinness Pack.
“I have to hand it to the guys at GUINNESS®. They certainly know how to organize a party! I loved the launch parade and when the Guinness St Paddy Cars, Bikes and Fun bus march through the street of Changkat. It makes such a difference and it’s really great to wander up-and-down the street to check-out the various establishments.” said Sha Lyn who heard about the celebrations and came to KL all the way from Penang to join Malaysia Biggest St Patrick’s Pub crawl.
Linda Daly, from Dublin Ireland who was in Malaysia on holiday was impressed with the Malaysian St Patrick’s celebration. She heard of the Guinness St Paddy’s pub crawl and won a pair of exclusive tickets to join in the festivities. “It was incredible experience for me. The event was so well organized and was so much fun. Thank you for making my St Paddies even better than if I was home in Ireland!” she quipped, impressed with the celebrations here in Malaysia.
To help GUINNESS fans and friends have a sensible drinking experience during the pub crawl, ‘Drink Sensibly Angels’ were present to provide water bottles and food during the journey, and to share tips on how one can party sensibly. The first 16 pub crawlers who signed up online at www.drinksensibly.com also received free taxi rides home when the Guinness St Patrick’s Pub Crawl ended.
‘Drink Sensibly’ Booths were also set up at Malones, Sooka Sentral and Changkat Bukit Bintang where partygoers could go to arrange for a cab home at a discounted rate.
“Guinness has now hosted St Patrick’s celebration for the 7th year running in Malaysia and from what I have seen and heard, we have certainly successfully made ‘March more Fun’ with all the St Patrick’s Day activities that we planned. We’ve also achieved another milestone this year by being the host of the biggest Guinness St Patrick’s Day pub crawl where 200 lucky fans got the chance to be part of a very unique Guinness experience. All I can say is that, next year, we will strive to make St Patrick’s celebration even more memorable!” said Hans Essaadi, Managing Director of Guinness Anchor Berhad.
