Ballard will be hosting its first annual Ballard Saint Patrick's Day Festival on Saturday, celebrating the color green in all its meanings.

This fun-filled day will benefit various Ballard non-profits, in particular Sustainable Ballard,

"We're planning on this becoming an annual Spring fundraiser for Sustainable Ballard," said Ricky Gene Powell, Executive Director of the Ballard Saint Patrick's Day Festival.

A kick-off event for the recently-founded Celebration Arts Foundation, the event is billed as "a family-friendly celebration of the history and legacy of Saint Patrick's Day, and it's impact on America".

Powell, a well-known organizer in the celebration arts world, is also the driving force behind Tacoma First Night,  the largest family-friendly New Years Eve Celebration in the Puget Sound region.

He founded the Celebration Arts Foundation upon the principles of facilitating the growth of communities by creating new sustainable traditions in the form of festivals, parades and other such events which allow artists and community members to share in the proceeds, and to receive direct funding to support their various organizations.

"As this sustainable community festival grows, one of the primary goals is to have Ballard become a focal point of the Saint Patrick's Day experience here in Seattle, by attracting business and revenue into the Ballard Community," Powell said. "Our primary audience is the active Irish enthusiasts that normally attend Saint Patrick's Day Celebrations, as well as the larger family-friendly audience that will be attracted by the ability to have their family with them at an Irish festival."

The festival scheduled is filled with fun activities, music, dancing, and of course, beer.

Irish Breakfast and corned beef and cabbage will be served all day.

And there will be plenty of entertainment for children.

"We are enlisting local artists to be involved in creating art and community activities throughout the day, and all around the footprint of the festival," Powell said.

The festival will take place from 10 a.m. until Midnight on Saturday, March 17th, 2012 at Ballard Odd Fellows Hall, 1706 NW Market Street.

Visit http://CelebrationArts.us for more information.