5 Things You Need To Know For March 17, 2026

March 17, 2026 5:55 am Published by Chris McLeod

_{March 17th is the 76th day of the year. There are 289 days remaining until the end of the year.}

Looking for ideas to keep the kids busy over March Break?

Check out the Chatham-Kent Public Library. All branches across C-K have are loaded with family programming at no cost.

Check out the Program Calendar at CKPL.ca to get more info.

There’s a blood donor clinic today at the St. Clair College Healthplex 1 to 8 p.m.

No walk-in appointments are available. Book your appointment at Blood.ca, call 1-888-2-DONATE or use the apps.

If you’re unable to donate this week, the next clinic locally won’t be until April 14th at the Portuguese Canadian Club.

The Blenheim Blades will play a deciding game 7 tonight against the Lakeshore Canadiens.

This is the third consecutive season the Blades have made the second round, they’ve yet to advance further.

Game time is 7 p.m. tonight at the Atlas Tube Centre.

The Chatham Maroons are on the road tonight too – taking on the St. Thomas Stars in round one of the GOHL Playoffs. The Maroons have a 1-0 series lead. Game 3 is Thursday at Memorial Arena Chatham.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament begins today with the First Four. The First Four consists of four play-in games played before the official Round of 64 begins.

The tournament runs up until the championship game on April 6th. Duke, Florida, Michigan and Arizona were named the number one seeds on Sunday.

As for the women’s tournament, the First Four begins on Wednesday and Thursday. The championship game is on Sunday, April 5th.

March Madness is big money:

An estimated $12 billion will be wagered on March Madness games this year, which is about 30% more than the Super Bowl. $4 billion of that will be bet illegally. It is the most bet-on sporting event in the U.S.
Tens of millions of brackets get filled out every year. Office pools alone involve millions of people.
No one has ever publicly verified a perfect bracket for the entire tournament. The odds of picking a perfect bracket are about 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
The first tournament in 1939 had only 8 teams, compared to 68 teams today.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day!

The Catholic Church first recognized March 17th as a feast day commemorating Ireland’s best-known and most beloved patron saint, Saint Patrick, in 1631. With rare exceptions, March 17th always fell during the Christian holy season of Lent, when alcohol consumption was prohibited by the Church. But on Saint Patrick’s feast day, the ban on alcohol was lifted, presumably because it was a feast day, and feasting usually included alcohol.

It’s a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in more countries around the world than any other single-day national festival.

Some facts …

Green is associated with St Patrick’s Day because it’s the color of Spring, Ireland, and the shamrock.
It’s been an Irish holiday for 1,500 years.
The world’s largest St Patrick’s Parade is in NYC where over a million spectators and 100,000 participants take part A tradition since 1762, the 2-mile parade lasts about 6 hours.
It was first celebrated in Canada in 1765 in Québec City QC.