by: Ayla McDonald
If you are looking for an authentically Irish experience this St. Patrick’s Day, Sylvia’s Irish Inn in Urbana is just the place to go.
Originally known as the Historic Lindley House, Sylvia’s Irish Inn is now owned and operated by Urbana residents Sylvia and Ernie Sullivan. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Sylvia dreamt of having her own Bed and Breakfast (BnB) since childhood. “As I was walking to school, I saw all these Victorian and Edwardian homes, gorgeous homes, and in the windows, it’d say ‘Bed and Breakfast’…So, I said ‘Ah, I want to own a bed and breakfast someday.’ But you know, I was only a kid then, not thinking that I was going to own one,” Sullivan said. After staying in a BnB as newlyweds, she and her husband Ernie decided to make her dream a reality. As Ernie was in the military at the time, the couple spent the next fourteen years collecting furniture while stationed overseas in Europe and the United Kingdom. “All of the furniture is from Europe, in Sicily, London, Ireland, Scotland, all different parts of Europe.” Sullivan said. “We brought back 18 crates of furniture.”
The international theme of the interior decoration at Sylvia’s Irish Inn provides a homelike feeling for guests, most of whom are not American. “We meet a lot of people, and most of my guests come from Europe,” Sullivan said. “About 70-75% of the guests are from Europe.” Sullivan told the Prospectus that the location of the Inn on Green St. in Urbana makes it an ideal place for her guests, many of whom come to visit their children at the University of Illinois. Sylvia also provides her guests with delicious home cooked breakfasts.
Pictured left to right: Sylvia Sullivan, Ernie Sullivan. Photo source: sylviasirishinn.com
Sylvia’s Irish Inn holds High Tea events throughout the year and for holidays. A St. Patrick’s Day High Tea will be held at the Inn on Sunday, March 17th from 2:00pm – 4:00pm. “For St. Patty’s Day, usually between 30 and 40 people come.” Sullivan said. “I’m making tea sandwiches and I’m doing a torch and a mousse, chocolate mousse… I make the champagne from scratch, so there’ll be a glass of that when they arrive, and then somebody’s going to play Irish music, from C4A the Community Center. And then I have a friend who’ll tell a story, so that’s exciting. It’s a story about Ireland.” Tickets to the event cost $30 per person and can be purchased online at sylviasirishinn.com. The last day to register is the Friday before the event.
Having been a child in Ireland, Sullivan told the Prospectus about her memories of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in her homeland. “In Ireland…we go to parade in the morning and… they have celebrations, they have music all over the place in the bars and everything, they have music everywhere,” Sylvia said. “And then you have corned beef and cabbage, or ham and cabbage. Usually we used to go visit our aunts and uncles…about two hours away, we used to get the train and go see them on St. Patty’s Day. And you wear these little badges with St. Patrick on them, little green badges…Its nice, its upbeat, and as I said everyone is going to Mass for St. Patty’s Day, and just listening to all the music. Even in the homes and stuff they have music and dancing… Its crowded while the parade is going on but then everybody clears out and you’ll be able to move around, and you can go into a restaurant to have some Irish food for St. Patty’s Day, or you can go into lots of places where you have dinner and people be on the stage doing Irish dancing… And everything’s green. The River Liffey is green… and then there’s lots of Guinness, lots of drinking.”
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For more information about Sylvia’s Irish Inn, or to make inquiries, visit sylviasirishinn.com.
