From green balloons and four leaf clovers to leprechauns and a green-coated Gandalf off Lord of the Rings, Irish spirit was flowing in Greerton last night as the community turned green for St Patrick's Day.

Supported by Crockfords Real Estate and Greers Gastro Bar, the Irish Mile on March 17 encouraged families to dress in Irish theme and walk from Greerton Village School and back again.

Entry to the free community event was a gold coin donation, with proceeds going to Tauranga SPCA, which lead the walk.

Greerton Mainstreet manager Sally Benning is unsure of the amount raised for the event, but estimates 150 people participated in the walk.

'Unfortunately the weather undoubtedly put a bit of a damper on it. But everybody who came dressed up to them so it was great. It was a lot of fun.”

In conjunction with the Irish Mile, a window dressing competition invited retailers to dress their windows in Irish theme to be in to win a $500 advertising package from The Weekend Sun.

Ironically, it was SPCA Op Shop's window that won the competition.

Competition winners SPCA Op Shop.

'They were the winners because they totally had the wow factor of all of the entrants,” says Sally. 'They've got four windows and they'd done a huge amount of work by printing animals off the internet and putting green hats on them. It was the outstanding window there's no doubt about it.”

Sally believes there were 26 entrants in the competition.

SPCA Op Shop manager Sharon Leckie says they are ecstatic about the win.

'The advertising couldn't have come at a better time. It was fun doing it, we put a lot of work into it. The general public really interacted with it, they enjoyed it the children enjoyed it and they were all really excited when they found out we won.”

Sharon would like to thank The Weekend Sun and Greerton Village.