Melting snow, robins and crocuses—all signs of spring in Western New York.

Oh yes, so was Friday’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon at the Buffalo Irish Center on Abbott Road.

And just like returning robins, a few hundred local politicians and their friends flocked to the annual feast featuring corned beef and cabbage, Irish music and step dancers, and if truth be told, a bustling bar, too.

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, Mayor Byron W. Brown, a gaggle of state legislators and most of the local judiciary (as well as judicial wannabes) made the rounds in what has become the semi-official kickoff of the political season.

Gillibrand addressed reporters on several local issues and did not challenge one assessment that so far, she has encountered “smooth sailing” in her effort to win election in her own right after Gov. David A. Paterson appointed her to the Senate vacancy created by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ascension to secretary of state.

But in her first appearance at the 38th annual event, Gillibrand showed she knows how to conduct her politics while in Irish South Buffalo. She wasted no time in telling the assembled crowd all about her Cooney, Noonan and Ryan relatives who came to America from Tipperary and Galway.

“I’ve got a lot of good Irish in me,” she said.

DiNapoli, meanwhile, is also pursuing his first statewide election since succeeding former Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi after his resignation in 2007. So the Long Islander joined the crowd in South Buffalo, but not before crossing paths with the presumed Republican candidate for comptroller— Harry J. Wilson of Scarsdale.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, meanwhile, is thought to be a candidate to succeed Paterson as governor this year, but has so far stayed away from the campaign trail. But those looking to become the next attorney general — including Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice — were very much in a shaking-hands and kissing-babies mode in the Irish Center. Rice was introduced to Buffalo voters by Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo.

Attorney general hopeful Sean Coffey, a Bronx native who is a former Navy captain and federal prosecutor, was also making the rounds, accompanied by his Irish-born mother.

“It’s good to be ‘home,’ ” said Coffey, who noted that he lived in Western New York for a short time as a child while his construction worker father helped build the Niagara Power Project.

As he has every year, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec said grace before the meal and dispensed all Catholics in attendance from the Lenten obligation to abstain from meat on Friday — a wise move, considering the plates of steaming corned beef being passed around.

“There doesn’t appear to be any fried fish on the menu, and I don’t want a bunch of sinners around here,” the bishop quipped.

Brown also appeared to be enjoying his annual appearance, especially as the city’s first African-American mayor was asked if he had any Irish relatives.

“Maybe way back,” he said.