Things Looking Up For St. Patrick's Day Celebrations In Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Last year, the pandemic canceled St. Patricks day celebrations. This year, people are feeling a little luckier.
Minnesota just boosted capacity limits to 75%.
Charlie's Irish Pub in Stillwater says the increase has come just in time for them to get more customers in their seats, because they just finished an expansion and are hoping to make up for those lost profits.
"We brought in the construction crew and opened up the pub so we have the full seating," owner Chuck Dougherty said. "Which worked out really well for us because, when we were starting to open backup at 50% occupancy and distancing tables -- because as everybody knows how the pub was before -- if we had to distance the tables and occupancy we would probably only be able to get 10 people in here."
Under Minnesota's new restrictions, bars and restaurants are still required to close by 11 p.m., so there still won't be the traditional 2 a.m. last call this holiday.
Not the traditional St. Patrick's Day parade today in St. Paul, but at noon, the drive thru Irish MASK-arade is in the old Sears Building Parking lot. Reservations are full but you can watch online to see the floats and other special guests.
Throughout the day you can also watch traditional Irish dancing and music from the Landmark Center.
The City of Minneapolis will hold a reverse parade in person on Saturday. Park along the route, then Irish dancers, bag pipers and others stop by the parked vehicles.