Historically Big St. Paddy's Crowd = Big Sunday Mess
ST.PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The biggest crowds they can remember -- that was the word on 7th Street in St. Paul the day after St. Patrick's Day.
The historically big crowd also meant a mess to remember.
St. Paul Public Works say their clean-up took longer than usual, going well into Sunday afternoon.
Business owners say the mess is a small price to pay considering they raked in record-breaking sales.
"Chaotic wouldn't be the proper adjective for it," said owner of Patrick McGovern's, Pat Boemer. "It was out of control."
Left as proof of a great party: shards of glass, bottles and more cans than you can count lining the streets.
From manpower to vacuums to power washers, the clean-up stopped at nothing.
Pointing to his power washer, Boemer said, "That's probably one of my better investments at this point. I've been here 30 years and this was far and away the craziest year we've ever had."
Boemer says 16-hour shifts for wait staff paid off with record-breaking sales.
"I would venture to say that if you checked out the other seven bars on the avenue they'd say the same thing," Boemer said.
Even Rice Park got its fair share of party leftovers. It was evidence that most chose not to use the trash cans provided by the city.
"Well, they should clean it up," said St. Paul visitor Sue Flugaur.
While it may disrupt St. Paul's serenity, most business owners say they willingly clean up the chaos.
"Sometimes during the night you think, is it worth it? And ya think, yeah ... it is," Boemer said.
As for how much the extra clean-up costs the city, Public Works says they don't bring in any extra street sweepers. Their usually scheduled sweepers just make more runs.
