STEADY ST. PADDY’S DAY CROWDS FILE INTO BARS
Revelers make their way to city establishments
In a pandemic, when routines are turned upside down, there are some traditions that people want to keep.
For many, it wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without wearing green, putting on a silly hat and some bright-colored beads, taking the day off and going to an Irish pub for drinks and merriment with friends.
The day started off slow as O’Toole’s in downtown Royal Oak had about a dozen customers shortly after it opened at 10 a.m. It had a large outdoor tent with only two occupants.
The bar would usually have people waiting to get in on St. Patrick’s Day, said owner Robin Silveri. She expected it to pick up around noon.
She was right.
By the evening, O’Toole’s had a line around the corner of revelers waiting to get inside the tent. Meanwhile, Royal Oak police sat parked at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Center Street, just down the street from the popular watering hole, keeping an eye on not only conduct but also capacity.
Several surrounding establishments were starting to see growing capacity as the evening went on.
The owner of a bar in the Pontiac area explained the thought process of customers there in spite of calls by health officials to maintain distancing due to the pandemic.
“This is their tradition. We have regulars who’ve been coming here for 30 years,” said Erin Meilak, owner of Kennedy’s Irish Pub in Waterford Township.
The bar opened at 7 a.m. as usual this year. There wasn’t the customary long line to get in as the first customers entered, but business was still brisk.
Meilak assigned workers to count customers as they came in. Under the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, bars and restaurants are only allowed 50% of their regular capacity.
Meilak said full capacity of 175 would mean customers standing all over the bar on St. Patrick’s Day. This year, everyone had a seat inside. Additional customers sat at tables outside or in a tent.
Normally, live bands play Irish music on this holiday. But, Meilak said, Irish bands tend to be older musicians, and they didn’t want to risk getting COVID-19. So she piped in recorded Irish tunes.
Customers weren’t concerned about the possibility of contracting the virus.
“Everyone’s wearing masks. They’re following the rules,” said longtime Kennedy’s patron Sue Smith of Waterford.
Customer Missie Sleeseman of Farmington Hills said she had been vaccinated against the virus and didn’t see any reason not to keep her tradition of taking the day off for St. Patrick’s Day and having fun and was surprised there weren’t more people at O’Toole’s as it opened Wednesday morning.