Maritime pubs weather pandemic St. Patrick’s Day

At O’Leary’s Pub in Saint John, St. Patrick’s Day is the best day of the year.

“On a normal St. Patrick’s Day it’s very festive,” says co-owner Kevin Ferguson.

“There’s many a person wearing green, having a good time, a lot of singing, a lot of tradition.”

He says that in pre-pandemic times, the holiday saw the pub pull in two weeks’ worth of profit in a single day.

He expects to see one-quarter of that this year, but it’s still a step towards normalcy after staff voluntarily closed the doors in 2020 after weeks of preparation for the big day.

“We were geared up St. Patrick’s Day, therefore we had a lot of stock on hand,” Ferguson says.

He says some kept, while staff gave some away.

New Brunswick hasn’t placed any special restrictions on restaurants and bars ahead of March 17, though occupancy limitations and other pandemic protocols remain in place.

Ferguson says Public Health checked in with him as soon as word got out he’d host St. Paddy’s festivities to ensure the establishment’s safe operation plan was in place.

In Nova Scotia, many pubs keen on their Irish heritage have opted to close down for the day.

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That list includes the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse, where green décor covers the venue.

Co-owner Brendan Doherty says keeping things low-key wouldn’t have been worth it.

“It would be a lot of work for what really would feel like a tainted St. Patrick’s Day,” he says.

“It really, really wouldn’t have felt like a real one.”

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Instead, the pub is asking patrons to consider donating what they might normally spend on a green pint to the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia.

“We said we’ll hold off on this one and do it again next year,” says Doherty.

In Saint John, Ferguson, too, is hoping for a better year in 2021, though not ready to place any bets.

“Hopefully we’re back to normal but we’ll just have to go with the flow.”