St. Patrick's Day & March Madness Align To Create 'Perfect Day'
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Day one of March Madness means it's likely many brackets are ripe with sadness. Or maybe you're feeling like the smartest person in your pool?
WCCO's Jeff Wagner caught up with fans putting a St. Patrick's Day twist on the popular tournament's opening night.
A little bit of luck awaits beyond the doors of the party tent at Shamrock Grill and Pub in St. Paul, where a sea of green, grins and good vibes packed place since nearly sunrise.
"It was jammed already at 9:30 this morning," said Dan Casper, general manager.
A party like the one they threw Thursday has been a long time coming, with the pandemic cancelling the festivities in 2020 and restricting them last year.
"I feel that we're getting back towards normal," said Pat, a happy local customer.
"You can tell that everyone out here can feel that it's back to normal and I think that's why the volume [of customers] is here, certainly today," Casper said.
If it's not an Irish pub that's packed, it's a sports bar -- as NCAA basketball fans have their eyes glued to the screens for all the March Madness.
"It's time to come together as a city through sports, through drinks, through food. It's good for the soul," said Cam K. as he sat with friends at Station 280 in St. Paul.
The social aspect of enjoying the tournament with others was palpable. Looking down at your bracket after the first round of games however?
"It's not great," joked Redmon Wallace.
"As long as North Carolina wins, that's all that matters to me," said Cam.
Nearly every table was filled around dinner time at the popular sports bar, with many customers also sporting some green given the holiday.
"March Madness is my favorite time of year. St Patrick's Day just starting March Madness is like a cherry on top," said Redmon. "You don't have many perfect days in the world. Today's a perfect day."
"It's live. It's chaotic but a good chaos," said a smiling Cam.
And that chaos is far from finished.
"I think with March Madness, you just got to create a weekend of it," said Wallace. "I think this is the first stop of tonight, maybe another stop tonight, then we got more places to go tomorrow, we got more places Saturday."