The St. Patrick's Day parade is back in New Haven, after two consecutive years of cancellations due to the pandemic.
"Oh my gosh so excited," said Parade President Joan Conlon.
She and city officials announced the return of the parade on Monday, pointing to a drop in COVID numbers and the safety of outdoor events.
"And we absolutely wanted to make sure that public safety is first," Conlon said. "More important than the parade is to make sure everyone is safe, so we feel comfortable, we feel good, and we are ready to go."
The Parade Committee continued its work over the past two years, even though their larger event was sidelined.
“Just walking to the place we called it. Trying to help out different restaurants and just lending our help because we couldn’t parade,” Conlan said. Very excited to see it coming out."
As many as 100,000 people can return to the city along the parade route to see more than 100 groups marching through the streets. The day is big for those who enjoy the event, and equally big is the financial boost to the bars and restaurants.
Trinity Bar owner Shane Carty said, "Crazy multiplied by a hundred."
He sees it as a return to businesses in New Haven, and a return to the Irish bar that hasn't seen a St. Patrick's Day parade in four years. In 2017 a fire shut them down for almost a year and a half. Then, the pandemic struck on their big day.
“We had everything in the basement – beer, all the food in the kitchen. And then the day before the plug was pulled. And then we put off the next day for four months, I think it was,” Carty said.
Now, they are ready once again.
"We have live bands here, we have live music, we'll have a tent outside, a lot."
In Prime 16, it will be a first for bartender and server Bianca de Jesus.
"I'm very excited to love serving more people so they can be out and about and interact with each other," De Jesus said.
The mayor warned that COVID protocols are still in place indoors and urged people to still keep safety in mind. There may be patrols to make sure those restrictions are being followed, he said.
Even with those rules in place, Carty is excited to be back to normal as much as possible.
"As a restaurant and bar owner, I'm just happy. Not only for my own bar and all the staff that work here, but for every other bar in New Haven."