Excited revelers and grateful businesses celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – For the first time in two years, it was business as usual on St. Patrick’s Day in Cleveland. The parade went off without a hitch and businesses were packed full of patrons.

“The city is so alive, and it feels like just back to normal, it’s so much fun,” said parade-goer Samantha Magyar.

Thursday was the perfect day for a St. Patrick’s Day comeback in Cleveland, with gorgeous sunny weather and a lot of people ready to make up for two years of lost time.

“It’s so nice to see everyone out in the nice weather and to see everyone out, no mask mandates,” said Dominick Cefarati, who was celebrating the holiday in the Flats.

“It feels so fun to be back in the city and celebrating,” said Magyar. “St Patrick’s Day holds a huge place in my heart. It’s my birthday so it’s so fun to be able to have the parade again and be back down here celebrating with everyone.”

For businesses, the holiday was an opportunity for them to make up some of the money they lost during the pandemic.

“It’s refreshing,” said Sarah Allooh, bartender at Gillespie’s Map Room. “It’s exuberant. I love seeing people coming out of their shells. People that I haven’t seen in over two years. It’s really nice to see the city come back together.”

The Map Room opened its doors bright and early at 9 a.m. Thursday morning, and staff members said they’ve seen five times the number of customers as they did this time last year.

“I’ve been looking forward to it all year,” said Allooh. “It’s the first time we’ve had a parade in two years, so we had high expectations, especially with above 60 degrees.”

Map Room General Manager Jackie Morere says it was just a few big events that helped them to survive all the COVID-19 restrictions.

“All-Star weekend was really great. Especially the home Browns games, that was awesome too,” Morere said. “So we were fortunate to make it through the shutdown and be able to open back up, and now with business back to normal. We’re doing really really good.”

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