Chicago’s annual river-dyeing and St. Patrick’s Day parades had been canceled, however inexperienced beer and Irish whiskey nonetheless flowed Saturday in River North, the place masses flocked to rejoice regardless of officers’ pleas for “social distancing” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
People wearing festive sun shades of inexperienced, leprechaun most sensible hats and shamrock headbands covered the bars and golf equipment scattered all over the Near North Side group. Inside, companies had been complete — however no longer too crowded.
“With the virus going around, we’re taking care to make sure we don’t have too big of crowds in here today,” mentioned a bouncer out of doors Celeste, a nightclub at 111 W. Hubbard St.
The bouncer, who declined to percentage his title, mentioned Celeste additionally stocked up readily available sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, that have been positioned all over the nightclub for everybody to make use of.
People rejoice St. Patrick’s Day out of doors O’Callaghan’s in River North on Saturday, although the once a year St. Patrick’s Day parades had been canceled.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Down the road, a gaggle of pals ready to get into The Boss Bar handed round a flask of whiskey and a bottle of hand sanitizer. They chased each and every shot with a pump of sanitizer to disinfect their arms.
“I’m not about to put my life on hold because this is going around,” mentioned Kyle Thomas, a nurse from Colorado who flew in to rejoice St. Patrick’s Day together with his Chicago pals.
Thomas mentioned he had deliberate the go back and forth to Chicago months in the past, and even though he was once “taking the coronavirus seriously,” he wasn’t about to cancel plans.
“I’m being careful, I’ve got my hand sanitizer, and I’m washing my hands,” Thomas mentioned. “So much has already been canceled and we might be overreacting.”
Meanwhile, at a Saturday information convention pronouncing 18 new instances of coronavirus that introduced Illinois’ general to 64, Gov. J.B. Pritzker scolded the throngs of younger individuals who ventured out to birthday party.
“We need you to follow social distancing guidelines too,” Pritzker mentioned. “You can have the unintended tragic effect of spreading COVID-19 to others who are more vulnerable.”
A River North bartender who requested to not be known mentioned she had combined emotions concerning the festivities.
“St. Patrick’s Day is our busiest day of the year, so all the servers here have been worried about this virus affecting our tip money,” she mentioned. “But on the other hand, I don’t want to get sick or have an outbreak in our restaurant because of days like this.”
She mentioned her managers had been at the fence about whether or not they must cancel their St. Patrick’s Day occasions, however in the end determined to not as a result of “we need the money.”
“I’m trying not to think about the virus, but I am scared,” she mentioned. “I don’t get health insurance through my job because I don’t work enough hours, so I better not get sick here.”
The St. Patrick’s Day parades had been canceled Saturday amid COVID-19 fears, however other people nonetheless flocked to River North to rejoice the vacation.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Caroline Lake was once additionally involved. She had paid $39 prematurely for a River North pub move slowly, however reached out to its organizers overdue Friday to invite for a reimbursement.
Lake mentioned she was once being a “smart citizen” via heeding the recommendation of the governor and public well being officers to keep away from massive public gatherings. But as of mid-day Saturday the pub move slowly was once in complete swing and she or he had no longer heard again from the organizer, an organization referred to as Promo Se7en.
”They must be serious about the higher problems right here,” Lake mentioned. “They’re adding to the problem.”
Representatives for Promo Se7en didn’t straight away reply to a request for remark, however the corporate posted that the development would occur as deliberate without a refunds for ticket-holders who exchange their thoughts.
“Although, the City of…