St. Patrick’s Day celebrations start early, continue into the night

Jonathan Moser, junior sports administration major, Katie Donati, junior marketing major, and sophomore sports management major Kyle Nova celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Brew Haus.

Credit: John Proppe

Though “Kegs ‘n’ Eggs” had long finished by sunset, Kent city streets continued to run green last night when hundreds flocked downtown to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

By 8 p.m., bars such as The Loft were crammed with people desperate to escape the heavy snowfall with friends and pitchers of green beer.

At Ray’s Place, those who entered were given green beads, hats and plastic horns at the door by bouncers who wondered how many times they would hear Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” that night.

At 9 p.m., on its second level, friends gathered at tables with green mugs and fake wigs.

Senior marketing major Josh Sommers joined junior exploratory major Chad Davidson and junior archeology major Ryan Cosier in noisily blowing on their fake trumpets.

“I came here after I got kicked out of The Loft,” Sommers said. “I was smoking, and they told me to leave. And I poured beer on my head. A word of advice: Pour beer on someone else’s head.”

In the Ray’s Place women’s bathroom, a mother cleaned her green-clad toddler, who had just gotten ill from chocolate milk. They were pushed aside by another women rushing to be ill in one of the stalls.

Meanwhile at the Robin Hood Music Bar, the band Roadside played to a crowd of more than 100 on a dimly lit stage decorated in green balloons. More filtered through the door through the night to meet friends or watch bands Asleep and Bonk.

Next door, the cars of those who made the bad decision to park at Wendy’s were being towed.

By 9:20 p.m., the second level of Mugs Brew Pub and Sports Grill was alive with a DJ, more than 70 drinkers and a lively dance floor.

The most distinguishable dancer was Ravenna resident Dave Lansky, clothed in a green belly shirt, black cyclist pants, knee-high yellow boots and a tall, green, clover-topped hat.

“I dress up every year, but this is definitely my craziest outfit yet,” Lansky said under a dyed-red beard. “But you know, it’s St. Paddy’s Day!”

Close by at BW3, tables were crammed with friends enjoying wings and Guinness in front of wall projections. By 10:30 p.m., four men and women in green hats created a makeshift dance floor between some tables and jumped to Irish punk band Flogging Molly’s “Drunken Lullabies.”

On Water Street, junior leisure studies major Paul Schultz and two of his roommates stumbled out of The Brewhouse to wait for a designated driver to take them home.

“Oh my God, we had such a great time in there,” Schultz said. “We were dancing and drinking all night. This is the best St. Paddy’s ever.”

Contact public affairs reporter Ally Melling at [email protected].