Two Years in Pandemic, Bars Look at St. Patrick's Day to Rebound

March 17 is a big day for those of Irish descent, and, likewise, it's also an important time for bars and restaurants in cities that celebrate St. Patrick's Day, especially given the pandemic the past two years.

According to WalletHub, which ranked 200 cities for their St. Patrick's Day events, the top four cities in the United States for St. Patrick's Day celebrations are Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York City. However, while COVID restrictions are starting to be removed in major cities across the country, things are not entirely back to normal for bars and restaurants yet.

Coming in second overall, beaten only by Philadelphia, Boston was ranked number one in the poll for their St. Patrick's Day traditions. Their bars and restaurants are also still on the mend following 2020 and 2021.

However, Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said in a statement in response to Newsweek, that he does expect St. Patrick's Day 2022 to be much better for bars and restaurants.

"While we expect this will be far better than the non-existent St. Patrick's Day the past two years, it will be a far cry from the numbers we have historically seen. Boston has been the slowest large city across the country to recover from the Covid migration to the suburbs," he said.

Luz went on to detail just how important St. Patrick's Day has been to the city of Boston and its many pubs and restaurants.

"Boston has the highest Irish population of Irish in the USA, and that only counts those with actual lineage, not all the others who dubiously claim a small percentage of green blood. Thus St. Patrick's Day in the greater Boston area is a very important day, in pre-COVID days it certainly was number one sales day of the year for every Irish Pub/Restaurant around," he said.

Chicago was ranked fourth overall, also claiming fourth place for holiday-specific traditions. Sam Toia, the president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said in a statement to Newsweek that given the two previous years, Chicago is looking forward to St. Patrick's Day 2022.

"After a tumultuous two years, St. Patrick's Day is a welcome celebration. Restaurants and bars throughout Chicago have been eager to offer enjoyable and safe experiences to patrons all week long. This is a much needed boost for many places that will help them cover their rent, make payroll, and keep their businesses on a steady path to recovery," he said.

New York City missed a top ten spot, coming in one short. While the city ranks sixth for traditions, it's also found to be safer than Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Melissa Fleischut, the president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association, in an interview with Newsweek, recalled the two previous St. Patrick's Days.

"In St. Patrick's Day March of 2020, we were completely shut down. So no one was allowed to be open at all. Last year, I'm going to guess we were back open. I seem to recall everybody being able to open in New York City right before Valentine's Day of 2021. But I think there were still some restrictions probably still in place. So, you know, I would say there was probably restrictions in place last year that weren't this year," she said.

Fleischut said, in the Big Apple, St. Patrick's Day is more important for the bars than it is for the restaurants.

"It's one of the bigger holidays, certainly for the bar industry. The restaurant side has other days that are bigger. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day are still bigger than St. Patrick's Day."

She went to detail just how much green people have dropped on the day of green in years past.

"I was able to find some information on the National Restaurant Association's website that they attribute back to Wallethub that said in 2019 consumers spent about $5.6 billion on St. Patrick's Day nationwide," she said.

According to Wallethub, beer sales increase more than 170 percent on St. Patrick's Day when compared to the other 364 days of the year.