Students celebrate St. Patrick's Day from campus to downtown
Mount Pleasant was alive with St. Patrick's Day celebrations — some better advised than others — from Anspach Hall to Main Street.
Harrison Township freshman Timothy Skillman said he celebrated the holiday by staying sober and making sure his Phi Kappa Tau fraternity brothers were being safe.
"I am watching out for my brothers today," Skillman said. "Making sure the house is safe and that everybody is doing OK."
The fraternity associate said he had not seen anything too exciting over the course of his day, but he expected it to pick up.
Evan Agnello said this year's St. Patrick's Day has been mellow compared to years past. The Troy senior said because the holiday is on a weekday, it is much more subdued than if it were on a weekend.
"It's been a great day," he said. "The weather is great, the people are great. It's been a pretty chill day, just hanging out with friends and indulging in some fun."
He said he is trying to make sure he and those around him have a safe day as well.
"If you park here, you stay here," Agnello said. "We have to be responsible.
Ride Safe taxi service owner Chad Kandaris shared Skillman's sentiment, saying business was slow as of 2:30 p.m. but he thought it would get a lot busier later in the day.
"It's my first St. Patty's day today," he said. "Normally it gets really busy around 11:30 (p.m.), but I expect it to be really busy later."
Kandaris said he had class Thursday afternoon, but was excited to get back on the road and see what type of people end up in his taxi.
Ben Breidenstein, a bartender at the Bird Bar & Grill, 223 South Main St., said St. Patrick's Day is the second busiest day of the year for the bar, homecoming aside. The Mount Pleasant resident added that while it was slow as of mid-afternoon Thursday, downtown always gets slammed during the holiday.
"It's always off the hook, I love it today," he said.
Breidenstein said that because business on the holiday is so heavy, the day is always full of excitement.
CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley said that excitement called for a larger staff than he would usually have on duty.
He said he called in extra personnel just in case there are any issues they may have to deal with.
"It's a pretty big day, students are often indulging in a lot of drinking and that can lead to poor decisions like driving and fights," Yeagley said. "With the weather being so nice, we weren't sure exactly how the day would unfold."
As of 5 p.m. Thursday there had only been one major incident when a student was removed from Anspach Hall for being obviously drunk. Yeagley said the student had more than double the legal blood alcohol content to drive and was taken to the hospital via ambulance.
"We just want to keep everybody safe," Yeagley said.
