News

By Tim Pallesen    

    Two Delray Beach bars will be allowed outdoor parties during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade — but a ban on outdoor drinking along the parade route remains.

    City commissioners voted unanimously Feb. 11 to allow O’Connor’s Pub and Bru’s Room to serve alcohol in outdoor roped-in areas during the March 15 parade.

    But a push to permit drinking from open containers on Atlantic Avenue failed when only two of five commissioners wanted the green beer to flow.

    City police requested the ban after an estimated 100,000 attended last year’s parade.

    “This will be the first parade in 40-plus years that will be alcohol free,” Police Chief Anthony Strianese told commissioners.

    Commissioners Adam Frankel and Al Jacquet questioned the ban. “There’s a tradition on St. Patrick’s Day,” Frankel said. “People drink beer and watch a parade.”

    But Mayor Cary Glickstein and Commissioners Shelly Petrolia and Angeleta Gray supported the ban. “If that makes it a bummer, I’m sorry,” Petrolia said.

    Resident Eileen Burns gave commissioners a petition with 462 signatures asking that the alcohol ban be lifted. About 30 bar patrons carrying empty red beer cups attended the meeting.

    “I know we look like party animals,” Burns told commissioners. “But this ban would prevent children from attending the parade because their parents need a beer once in awhile.”

    Strianese opposed the waivers to allow the two off-street bars to serve alcohol outdoors, saying private security guards have been unable in past years to stop drinkers from carrying alcohol outside the roped-in areas.

    “Bars haven’t done well in keeping patrons from roaming,” the police chief said.

    The owners of O’Connor’s Pub and Bru’s Room promised to do better this year.

    “Everyone at this event is either Irish or they want to be Irish,” said David Schmidt, the attorney for O’Connor’s. “They’re going to want to find an Irish bar if they can.”

    The city also has granted a permit that allows Festival Management Group to serve beer after the parade at the Center for the Arts at Old School Square.