By Peyton Stinnett
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Many Irish pubs and restaurants are ramping up for a second St. Patrick’s Day during the pandemic. While restrictions have changed since last year, pubs and restaurants are still preparing with safety guidelines and attempting to keep normalcy.
Bill Larney, the co-owner of Looney’s Pub in Canton, and Matt Remsnyder, the owner of Sean Bolan’s in Bel Air, both hope to keep Irish festivities in full swing during their most popular holiday of the year.
This year, Looney’s Pub will be celebrating with bands and specials the weekend prior as well as a brunch and food specials the day of. They are also planning to have a large celebration in September this year to mark the halfway point of St. Patrick’s Day for next year.
“We probably are the strictest following all CDC guidelines around,” Larney said. “All employees must take their temperature before work and if showing any symptoms can’t return until they have a negative test.”
Sean Bolan’s will be at 50% capacity indoors with Irish food and drink specials the weekend prior to and the day of the holiday.
“Even if we had 75% capacity, we can’t do much more since we are so small,” Remsnyder said. “We really need 100% capacity in order to do anything.”
Last year, these pubs were preparing for St. Patrick’s Day when the pandemic hit. Just one day prior to St. Patrick’s Day, Gov. Larry Hogan announced that restaurants will have to shut down and only serve carryout starting at 5 p.m. that day.
“We ended up selling corned beef and cabbage for less than we normally would have sold it, just so we didn’t get stuck with a bunch of products we had prepared for the busiest day of the year,” Remsynder said.
Restaurants across the state had to adjust to keep their businesses open. That struggle—and the community support it has inspired—has now lasted a year.
“The support has been overwhelming,” Larney said. “During lockdown, our employees went above and beyond promoting and helping out. That’s what makes us a Looneys family and why we are successful.”
Many community members acted thoughtfully to support their favorite eateries.
“We started getting takeout from different local places every weekend,” said Matt Sweitzer, a Harford County resident. “I didn’t know what was going to happen, so I didn’t want to see some of my favorite places close.”
As people countdown the day to St. Patrick’s Day and warm weather in 2021, Maryland restaurants are looking forward to the day when it will be business as usual.
“Only plans are patiently waiting to get back to what we do best,” Larney said. “And trust me, it can’t come soon enough.”
1 Comment
Great Article.