Local

Southie parade weekend gets off to a booming start for businesses

BOSTON — Businesses are seeing a pot of gold with St Patrick’s Day holiday with the Southie parade lining up on the same weekend.

South Boston goes all in on St. Patrick’s Day. “I’m not even Irish for real but I’m going to celebrate with yall,” said one man.

This year the timing puts the holiday on the front end of the weekend and the Southie parade on the back end.

Christine Carney runs Al’s Liquors on West Broadway and they are gearing up for a busy few days. “I think it is going to be steady, busy all weekend,” said Carney.

Michael Place is a vendor and he had lines of people on Friday looking for anything green to wear. “They come out and do their thing. Then they come back and do it again,” said Pace.

Elected leaders and police say they have extensive resources in place to keep everyone safe. We caught up with State Senator Nick Collins who has been involved with some of the preparations. “Being engaged early out in the suburbs as folks are coming into Boston to make sure anybody looking to start trouble is going to be held accountable,” said Collins.

Robert Fitzharris has all hands on deck at his restaurant, Roza Lyons, on East Broadway. “Throw in March Madness on top of that and will be busy all weekend,” said Fitzharris.

The parade, for the first time in years, will go the entire route including Dorchester Heights. That means a longer celebration. “Boston does it best,” one woman yelled.

The parade on Sunday begins at 1 pm. Restaurants and liquor stores near the parade route have agreed to close at 4.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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