Rhode Islanders celebrate St. Patrick's Day

Rhode Islanders celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with parades and bar-hopping.

Credit courtesy of NPR.org

Clover

Ri Ra’s Irish Pub in downtown Providence usually opens at 11:30 a.m. on Sundays. But on St. Patrick’s Day  they opened at 9 a.m. and there were plenty of customers to serve.  Manager Mike Coen says having the holiday fall on a Sunday made a difference. "We didn’t know what to make of it and then yesterday we hit record numbers that we hadn’t hit in a while. So for us it’s a plus plus. We get two lashes at it. So we’re very happy about it."

Diana Silva of Attleboro came for the pub’s special Irish breakfast. She describes an Irish breakfast. "Well from what I could see it had black and white pudding. They had bangers and mash. I’m not even sure what that is. I think it’s bacon or something like that."

Others, like Dan Gerard of Cumberland, came to drink.  "I’m drinking Jamieson on the rocks. It’s never too early for Jamieson."

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