St. Patrick’s Day starts early

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17, a full 10 days away, but celebrations began Friday night, as did an increased police presence.

The holiday is traditionally a popular one in Morgantown with downtown bars opening early and people eager to celebrate filling the establishments.

This year though, the holiday falls during West Virginia University’s spring break, so the festivities were to start at 9 p.m. on Friday night with the “Getting’ Shamrocked!” bar crawl, organized by Tru Social. Participants visited seven venues and those who completed the tour received a shirt commemorating the experience.

Today, at least one bar — Fat Daddy’s — will open at noon and will be serving its annual St. Patrick’s Day brunch and drink specials. Other downtown bars will also open early today.

In response to the early celebrations, dubbed the St. Patrick’s High Street Block Party by Tru Social, the Morgantown Police Department started staffing extra officers on Friday, according to Chief Ed Preston. The extra staffing will run through next Saturday, March 14, with a goal of making sure holiday activities are as safe as possible.

The department will be working with other law enforcement agencies and the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, Preston said. Officers will also work with local businesses to identify, seize and charge anyone using fake IDs to try to access bars, clubs or other venues with the intent to buy alcohol while underage.

With the celebrations this weekend, Preston wanted to remind people that drinking in public and possessing open containers of alcohol within Morgantown city limits is prohibited. Also, using fake identification and underage drinking can have “significant consequences to your health, the health of others and your key privileges.”

Displaying or possession of a fake or altered ID card, loaning or giving an ID to a person for a fraudulent purpose and displaying ID not issued to the person showing it all result in a mandatory suspension of driving privileges under West Virginia law, Preston said.

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