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Pelham Celebrates St. Patrick's Day

PELHAM, N.Y. – Green was the prevalent color throughout Pelham on a beautiful Saturday as residents and businesses celebrated St. Patrick’s Day — and some even ventured down to the city to catch the famous parade.

Dr. William McKenna, who works at McKenna Family Chiropractic in Pelham, went into the city with his wife, Danielle McKenna, but they came back to Pelham because, he said, it was just “too much.”

“The parade was extremely busy and extremely packed,” said McKenna, who was decked out in green. “It’s a Saturday, a lot of families are down there, a beautiful day, a lot of teenagers down there. But all of the side streets are closed off. So if you get off at Grand Central Station, 42nd Street, you gotta walk up, I’d say, till at least the 60s before they let you cross over to the parade.”

He said that when he and his wife were coming back from the city, “there had to be 200 people going down [to the city]. It’s packed, absolutely packed,” he said. “There’s definitely millions down there because you cannot walk.”

The City Island couple planned on going to Woodlawn to William’s “favorite Irish Pub” to enjoy the day.

At the Depot Market on Fifth Avenue, the phone was ringing and people were placing lunch orders for St. Patrick’s Day-themed food. The menu featured potato leek soup, the shamrock sandwich (corned beef with swiss cheese, coleslaw, pickles and Russian dressing on rye bread), corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, Gallway Guinness stew and Dublin fish and chips, in addition to green bagels.

Across the street at The Public House Sports Bar, bartender Frankie O. was hoping for a strong night crowd coming home from the parade.

“Hopefully, we get people coming back from the parade, so it should be crazy,” said O. “Big day today, so everyone will have a great evening.”

While the day was slow over at Village Wine and Liquor, Richard Altobelli III said  the store would “be open all day, like a regular day,” and that people had been coming to get whiskey.

“To be honest, we’re not too busy,” Altobelli said. “I guess some people do come in maybe for some Jameson whiskey and some Bushwicks because of the Irish whiskey. Some get Bailey’s. They’re going to parties – maybe they’re going to some kind of event or festival.”

At Pelham Bakery, owner Paul Maldari and two co-workers were sporting green T-shirts in honor of the day, but also thinking ahead to St. Joseph’s Day on Monday.

“We celebrate not only St. Patrick’s, but St. Joseph’s at the same time,” Maldari said of the various treats he was selling, including Irish soda bread, cupcakes, cannolis with green sprinkles and shamrock-shaped cookies. “It’s a celebration all around.”

The Italian bakery owner was proud to be Irish for at least one day.

“We’re all Irish today – even though we’re really not,” he said with a laugh.

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