AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: No amount of snow can put a stop to Green Beer Sunday
(Sound of Bagpipes)
Isabella Galan (Reporter): Green Beer Sunday– it has bagpipes, beer, and this year, BIG piles of snow. Savannah Kraus, a returning participant, says this year the weather brought even more passion for the festivities.
Savannah Kraus: We finally have winter, so now the people who actually really want to be here, they come out and dress warm.
Galan: And oh were there a lot of people, like Fred Sykes, who cared enough to brave the icy conditions.
Fred Sykes: Oh yea no. Ice and snow, has no chance against us.
Galan: Owner of Coleman’s Irish Pub Dennis Coleman continues to keep his family legacy alive every year, regardless of the weather.
Dennis Coleman: This is a typical Green Beer Sunday. We’ve got lucky some years where it’s been 50 or 60 degrees. But 33 and cloudy, that’s Syracuse baby, we’ll take it.
Galan: A little bit of orange, and a whole lot of green, nothing can keep Syracuse from coming together. Isabella Galan, N-C-C News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Green Beer Sunday is a Syracuse tradition that kicks off the Saint Patrick’s Day season with a whole lot of laughter and even more beer. Thousands of people flooded Tipperary Hill all decked in green to get a taste of the magic.
While tradition is the main pillar of the Syracuse holiday, this year’s weather made the day a little bit different than previous years. Savannah Kraus, a renturning participant of Green Beer Sunday, says the weather shows how much passion the city has for the celebration.
“We finally have winter, so now the people who actually really want to be here, they come out and dress warm,” Kraus said.
With piles of snow on every corner, attendees used the banks to their advantage. Some stood on top of the piles to get height over the crowd to view the parade, while others used them as make-shift coolers to place their drinks. However, the mounds did pose complications for some. Margaret DeLorenzo, a viewer of the parade, said her traditional parade spot was completely blocked by snow.
“We usually stand under that tree, but not this year! We have got a pretty hefty snowbank over there,” DeLorenzo remarked.
Redgardless of the snowy and icy sidewalks, people of all ages found the positive and celebrited the Irish spirit by watching Irish step dancers, listening to traditional bagpipes and drinking lots of green beer. Dennis Coleman, owner of Coleman’s Irish Pub, said there was nothing that would stop Green Beer Sunday from taking place and disrupting the Coleman family tradition and the weather only added to the spirit of Syracuse.
“This is a typical Green Beer Sunday. We’ve got lucky some years where it’s been 50 or 60 degrees. But 33 and cloudy, that’s Syracuse baby, we’ll take it, ” Coleman said.
No amount of snow has stopped Green Beer Sunday before, and it certainly will not any time soon. The kickoff to Saint Patrick’s Day has officially begun, and the legacy of Coleman’s Irish Pub continues through every temperature.