DENVER — A unique hybrid-holiday took over Denver on Thursday as it was St. Patrick’s Day and the beginning of March Madness at the Pepsi Center.
Thousands of St. Patrick’s Day celebrators descended on Denver’s bars and restaurants. People lined up outside LoDo’s Bar and Grill beginning at 5 a.m. for the annual “Kegs and Eggs” event, which featured beer, breakfast and live music from acts such as Nathanial Rateliff and Saint Motel.
“Everybody is out here celebrating. Everybody is having a lot of fun,” said Connor King, who attended the early-morning celebration.
By the afternoon, Denver’s streets near Market and 20th streets had been turned into a sea of green. The Denver Police Department closed a small stretch of Market Street to accommodate the crowds.
“Today we’ll probably put 2,000 to 3,000 people through the gate. Parade day, last Saturday, 13,000 to 14,000,” Fado Irish Pub’s head of security Stephen Materkowski said.
Fado and other Irish-themed restaurants and bars in Denver said the week surrounding St. Patrick’s Day is their most profitable of the entire year.
This year is different because the day fell on the first day of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and four of the 16 first-round games were played at the Pepsi Center.
Society Sports and Spirits is a small, locally owned whiskey bar that also claims to be the biggest and best Iowa State alumni bar in Colorado.
While the rest of the neighborhood was dripping in green decor, Society wrapped trees outside in red and gold streamers with red and gold balloons.
“It’s Saint Cyclone Day today,” joked one of the bar’s owners, Will Evans.
Iowa State played the first game at the Pepsi Center and beat Iona, 94-81. It will play Arkansas Little Rock on Saturday.
Fans from all over the country have made the trek to Denver to cheer on their teams in person. Close to 1,500 Iowa State fans are in Denver for the tournament. That does not include the other seven schools that competed at the Pepsi Center.
“Having the games at the Pepsi Center is one of the greatest things to have happen to our bar in the last three years,” Evans said.
By 2 p.m. Thursday, Evans said his business had already surpassed profits from Super Bowl Sunday, which was its most profitable day since it opened three years ago. Citywide, Denver will likely see tens of millions of dollars poured into its local economy from St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness.