Halifax goes green with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations

Day drinkers, Irish revelers, and those who might be pretending they're Irish for the day, raised glasses of green beer to celebrate the day at Dirty Nelly's Irish Pub in Halifax.

This St. Paddy's Day marks the first in a few years without any public health restrictions in place and the popular Irish pub was at capacity well before the noon hour.

"There's definitely a lot of sick days and a lot of vacation days being taken by people in town this Friday," said Niall McGuinness, general manager at Dirty Nelly's Irish Pub.

"Last year there was only seating so it basically cut out capacity in half," said McGuinness. "This year it's nice to do Paddy's day full on and being a Friday, the party will likely carry on all weekend.

Outside the pub, the lines were steady since sun up.

Among the crowd waiting to get in, decked out in green and wearing shamrock scarf was 85-year-old Patricia DeViller who made the trip from Yarmouth, N.S., to celebrate her birthday Friday.

"I've been wanting to do this for years," said DeViller. "This was on my bucket list and finally it happened today."

It looked a little green across the harbour in Dartmouth, where the Irish spirit was high at the New Scotland Brew Pub.

Owner Scott Saccary said they brew an oat lager with a touch of green, specifically for St. Paddy's day. It was the beer of choice at the brewpub.

"We'll be pumping a lot of beer through this place today I'm sure," said Saccary. "I had to go down to storage and get some more glassware for the extra crowds coming through."

It’s not all about the drink either, says Saccary, it's all about the Irish music and also the food.

As St. Patrick's Day is also known as The Feast of Saint Patrick.

In the kitchen, the smell of an Irish stew spreads through the pub.

"Here we have our Irish stew," said New Scotland Brew Pub chef Brandon Sampson.  "It's made up of some potato, carrot, rutabaga, some slow braised brisket and we added our Low Lander Stout to it and it's served up with a biscuit."

A lot of preparation goes into this celebration and businesses are hoping to bring in a lot of green as well.

"Paddy's day is the biggest day for most bars and restaurants," said Saccary. "The Last few years have been tough for a lot of business owners and establishments."