Mobile’s famed Callaghan’s Irish Social Club held its 74th annual St. Patrick’s Day party on Saturday — but the coronavirus state of emergency forced a party that looked nothing like years past.
With Alabama under a coronavirus emergency declaration, the City of Mobile barred gatherings of more than 500 people. Owner John Thompson’s answer: move the bands inside and set tables on only a small slice of the street instead of taking over the whole block. Large empty tents lined the unused portion of the street.
‘We Need to Pay the Vendors’
Thompson said the event takes six months of planning and that canceling outright wasn’t something he could do in good conscience to vendors, bands or staff.
“We need to pay the vendors, we need to pay the bands, we need to pay the staff,” Thompson said. “If people can’t understand that, I’m sorry. I understand the health concerns — if they feel like they’re at risk, then I ask them not to come down.”
The scaled-back celebration captured the moment for Mobile businesses in March 2020: Thompson said he worried about his staff and neighboring establishments if the virus lockdown worsened in the days ahead.