Two days after a bar owner committed to celebrating St. Patrick's Day two weeks early, the crusade continues.

Bar owners are meeting this morning to discuss a joint effort in promoting the holiday, which falls on the spring break holiday. As of yesterday, Sports Café, 244 W. College Ave., and the Gingerbread Man, 130 Hiester St., showed interest in participating in the March 2 move.

"We've heard about it. We're getting together with some other bars to see how we're going to handle it," said Justin Kramm, owner of the Gingerbread Man. "We don't know exactly what we're going to do yet, but there seems to be a lot of support from students."

Joe Segen (senior-Japanese) and Mike Owens (senior-finance) said they have been approaching local bars with the idea for a celebration on March 2 -- "Patrick's the Saints Day," as they've dubbed it. Others have been calling it "State Patty's Day"

Brooks Fisher, manager of the Sports Café, 244 W. College Ave. said the duo came to him wondering if the bar wanted to participate. "It's still up in the air. We've already talked about having something on March 2," Fisher said.

Segen and Owens' plan is to unify the bars and student body on March 2 -- much like the movement on Facebook.com, which boasts the club "The Official Group to Move St. Patrick's Day 2007." As of yesterday, the group had nearly 3,300 members.

However, not all bars have decided to move their St. Patrick's Day festivities.

"We're celebrating it on St. Patrick's Day," said Leigh Lindsey, manager of Mad Mex, 240 S. Pugh St.

Joe Veltre (junior-biochemistry and molecular biology), creator of the Facebook group, said he has been planning to make T-shirts and fliers to promote the move.

Segen and Owens said they are no longer just focusing on bar participation. Their main focus is to get people to celebrate March 2, Owens said.

"We wake up on March 2 and it's St. Patricks Day ... that is our only concern and driving force," Owens said.

For Segen, this year would be his first opportunity to visit the bars on St. Patrick's Day.

"I was shocked because now I'm a senior and I can go out because I'm 21; it upset me," Segen said. "Every year, money and resources get pooled into this holiday. It's the bars' biggest day and everyone has a great time."

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon has said he "would have concerns" about the holiday move, adding that more alcohol "is in no way good for the community."

Last year on St. Patrick's Day, the university experienced many alcohol-related incidents, including an accident where student Ryan P. Walton fell from a sixth story window while attending a party in Beaver Hall.

State College Police Department Sgt. Mark Argiro said last year police handed out almost 30 alcohol-related citations to unruly people before noon on St. Patrick's Day and responded to 167 calls throughout the day.

However, bar owners seem eager to reap the benefits of an early St. Patrick's Day -- a day that has no doubt provided hefty revenue in the past.

"I'm sure, whether all the bars do something together or just collectively support the idea to move, it'll be a makeshift holiday," Kramm said. "We'll know within the next week what kind of special activities we'll have going on."