A Penn State tradition -- complete with blue beer, green pizza and students dressed as leprechauns -- entered its third year Saturday, as hordes of students stumbled through the streets of State College before it was even time for breakfast.
The Phyrst, 111 E. Beaver Ave., was full by noon as students dressed in green shirts and beads staggered in and out of the Irish bar.
"Who turned the lights on?" some yelled as they walked into the sunlight. "All this green is making me sick," one student said.
Nick Monroe (senior-mathematics) said he arrived at the Phyrst when it opened -- early Saturday morning.
"It wasn't this bright when we got here," Monroe said.
Across the borough, students were sharing in State Patty's Day cheer. A girl wearing a green skirt with shamrock leggings skipped down Beaver Avenue as people driving cars honked their horns at the pedestrians. Students crowded the balconies of Cedarbrook Apartments, 309 E. Beaver Ave, shouting "Car Bombs" and "State Patty's."
Brian Godiksen (senior-information sciences and technology), one of the three creators of State Patty's Day, said he wanted to minimize trouble this year and "avoid the excuse to drink" reputation that many associate with the day.
This February's celebration, he said Saturday, seemed more responsible than years past.
"I hope to come back in 15 years and see the tradition alive," Godiksen said.
Inside the Phyrst at about 11:30 a.m., Stephanie Opalinski (senior-communications) said she was surprised at the amount of other university students who traveled to State College for State Patty's Day.
"It's cool to see how Penn State can take nothing and turn it into something," Opalinski said. "I don't want to graduate. I'm going to keep coming back for State Patty's Day every year."
Women with green wigs and men with green beards sipped blue-colored beer at The Phyrst while singing along to a live band covering Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone."
A waitress walked by balancing a tray full of beer and shots as a table of four cheered and drank an Irish Car Bomb -- a combination of Guinness, Bailey's Irish Cream and Jameson Irish Whiskey.
Jeffrey Bullock (senior-information sciences and technology) said he was having a great time, but wasn't sure he would last through the whole day.
"I'm going to pass out at 2 p.m. -- but not on purpose," Bullock said.
Prompted by the band, the crowd in the bar erupted in "We are ... Penn State" chants, shaking the tables as some students pulled shamrock decorations from the ceiling. The band then switched to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way," and everyone from inside the bar to the stairs to the front entrance sang along.
Jason Chauvin (senior-aerospace engineering) said he arrived at the bar at 10:30 a.m. and made his way back at about 12:30 p.m. after stopping home to get lunch.
"I love that everybody's friendly and people throw away their inhibitions to get drunk," Chauvin said. "They all embrace State Patty's Day."
