The State College Tavern Association has made no specific plans to keep downtown bars operating during State Patty’s Day 2013, association President and Director of Operations at Dante's Inc. Jennifer Zangrilli said.
Zangrilli said this in response to University Park Undergraduate Association President Courtney Lennartz’s statement at Wednesday’s UPUA meeting. Lennartz said that the association decided to keep bars open for State Patty’s Day weekend because they lost nearly $100,000 dollars in revenue last year from not opening.
Lennartz clarified her statement in an email Thursday to Zangrilli, stating that a member of the association told her that his bar would not shut down this State Patty’s Day. She said the member said he had met with other members of the association who have said the same thing because of the amount of revenue they lost by not opening.
During State Patty’s Day 2012, which took place on Feb. 25, more than 10 downtown bars closed early or entirely based on the efforts of the State Patty’s Day Task Force, which was formed last year in order to curb the negative effects of the event, as previously reported.
The State College Tavern Association has not met since February, Zangrilli said.
“[The association] operates as a source of support and to help solve problems,” Zangrilli said. “It does not look to demand or put any restrictions on each of the businesses. Everyone has the ability to make decisions for themselves.”
Zangrilli also said it is too early to tell if all the bars will remain open for State Patty’s Day.
Although it is months away and nothing is official, some bars have said that they will be open for State Patty’s Day 2013.
Kevin Carpin, assistant manager at Kildare’s Irish Pub, 538 E. College Ave., said that while he is not sure if the bar will be open on State Patty’s Day, currently their plan is to stay open. Carpin said that if they do stay open, they will most likely close early at 10 p.m., as they did during last year’s State Patty’s Day.
Molly Wisniewski, general manager at Mad Mex, 240 S. Pugh St., said that Mad Mex is open every State Patty’s Day and always operates under normal hours. She said the only difference in State Patty’s Day activity is that they’re staffed in higher numbers.
