Students take shots with shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day
CMU students, graduates celebrate St. Patrick's Day
Dressed in a green tie and a black plaid kilt, Louis Martin sat at The Bird Bar and Grille sipping Guinness beer and Jameson whiskey, celebrating his Irish heritage.
After all, it was St. Patrick's Day, and the bar around him teemed with an electric energy as college students filled their guts with green suds and multicolored shots. He eyes the rowdy crowd around him, filling each table, booth and barstool in the small Mount Pleasant watering hole.
Like many of his boozy brethren, Martin, 26, started drinking at 10 a.m., He did so in a way he described as truly Irish.
"I woke up, cracked a Guinness and watched 'The Boondock Saints,'" the 2013 Central Michigan University graduate said.
Arguably the biggest bar day of the year, rivaled only by Thanksgiving Eve, students flocked to their favorite local hotspots Tuesday to make heady college memories rife with drunken shenanigans.
Almost all of them got an early start, aided by the fact many of the city's bars opened at 9 a.m. The move clearly paid off — eager partiers formed lines outside the door, awaiting entry to the keenly stocked, alcohol-addled fantasy lands.
O'Kelly's Sports Bar and Grill was one of those early entry bars, and a quick drive past the place displayed just how prepared they were for the morning and eventual Pint Night rush. At the building's front entrance, O'Kelly's/Wayside crew constructed a makeshift velvet rope made from sand buckets, wooden planks and caution tape. By midday, the morning crowd had all but dissipated into the bright and sunny afternoon, off to some other bar or St. Patrick's Day adventure.
Melissa Kane, a 2007 graduate and O'Kelly's bartender, said the first group was wild, but remained in control.
"They were ready to go from the minute they got here," she said. "They immediately ordered beers and shots."
Kane said the bar would most likely be slow until 7:30 p.m. The dead period didn't stop the bar's patrons from getting their drink on.
Lulu Culver, a 2014 broadcasting graduate, kept the party moving with her wild getup and slightly slurred speech. Culver draped herself in a fuzzy green coat she bought at the Black Tie Tuxedo and Costume Shop, 1017 S. Mission St.
Seated with a six friends, she enthusiastically ordered a potent combination of green beer and Bailey's Irish Creme shots, a variation on the Guinness-soaked "Irish Car Bomb." After she chugged the solution, Culver wiped her lips and smiled heartily.
"Any alcohol will do," said the 23-year-old broadcasting graduate. "Liquor, beer — we don't segregate."
Downtown, people of all ages rushed across busy streets to make it to their next destination. At 4:30 p.m., The Bird was at near maximum capacity. Lois Breidenstein, the bar's owner, sat sipping beers with her customers, deep in conversation and Irish cheer.
"I have the best business in the world, owning a bar," she said. "And we have some of the best customers in Mount Pleasant. Even if you feel at your worst, you can always walk into a bar, have a beer, talk with people and automatically feel better."
The sound of pool balls crashed loudly in the background, deafened only by music. Sharing Martin's flair for celebration, Seniors Ashleigh Key and Lauren Tierney each wore green mustaches, which they removed and plastered back on after taking another shot.
Earlier, the two visited Midori Sushi and Martini Lounge, 105 E. Broadway St. There, they said they crawled on the bar in a cat-like fashion, much to the delight of the rest of the bar patrons.
By 6 p.m., those who couldn't stomach another drink trailed out of establishments by cab, including those leaving the Blue Gator, another popular hangout for CMU students. Raging since daylight, the ones that stuck around proved their ability to handle their spirits.
On a holiday that is easily classified as a fool's paradise, Shane Taylor kept his composure and sipped his beer responsibly. He too had been drinking since noon, but the Blue Gator was his final stop — Taylor, a senior and president of Student Veterans of America, works early on most mornings.
Taylor served in Iraq in 2006. With military discipline, he made it a point to go to his morning classes — and sober, at that.
"I cracked a beer almost immediately after class," Taylor said. "I had a fresh one waiting for me."
As dusk descended on CMU, students moved en masse to the bars, reenergized and ready for more. Throwing care to the wind, St. Paddy's Day trailed on into the wild night. They may not be all Irish like Martin, or dressed to the nines like Culver, but the spirit of the holiday burned brightly in all who observed it.
"I may not be Irish," said Alex Brayman, 26, and a friend of Culver's. "But it's a hell of a reason to drink at 11 a.m. on Tuesday."
