The St. Patrick’s Day that Wasn’t

Does anyone else feel ripped off that we didn’t get to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day today? And the weather in Cleveland is perfect for an Irish holiday…overcast and drizzly so you don’t have to feel guilty about sitting in a bar all day laughing and telling stories with old friends while drinking Irish coffees and Guinness at a very inappropriate time! Coronavirus is playing lots of nasty tricks on us all.
Not having a parade is one thing…not being able to spend the day with dear friends celebrating everything Irish is another. For the last five years, a group of us have been the first folks to walk through the doors when The Flat Iron Cafe opened at 7 a.m. for Kegs & Eggs. Since the Governor smartly shut down all restaurants and bars to try and lessen the impact of COVID-19 on Ohioans, I guess I’ll just have to relive my memories from past years in my head.

The Flat Iron is the oldest Irish pub in Cleveland (opened in 1910) and I am pretty sure that St. Patrick’s Day was their biggest income day of the year. I’m devastated that I can’t help their staff take some of my money this year.

Cleveland’s Irish roots go deep, so I know I’m not the only one who feels like it’s a day of mourning. On my mom’s side of the family, the Sheridan family arrived in the U.S. many generations ago and gave us our Irish roots (I’m also English and German). Regardless of whether you have Irish in you (2010 census showed that over 400,000 of us in NE Ohio claim Irish ancestral roots) to most of us, March 17th is one of our favorite vacation days of the year.

I am grateful I am healthy, have a warm house, plenty of food, beer, wine, and toilet paper. I’m grateful that the man I love is home cooking me corned beef right now. And I am also eternally grateful that my staff is willing to sit tight and help Executive Arrangements weather this storm. Luckily, our business model had most of our 16 employees working remotely anyway, but now my office team is doing the same. We will get through this!