Tuesday, November 24, 2009 East Central Illinois
Unofficial St. Patrick's Day 2008

Merchants: Unofficial 'pretty sane this year'

By: Steve Bauer

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Monday, March 09, 2009

CHAMPAIGN – Anne Johnston, owner of a Campustown flower shop for years, said she spent Friday and Saturday watching young people on Green Street as she usually does for Unofficial St. Patrick's Day.

"They were pretty good, really," Johnston said. "I was really impressed."

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Other campus merchants had mixed reaction to effects of enforcement by police aimed at reducing the number of accidents, injuries and criminal damage to property seen in past years.

Johnston, whose Campus Florist shop is at 609 E. Green St., C, said lines at campus bars were extended down the street in recent years, but not so this year.

"They were pretty sane, this year, on Green Street," Johnston said. "They were pretty well behaved."

The event, first organized in 1996 by Scott Cochrane, owner of several bars on and off campus, was intended to make up for lost revenue when University of Illinois students were going to be out of town for spring break during the actual St. Patrick's Day.

Past problems cited by public officials included accidents and severe intoxication that required hospital treatment, underage drinking, over-crowding at campus bars and vandalism, including people throwing objects from balconies and broken windows. This year, local and state police and Illinois Liquor Control Commission agents checked for liquor and public safety issues.

Cochrane said Monday that his business did not have any problems this year or in the past.

"We never had any problems per se, in our bars, when it was 19-20-year-olds (entry age)," Cochrane said. "We do have people trained. Personally, I think the 19-20-year-olds are safer in the bars than in private parties."

Cochrane said this Unofficial event "was pretty much a non-event," as far as any problems.

"From my perspective, as a businessman, we had a really strong weekend, particularly at Firehaus," 708 S. Sixth St., C. Cochrane said.

Michael La Due of Jon's Pipe Shop, 509 E. Green St. said Unofficial "never has been a problem for this business. Our trade was up and brisk."

La Due, also a Champaign city council member who represents the area, said from what he could see in Campustown, there was less vandalism than in past years.

"I think the wind did more vandalism than the crowd," La Due said.

Michael Jay, director of public relations for Campus Property Management, which has about 1,100 apartments in the campus area, said trash and vandalism problems this year were similar to years past.

He said the company hired extra security for some of its buildings, which "kept it down a bit."

Eric Bussell, franchise owner of the Coldstone Creamery store at 505 E. Green St., C, said he spent an hour and a half Saturday picking up trash, "but that's to be expected."

As far as crowds, Bussell said it appeared to him that it was "much busier" this year, but "a lot more spread out" than in the past.

Bussell said sales were slow Friday because "beer and ice cream don't go together," but business picked up on Saturday and Sunday.

"We had a good weekend," Bussell said.

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