One year after the St. Patrick's party raged, Chicago bars say they can't risk bending the rules: 'The challenging part will be turning people away'

CHICAGO — Masks and social distancing are about to meet their stiffest test to date: St. Patrick's Day. The booziest weekend of the year for many Chicago bars will run headlong into a buzz saw of COVID-19 restrictions, and several St. Patrick's Day hot spots say they are committed to subdued celebrations — because there is no other choice. "The rules are the rules," said Bobby McGuire, the second-generation owner of Butch McGuire's bar in the Gold Coast. "The challenging part will be turning people away." Parades have been canceled for a second consecutive year, and restaurant and bar capacity will be limited by COVID-19 restrictions — not to mention those masks and social distance — but bar operators still expect healthy St. Patrick's Day crowds. A typical Saturday before St. Patrick's Day sees Butch McGuire's packed to its usual capacity of 235 from opening at 9 a.m. until its 2 a.m. close. This year, Butch McGuire's took reservations for seated parties of six with 6 feet between tables, and sold out this week. No walk-ins will be allowed. McGuire said there will be little tolerance for people flouting the rules that have become second nature during the pandemic. Some people may feel emboldened to ignore them on one of the most festive days of the year, but that's one reason the bar is hiring extra security. "In a normal year, 3 percent of customers can be problematic. And it's the same with the masks and rules — a low percentage that have a hard time comprehending that the rules apply to them," McGuire said. "My philosophy has always been keep your problems outside. Anyone we think will be a problem, we won't let in." The city's department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection says it will be watching. Throughout much of the pandemic, BACP investigators have looked for COVID-19 violations in bars and restaurants on weekends between 1 p.m. and 2 a.m. This weekend, it will expand the practice from 7 a.m. until 2 a.m. The agency will also conduct enforcement checks on St. Patrick's Day itself, though details have yet to be announced. BACP sent guidance this week to businesses with liquor licenses, saying COVID-19 regulations will be "strictly enforced on St. Patrick's Day and the surrounding weekends." Fines for violating COVID-19 regulations can go as high as $10,500, along with a one-day closure or an indefinite shutter until a plan to safely reopen is approved. Many of the restrictions are anathema to the usual free-flowing St. Patrick's Day festivity: Customers must wear masks at all times except when seated and actively eating or drinking; drinks can only be ordered while seated; dancing isn't allowed; activities such as darts and pool are permitted, but patrons cannot eat or drink while doing them and must wear face coverings. Bars and restaurants also remain beholden to capacity limits, which are currently set at 50% or 50 people per space, whichever is less. Lines outside bars and restaurants are "strongly discouraged," said BACP, which noted that businesses will be held responsible for the behavior of people waiting to get in; they must also wear masks and maintain 6 feet of distance. The agency is also discouraging bar crawls and party busses. Some operators who traditionally feast on St. Patrick's Day are sitting out this year. Peter Shen, founder of MPC Events, faced criticism for pushing ahead with 10 St. Patrick's Day bar crawls last year. This year, he said, it was "obvious" that he shouldn't organize any such events. Other bar crawl organizers have followed suit. Events still taking reservations as recently as Thursday have canceled weekend activities. "Last year was much more unknown, but now I think it's just better to be slow and right than fast and regretting," Shen said. "I definitely want to do events again, but limited until we're ready for normal. But that might not be until later this year." Last St. Patrick's Day arrived at a strange moment, where the enormity of the public health crisis was swiftly coming into view, but still not fully understood or taken seriously. Robust crowds turned out to celebrate the holiday March 14, 2020, the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day. Former President Donald Trump had declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency one day earlier after previously (and subsequently) downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic. Social distancing was still a new concept, and mask wearing wasn't yet conventional wisdom. Shutdown orders for bars and restaurants across the nation began as soon as the next day. McGuire said St. Patrick's Day 2020 was "an off year for sure," but still busy and lacking mitigation efforts. "Nothing was really official yet — no occupancy rules, no social distancing, no mask rules, none of those things in place yet," he said. Dominique Simonetti, the bar's operations manager, said that "mistakes were made" last St. Patrick's Day, "not just us, but society as a whole." "I think this year will be better than last because people realize the enormity of what we have been facing," she said. For bars hosting events this year, BACP encouraged reservation systems to control crowds. Many bars, including Butch McGuire's, are doing so. Its seatings today — from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. — were sold out by Thursday. McGuire said customers are made aware of the restrictions, such as showing up on time and not bringing extra people, and are reminded with subsequent emails. Fatpour Tap Works, which opened for the first time since October on Wednesday, put its Saturday morning St. Patrick's Day offerings on sale this week: packages for parties of two to 12 people ranging in price from $100 to $475 and featuring hard seltzers, Miller Lites, champagne and appetizers. As of Thursday afternoon, the Ukrainian Village bar had sold nearly half the packages, general manager Justin Siersma said. "Normally we'd have all the tables sold already and we'd be standing room only all day," he said. This year, capacity will be cut from more than 400 to 120 due to COVID-19 restrictions, he said. The bar will allow a line to form outside, but extra security and management will be on hand to make sure things stay orderly, he said. "If they're not compliant, then we'll take care of them and ask them to leave," Siersma said. "We have to keep in mind the safety not just of the guests, but staff as well, so we'll be enforcing the rules." He said he expects customers to be mostly compliant. "It's not like the pandemic is a new thing," he said. "We're all completely aware of the rules and regulations we need to adhere to. We hope everyone is ready to have a good time, but a safe time." Chief O'Neill's, an Irish restaurant on Chicago's Northwest Side, is selling tickets in advance and doing four seatings of 300 people each today and for St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday. The bar is also pressing ahead with live music, though the performances will be moved to an outdoor tent that bar co-owner Siobhan McKinney said will have walls open for ventilation. COVID-19 restrictions will be strictly enforced, she said. "It won't be like previous years, but people are so happy to get out and hear live music, and we're happy to provide the service," McKinney said. She's hopeful that people will comply, even after several hours of drinking. "We'll see, but we're feeling confident based on events last summer," she said. "At three or four hours of drinking, we were finding people are still responsible." McKinney is more worried about people unable to resist dancing to the live Irish music. "It might happen now and again," she said, "but we'll get our baton out." ___ ©2021 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.