City to Irish Day Festival-goers: Behave Yourselves

This story was written by Jeff Lipton.

City officials are hopeful Saturday’s Irish Day festivities will be more “family-friendly” in the wake of a host of complaints from West End residents about the annual event.  

“We will have very strict enforcement of the code and laws,” said Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman.  

Since this is his first Irish Day event, Schnirman said he has “listened to detailed accounts” of the day’s activities, including viewing video of the event. “I have reviewed all of the concerns and we take them very seriously," he said. "Police will aggressively seek to maintain a family-friendly atmosphere." 

Sgt. Eric Cregeen, a Long Beach Police Department spokesman, tried to alleviate residents’ concerns by assuring “we will have a full complement of officers on patrol. It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation. We will also have extra DWI patrols.”  

Police Commissioner Michael Tangney has met with West End bar owners on several occasions and the bars are offsetting the cost of the police overtime, he added.  

Bernie Petty, Irish Day Parade Chairman for the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the organization that has sponsored the event for 23 years, said the city’s business owners have raised about $25,000 for police overtime.  

The bar owners have also agreed to start closing at 1 a.m. for Irish Day with all patrons expected to be out by 2 a.m.  

The parade is also slated to start an hour earlier, at 11 a.m. instead of the traditional 12 noon, and West Beech Street will also be reopened an hour earlier at 5 p.m. The change in times is expected to help with crowd control by dispersing the crowds earlier, officials said.  

Wisconsin Street resident Richard Papetti said organizers have taken “some minor steps” to alleviate concerns of residents.  

“A lot of it is just lewd behavior,” Papetti said. “It’s gotten worse over the last seven years and the crowds keep multiplying. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction.  

“The message out there is: ‘Be nice or don’t come,’” Papetti added.  

West End residents suggested earlier this year to have organizers move the parade to the East End, or have it scrapped altogether for 2012, given the disorderly behavior and the city’s fiscal woes.  

Petty said the Hibernians created the Irish Day parade and festival more than 20 years ago “to help the bars and restaurants get through the winter season.”  

He said the Hibernians had to act quickly because they were notified five weeks before the parade “by the city manager’s office that there were several issues that needed to be resolved.” That led to the changes, which meant they had to alter their posters, letters and flyers advertising the event. He said they begin planning the event in May.  

“If changes need to be made, I feel changes should be made,” Petty said. “If people don’t know how to act accordingly and respect people and their houses in the West End, they need not come to the festival.”  

He said that next year the Hibernians will explore all options which best behooves their organization, residents of the West End and Long Beach bar and business owners.  

“Everybody is willing to step up,” he noted. “A lot of people are willing to do whatever it takes to preserve it as a family-friendly atmosphere, and to maintain that is our goal. We’re looking closely at keeping it a positive experience for everybody.”  

This year’s parade grand marshal is Veronica Danca, the principal of Long Beach Catholic Regional School.

* This story was updated at 5 p.m. 10.4.12.

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