Irish Day returning to the West End

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The parade kicks off an hour earlier than it used to, and the festival ends earlier. Bars will stop admitting customers at 1 a.m. on Sunday and will have until 2 a.m. to clear everyone out.

“It was tremendously effective,” said Tangney. “The calls for service went down significantly, the cost of the event went down significantly.”

He added that the department will have fewer officers on patrol than usual — about 40 — because staffing is at a historic low. But officers are prepared for the workload, Tangney insisted, and the department will maintain its zero-tolerance policy.

“If you start to act up even the slightest, you’re taken out of the area, you’re arrested for disorderly conduct,” Tangney said. “If you do anything askew of the law, we don’t tolerate anything on this day.”

Last year, West End businesses were required to pay the city $25,000 in order to help cover the costs of the festival and parade. But Tangney explained that in the aftermath of Sandy, the city decided to give them a one-year reprieve.

Beach House owner Ben Freiser said that the reduced hours last year did not negatively affect his business, and he has no problem complying with the new rules. “It’s a good day for everybody,” Freiser said. “It’s good for the town. It puts a lot of employees to work. Sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out, but I’d take two [festivals] a year if I could have [them].”

Freiser said that having a profitable Irish Day is crucial to the survival of his business in the off-season. After Labor Day, he said, he relies on special events and football games to bring customers in. “The turnaround from busy to slow — that drop-off is more drastic than it’s ever been,” he said.

Although Freiser said he doesn’t think Irish Day gets any more rowdy than some summer nights in the West End, he makes every effort to work with his neighbors to address their concerns, and his staff keeps customers from getting out of hand.

“You can’t be everywhere,” he said, “but you can definitely help keep people from destroying other people’s property, because there’s no excuse for that any day.”

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