Pittsburgh businesses gearing up for St. Patrick’s Day

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — In early March, WalletHub named Pittsburgh among the best cities in the country for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

This proclamation only confirmed what many Pittsburghers already knew, and every company KDKA spoke with in the Strip District on Wednesday said the same thing. This weekend is always huge for both crowds and sales.

David Regan, the owner of the Harp and Fiddle Irish Pub, says that all of March is busy for the pub, but he says it kicks up for this weekend’s festivities. 

“There is a lot of extra ordering and a lot of extra beer,” Regan said. “We just order as much as we can hold here and just keep having them bring more.”

And if you are wondering what the most popular beer is on Saint Patrick’s Day weekend, well, it shouldn’t be that hard to guess.

“It’s Guinness, by far,” Regan said. “It’s 40 to 50 barrels of Guinness in the two-day period, plus everything else. It’s a lot.”

Just down Penn Avenue from the Harp and Fiddle, clothing store Yinzers In The Burgh has been prepping for this weekend since the Steelers season ended.

Yinzers has three locations in the Strip, and Darlene Sciulli says there is a wide variety of green apparel for purchase, for whatever weather may come this Saturday and Sunday.

“We have crewnecks, we have sweatshirts,” said Sciulli. “We have some beautiful embroidered sweatshirts. And then what is really popular is some of the funny sayings like, ‘Let’s day drink,’ ‘Lepriclaw.’”

But if you are looking to maybe stay in and cook a traditional Irish meal, Strip District Meats has got you covered with its top-selling Irish holiday favorite: corned beef.

“For Saint Patrick’s Day, the biggest seller we have is the corned beef briskets,” said Christie Bengele, whose family has owned Strip District Meats for three generations. “We usually have those in stock all year round, but we double those orders around this time of year. People are just trying to eat like the ancestors and celebrate.”

Now, both Yinnzers and Harp and Fiddle said that they will open early on Saturday before the parade at 8a.m. to facilitate all of your celebrating needs.