SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The 37th annual Sioux Falls Saint Patrick’s Day Extravaganza drew a large crowd on Saturday. People flocked to Philips Avenue ready to celebrate.
“We decided to go ahead and try to put the whole Irish flag on it and the wife was pretty successful at spraying it on,” HR Hill said. And people packed into businesses according to KSFY TV.
“It's been crazy! Pretty constant. We had a lot of families downtown today and just really festive,” Crawford’s server manager Sunnie Biegas said.
The city debuted a new parade route that keeps the festivities just along Philips Avenue between 13th and 5th.
“Make sure that we're not closing off all of the streets. It's really important that people are able to get from east to west here in Sioux Falls and for us to close off those main veins is a really big deal, so we're trying to minimize that as much as possible, but still provide the fun and the entertainment because it's still important to us to bring that foot traffic downtown as well,” Brienne Maner with Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. said.
A smaller route means a little less room for some claimed their spots earlier than usual.
“We got down here about one o’clock, the parking wasn’t too bad, but I’m pretty sure it's been crazy since,” Sioux Falls resident Riley Haag said.
And one business owner says she got to enjoy the benefits of having a more concentrated crowd.
“It's been amazing. The weather itself and then the whole St. Paddy’s Day celebration. The festivities have been huge and it's been steadily picking up all day today,” Unglued owner Ashley Morken explained.
Many parade attendees say the weather drove them outside. The city also rolled out another change for parades in Sioux Falls. Now streets will only be closed for a maximum of an hour and a half during these kinds of events.