Saturday's Greenville Avenue St Patrick's Day celebration in Dallas takes on a special meaning.
It was just ten days ago that a fire destroyed four popular restaurants there.
Noticeably absent from the party this year, will be four major players, which used to run their restaurants and their bars out of a 1920's building which burned to the ground.
The fire, which reached four alarms and is now believed to have been started by an electric shortage, destroyed Terilli's Restaurant and Bar, Mick's Bar, Greenville Bar & Grill and Hurricane Grill.
The owners of those businesses will be pressing on. They are expected to be setting up in tents behind the nearby Blue Goose. They intend to sell food and alcohol, knowing full well that that one day of business brings in enough money to pay for an entire year's rent.
Part of this year's admission fee of $8 will go towards benefiting the burned out restaurants and bars.
As for tomorrow's annual parade, that begins at 11 a.m. in the morning. It runs for a couple of hours starting at Blackwell Street, then it goes on to SMU Boulevard and finally to Upper Greenville.
Celebrations get under way at 9 a.m. on Lower Greenville Avenue.
E-mail: cvega@wfaa.com
