DALLAS — Balmy weather brought big crowds to the annual St. Patrick's Day celebrations on Greenville Avenue in Dallas Saturday.
But between the people and parking concerns, Dallas police had a lot to watch out for to keep thousands of revelers safe.
A chain link fence was intended to keep the party fenced along Lower Greenville, but some of it managed to spill over into the street.
Final numbers were not available, but police were prepared for close to 100,000 people attending the all-day event.
The fenced-in party zone was shut down earlier than normal at 1:30 p.m. because of the crowds.
The traditional parade preceding the party almost didn't happen this year due to funding problems. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stepped in with a big check at the last minute to make it happen.
"As you can see, we have quite a large crowd," said Dallas police spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Owens. "We don't have an exact estimate, but we would say it's significantly larger than last year. Of course, the beautiful weather probably helps with that. They've been a very well-behaved crowd and we've had no major incidents today at all."
About a dozen people had been arrested as of 6 p.m.
Parking was another big concern. The no-parking zone around Lower Greenville was expanded this year, and police issued more than 200 tickets to violators and 11 vehicles were towed.
DART added extra trains during the day to accommodate people who wanted to avoid the parking hassle.
The party was scheduled to end at 6:30, with stragglers subject to getting hosed down.
E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com
