Dublin Pub owner Steve Tieber said late Thursday afternoon the restaurant will be open and begin serving breakfast at 5:30 a.m. Bands will perform there on St. Patrick’s Day, but there will be no tent and the street will not be blocked as planned.
Tieber said the shuttle between his bar and Flanagan’s Pub near the University of Dayton has been canceled.
Tieber said he and others may attempt to have a large St. Patrick’s Day-themed event later this year.
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“We might just postpone St. Patrick Day until the weather is warmer and the sickness is gone. If that doesn’t work, we will be back next year,” he said.
“We are grateful to be part of a great community and we hope to come back bigger and stronger when it is safe for the public.”
Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday an order that bans mass gatherings of more than 100 people.
Restaurants like the Dublin Pub are exempted, but the order includes auditoriums, stadiums, arenas, large conference rooms, meeting halls, cafeterias and any other confined indoor or outdoor space.
The ban comes as the cases of coronavirus in the state grew to five.
The order also applies to parades, fairs, and festivals but does not apply to typical office environments, factories, libraries, malls and retail, religious gatherings, voting locations and grocery stores.
The Dublin Pub’s two-day St. Patrick’s Day celebration was set to begin Monday with a mile-long race through downtown Dayton and culminate with a party Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day.
The band Stranger’s performance has been canceled, Tieber said. Organizers have not decided if the race will go on or not.
“If that doesn’t happen, people will be refunded their money,” he said.
As many as 8,000 attend the annual event that takes five days to set up and is planned over several months.
Tieber said he expects to make just 20 percent of what he anticipated making because he will not have the beer trucks or use of the tents.
In the interest of public safety, Tieber said the restaurant’s Sunday brunch buffet will be suspended until Easter Sunday. Made-to-order brunch items will be sold until then.
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DeWine on Tuesday recommended that indoor athletic events in Ohio, including the First Four games in Dayton, occur without spectators. The NCAA cancelled March Madness Thursday.
Last night, Big Hoopla, a volunteer-based nonprofit that organizes local activities around the NCAA First Four and the Division I Men's Basketball Tournament held at the University of Dayton, canceled all of its events Wednesday including the family-friendly street festival it planned for Sunday, March 15 with the Oregon District Business Association.
The 2020 Big Hoopla Family Festival was to occur on Fifth Street and in a tent set up outside of the Dublin Pub, 300 Wayne Ave.
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In light of the tragic events of 2019, Tieber said his customers were particularly excited for the Hoopla and St. Patrick’s Day. He was ready with an order of 800 bottles of Jameson Whiskey, much of which has since been canceled.
“The community needed the boost that this entire region was going to get from St. Patrick’s Day and (Hoopla),” he said. “Unfortunately we are not going to get it.”
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