STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Bars served green beer. Stores sold green shirts and party hats. Revelers took to the streets at dawn.
The unofficial holiday known as “State Patty’s Day” in this college town has looked a lot like a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, except it falls two weeks before the traditional Irish holiday.
Now, police, businesses and student leaders are trying to crack down this year on the event they say is just an excuse for a day of excessive drinking and destructive behavior.
Penn State fraternities voted to ban wine and hard alcoholic drinks for events today — the day of this year’s State Patty’s Day — and their parties will have increased security and monitoring.
State Patty’s Day started in 2007 from a Facebook group created by Joe Veltre because St. Patrick’s Day fell during spring break. “It was kind of meant as a joke for me, my close friends and roommates,” said Veltre, a senior who works as a bartender.
Veltre said he never planned to continue the holiday in 2008, but he got positive feedback from students. Last year brought a spike in police activity, surpassing even busy football weekends, police said.
