ROANOKE, Va. – Once again, due to the coronavirus, Roanoke has canceled its St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
“It’s by far our busiest day of the year, I mean hands down,” said Jason Martin, the owner of Martin’s Downtown.
“To have tens of thousands of people downtown, all looking for places to eat, all looking for places to shop, it’s really a huge business day for everybody,” said Elliot Broyles, the executive director of the Market Building Foundation.
Downtown Roanoke Inc. announced Monday that it’s canceling the city’s annual parade and Shamrock Festival, citing current restrictions.
“Disappointed but not surprised,” Martin said.
For the second straight year, the decision is a huge blow to downtown businesses.
“It’s disappointing to not have it, especially two years in a row, but again, not unexpected and I think it’s the right decision to make,” Broyles said.
“We’ve kind of re-invented ourselves and trying to figure out other ways to make money so we don’t hang on that day. Like we don’t have to have it but we’re going to miss it for sure,” Martin said.
Martin said they’re still planning an indoor, socially-distant celebration, but nothing like the street parties they’ve had in the past.
“If we can get close to 20% of what we normally do, that would be my expectation,” Martin said.
Business owners will be thankful for any kind of boost right now, but even more thankful when things return to normal.
“It’s just the world we live in right now and I guess we can all focus our energy on 2022 at this point and just hope that it’s a really big one,” Martin said.
“I think our goal is to weather the storm,” Broyles said.