Although Hoboken, New Jersey has been around since 1870, the St Patrick’s Day Parade has only become a strong part of the city’s history in its relatively youthful 26 years. The first Hoboken parade to celebrate Irish-American History stared out of the Shannon Lounge in 1986 by a group that called itself “Helen Cunning and Friends.” A few years later the group would change its name to the “Hoboken St. Patrick’s Committee.”
Over the last 26 years the yearly parade worked well with the city to assure a safe event for all to enjoy. That changed in 2012 after the committee decided to cancel the parade rather than bend to the will of the Mayor, Dawn Zimmer. She submitted the idea to the committee that the annual event, celebrated the first Saturday of March, be moved to the middle of the week on a Wednesday to help reduce the antisocial behaviors that have developed over the last few years. The official reason given by the city for its recommended change of days is that of the city of Hoboken’s “in ability to protect spectators, bands and participants.”
In response to the cancellation of a very important day among the Irish-American population that resides in Hoboken, area bars created an event called the Lepre-con. The first one was so successful that a second one was celebrated March 2, 2013. This year the organization was well done with promotion T-shirts and free ride available through a Saferides.com Promo for those who know better than to drive drunk. The Lepre-con website also offered advice for how to stay out of trouble during the annual celebration.
This year participants had t-shirts that allowed wearers to have line skipping privileges and half-off savings on cover charges. Seven bars were official partners for this event including Scotland Yard, Room 84, Liberty Bar, Four L’s, Trinity, Arthur’s and Cooper’s Union.
Last year at the 1st Annual Lepre-con was quite successful, keeping arrest lower than the previous history of arrests at the traditional St. Patrick’s Parade. This year the goal is to get it lower with advance advice from the city, somewhat cheekily given on the website as follows:
·No public drinking, even in a brown bag.
·No Urinating in Public (or God forbid shitting) – The town sets up port-a-johns for usage. Please use common sense.
·House parties need to be controlled; if you are hosting, please read up on the rules and enforce them.
·Don’t be a jackass.
These rules make a lot of sense and if they are all you need to avoid getting thrown in the slammer for a full day of fun celebrating Irish American heritage, it seems to be a rather small price to let loose and have a little bit o’fun. The Lepre-con shows that people can safely put together without controls put in place by the government and still have a great time.
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