Local businesses benefit from St. Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick’s Day can mean traditional Irish foods, bagpipes, and a plain old good time. But local businesses can also do quite well on the holiday. 47 ABC spoke with Anthony Thomas, owner of Canvasback Restaurant and Irish Pub in Cambridge and he says, “The day is a just a very happy day.”

Thomas and his wife have been in business for 17 years and every year St. Patrick’s day is pretty special for their restaurant. Thomas tells 47 ABC, “One of our biggest days always has been and hopefully it’ll continue.”

Thomas says his restaurant offers a completely Irish menu and it will stay that way through the weekend. Even though Canvasback is a traditional Irish pub every other day, on St. Patrick’s day Thomas says he definitely sees an increase in business.

Thomas tells 47 ABC, “Oh certainly yeah, it’s usually the busiest day of the year. We’re doing it so long everybody keeps coming back so I guess the food is really good.”

Another business that capitalizes on the green holiday? Bay Country Bakery in Cambridge. Gena Leavy owns the store with her husband and they’ve been running it for about 16 years. Leavy tells 47 ABC, “There’s a little influx of business, not significant large purchases but people like to pick up little cookies a cupcake.”

One of their most popular items sold on the holiday? Their infamous meganut. Leavy tells 47 ABC, “We’re predominantly known for our donuts so we try to do green icing and sprinkles and you know, use as much green as possible.”

As far as prepping for the day, Leavy says she has to do most of her work the day before since all of her baked goods need to be made fresh daily. On the other hand, Thomas says his prep starts days in advance.