Hoboken Turns Green

Lines to get into Hoboken's bars began to form as early as 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. Holding on to a cup of coffee and a bagel, groups of people entered the lines, slowly coloring Hoboken green. 

Groups of police officers patrolled the streets already. The entire police force is working today and enforcing a zero tolerance policy. Fines for public disturbance—which includes, among other things, public urination—can go as high as $2,000. 

"There's nothing wrong about it," said Brendan Gillespie, bartender at McSwiggan's Pub. "People need to let loose every once in a while and this town needs to relax." 

Gillespie said that he lives in a building on Clinton Street where flyers have been put up to warn people from having outrageous house parties. "Like it's a college dorm," he said. 

Across the street on First Street, a long line formed to get into Mulligans, which serves free corned beef sandwiches Saturday. 

Deirdre Garahan, 26, came from Washington, D.C., especially for this day. 

"It's a lot of fun," she said, dressed in all green with four leaf clovers on her face. Her two friends, Abby Alexander, 29, and Ally Lee, 26, agreed. They attended Mulligans last year and decided to come back because it was a good time, they said. 

"We just found our tab from last year," said Lee. "It was $187 without tip and without cover."

When asked if it's worth the money, the three girls said almost in unison: "Absolutely!" 

While Hoboken residents—most of them dressed in some sort of green attire and sweatpants—ran into CVS to buy some last things for their house parties, visitors were more than happy to get up early to make their way over to the Square Mile. 

"We heard that bars were going to open at 9," said Deborah Hong, 25, who came from Manhattan. Around 8 a.m. she was still holding on to a coffee to get into the Shannon. 

"I'm probably going to start out slow with beer and then hard liquor later," Hong said, laughing, "and by later I mean like 11."