'It feels fantastic': Manitobans celebrate restriction-free St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day 2020 was one of the first events the COVID-19 pandemic shut down. Now, two years later, Manitobans can once again raise a pint without worrying about masks, gathering limits or social distancing.

"We are going to probably throw the best St. Patrick's Day bash ever, but we will make sure that when we do it, it'll be at the right time when all this is behind us," Christopher Graves, the owner of the King's Head Pub, told CTV News back in March 2020.

That time is now.

Thursday's celebration at the King's Head Pub is its first full-capacity St. Patrick's Day party with no vaccines or face masks required since March 2019.

"To walk in and see people's faces is actually a luxury that I never knew would be so important," Graves said on Thursday. "I am absolutely so excited to see people's faces again."

The customers at the pub felt the same.

"It feels fantastic, just to see all these people when we walked in," said one customer decked out in full St. Patrick's Day garb.

"It's nice to see people that you know and have a good time with them," another patron of the pub told CTV News.

Psychologist Dr. Toby Rutner said some people may use the celebration to transition back into normal life.

"There will be some people that feel tremendously liberated by the ability to go out to restaurants, to bars to enjoy themselves and there will be those that are still shell shocked," he said, adding, most people will likely increase what they do and who they see gradually.

"Depression is going down as is hospitalizations, so I think we are on the right track. It's just a question of when someone declares this is officially over."

Virologist Jason Kindrachuk said it bares saying the pandemic has changed, but it isn't over yet.

"It's all about doing all of those individual things that we can as best as we can to try and keep some control over this in a situation where we don't necessarily know what the baseline is right now in our community," he said.

Kindrachuk said Manitobans need to use what they've learned over the last two years – fundamentals such as staying home if you have symptoms, using rapid testing, and contacting those you were with if you develop symptoms.

An all-day party was planned at the Irish Association of Manitoba. But, because the space is small, Martin said masks and proof of vaccination were still required to come inside.

"We hope to have a full house all the time, and it's been a couple of years since we missed out on this, and we are hoping to see all our friends and families back out again," said Gerald Martin, president of the association.

"We feel that it's still a little risky and we just want to make sure everybody is safe and sound and comes home from this in good spirits."

The Irish Association of Manitoba is keeping the mask and vaccination mandate until the end of March, after which time it will review the situation.