April 19, 2024
Shaw Local
NewsSubscribePrep SportseNewspaperChicago BearsNewsletterThe SceneObituariesEvent Calendar

McHenry scales back ShamRocks the Fox festival after state declines to act on special liquor license application

Open carry of alcohol still permitted; Fox River still to be dyed green

By Sam Lounsberry and Emily K. Coleman
A group of boaters drives under the Pearl Street Bridge Saturday, March 17, 2018, after the river was dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in McHenry.

The city of McHenry is going forward with the ShamRocks the Fox event next weekend, but it will be scaled back with no on-site alcohol sales since the state of Illinois did not act on the city's special liquor event license. The Fox River will still be dyed green Saturday morning. (Whitney Rupp for Shaw Local)

McHenry city officials on Sunday announced they were scaling back plans for next weekend’s ShamRocks the Fox festival celebrating St. Patrick’s Day because the state has not granted the city a special event liquor license amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A thorough plan with a great deal of mitigations was laid out in our presentation however the state has not acted on the license,” the city said in a Facebook post.

The city applied for a special event liquor license the first week of February when McHenry and Lake counties were moved into Phase 4 of the state’s pandemic reopening plan.

“It would be impossible without that license to put together the all-encompassing event that we have set the bar on attaining year after year while ensuring that we are covering all of our costs,“ the city said in the post.

There also will be no parade, officials have said.

But open carry of alcohol by attendees will still be permitted 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, while social distancing and wearing masks will be encouraged while not actively eating and drinking.

The McHenry Kiwanis Club still will hold its Shamrock Shuffle 5K at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, and Blarney Island still will dye the Fox River green as well as a portion of Boone Creek starting 11 a.m. Saturday, according to VisitMcHenryCounty.com. The Pearl Street Bridge will be closed to traffic for viewing.

Local businesses will have food and drink specials Saturday and Sunday, too, according to Visit McHenry County.

Last year, the festival was called off as the pandemic was ramping up, and city officials had hoped to make this year’s event as normal as possible and a step toward reopening the area more fully from public health restrictions.

“This is not at all what we had hoped for but we will make the best of it and be back bigger and better next year to ShamRock the Fox,” the city said on social media. “Thank you for your patience as we have done the best we could to try and work with the state of Illinois through this process.”

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to correct the start time for the dyeing of the Fox River, which was updated by VisitMcHenryCounty.com since the original publication.