When Larry Burk tended bar at The Lantern, one of Court Street's watering holes in the 1960s, St. Patrick's Day festivities started long before classes began.

Doors opened at 7 a.m., green beer was on tap and corned beef sandwiches were the special of the day.

"Maybe it was the only time students got up that early, or maybe they never went to bed the night before," said Larry Burk, former part-owner of the bar.

The town was painted with green-clad partiers, who sang Irish songs, danced Irish jigs, told Irish jokes and drank "Irish" beer.

"People looked forward to it," he said. "It was a big day - a really big day."

Burk spent years tending bar and serving green beer to crowds on St. Patty's Day. The lively students added to the bar's atmosphere and festive tunes for the jukeboxes were brought in for the weekend, he said.

"Everyone got in the spirit of things," he said. "It was a good time by all."

Part of the luck of the Irish for students was the free beer that some bars offered during early hours of the morning, said Dave Aiken, a student at OU between 1961 and 1965.

"People would start and go back to take a nap and then go back and have a good time in the evening," he said.

And no matter one's nationality, the holiday was universal for OU students, said Arthur Marinelli, a business law professor who remembers the school's energy on the 17th of March.

"Everyone was Irish that day," he said. "People wore green, some women dyed their hair green and they partied all weekend."

To some, it was the Halloween of yesteryear. But part of the reason the celebration was so unique was that it was like no other. Universities were not having parties like this at the time, and attaching it to St. Patrick's Day made it even more popular, Marinelli said.

As years progressed, St. Patrick's Day at OU went from overcrowded bars in the '50s to a large-scale celebration in the '60s.

"There wasn't a soul in the midwest who didn't know about it, and soon in the country," Marinelli said.

Publicity was not lacking. With an announcement on the Today show and plenty of press coverage, the party became recognized and continued to grow, he said.

"It mushroomed," said Nick Parkis, who owned the Union for more than 18 years following 1958. "People really didn't expect it and it got bigger and bigger. They started publishing it and before they knew it there were parties going on all over."

As time wore on, green beer was in the hands of not only OU students, but guests who migrated to Athens, Parkis said. The celebration grew in size, luring out-of-town visitors.

Crowds that poured in from Ohio State University, Miami University and other surrounding areas caused problems similar to those of Halloween. City destruction that accompanied the masses made for a bad university image, he said.

Though St. Patty's Day was not commercialized and did not attract the crowds that Halloween does today, it had many of the same elements, Marinelli said. Guests did not always respect property, leaving broken windows, stolen property and vandalism for the residents to deal with later.

"You like to keep the local treasure for yourself, but it doesn't happen that way," Marinelli said. "People learn of it and it snowballs."

Soon, the university learned of its negative aspects, and in effort to prevent potential destruction and a bad reputation, they tried to squelch the celebration, he said.

Dormitories, sorority houses and fraternity houses were urged not to have visitors and the state liquor department put pressure on bars to stop selling green beer to students, Marinelli said. Soon, spring break replaced the Irish-inspired party.

"The school was against it and students claimed the calendar changed to prevent the party," Aiken said.

Now, finals plague the 17th of March, and though some places still serve corned beef and dye beer green for customers, the holiday is no comparison to its hey-day 30 years ago, Burk said. The students are not here to support it and the younger business owners are not aware of the history, he said.

"They don't celebrate it like they used to," Burk said.

But this has not kept students from hosting a party. Halloween is one of St. Patty's Day's ancestors.

"People need recreational outlets," Marinelli said. "They'll create a holiday if they need to. That's human nature, regardless of age.