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Ready for St. Patrick’s Parade in Hartford, Vaughan’s overcomes a hurdle

“We were going to be opened, there was no chance we wouldn’t be.”

HARTFORD, Conn. — The end of the January cold snap across Connecticut brought a rude awakening to the team at Vaughan’s Public House in downtown Hartford.

The nearly 20-year-old popular Irish pub was dealing with cascading water in the bar when the building they occupy suffered burst pipes.

Vaughan’s is a main stop during the Hartford St. Patrick’s Parade, where people line up to go inside as early as 8 a.m.

“That really cold snap we had (in late January) it just started raining inside the bar,” said Erin Sweeney, a manager at Vaughan’s who has been there 16 years said.

While Vaughan’s will need to do more damage mitigation – and Sweeney added that they did have to shut down for a brief time – they were intent on being open for the weeks surrounding the Hartford Parade and Saint Patrick’s Day itself.

“We said we were going to slap some band-aids on it and make it work.” Sweeney added, “We had to be here we’ve got this weekend and next weekend -- with the official holiday -- and the NCAA’s, we’re packed for that already – this is primetime.”

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Vaughan’s has a faithful following of parade-goers who always make sure to stop by every second Saturday in March.

“You have to come here, I love it here, it’s great,” said Kristen Casey, who lives right off Pratt Street.

Sitting at Vaughan’s bar, Brian Bergeron, from Southwick, Mass said the Hartford Parade is always a highlight.

“It’s so much fun and I’m looking forward to this year, too,” he added.

Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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