IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Tuesday was a day when nearly all of us are at least just a little bit Irish. St Patrick’s Day is big business for places that serve up those traditional Irish meals and pints of Guinness.  

Five days into a marathon St. Patrick’s Day weekend, the celebration still went strong at Shamrock Jack’s Irish Pub in Irondequoit’s Seabreeze neighborhood. And Mike Petzing was still standing.

“We’re very fortunate to have the support we do,” said Petzing, one of the owners of the place that’s been serving customers for 24 years. “The culture was strong, and something that we grew to love and learn about and be taught. And it’s something that we are passionate about, and said, why not open an Irish pub. And here we are.”

St. Patrick’s Day, and the weekend leading up to it, is by far their biggest event of the year. When it’s over, they’ll have served 2,500 pounds of corned beef. Not to mention seemingly bottomless glasses of beer and other beverages. A party, serving about 7,000 people, all told.

“Absolutely insane,” said chef John Strakal. “Yeah, we’ve been absolutely cranking for the past week and a half or so.”

“It’s the biggest party anywhere around,” said patron Mike Sullivan. “Everybody comes out and has fun and a great day. It’s tradition.”

A tradition which people celebrate in different ways — Irish or not. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey, three in five people planned to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year. About three-quarters planned to wear green. Twenty-seven percent said they’d plan a special dinner. About the same said they’d hit a bar or restaurant.

According to the same survey, St. Patrick’s Day spending in the U.S. is expected to hit an all-time high of $7.7 billion this year.

All of it comes at a time when the price of just about everything is up.

“The hardest thing is, every everything that we do is has gone up,” said Petzing. “Even for this event, from last year everything is up probably 18%, and we try to keep our costs as low as possible.”

And keep the fun as high as possible. There’s a lot of green — in celebrating the green.

“All the hard work that we put into it, once you see people singing and dancing and smiling, it just culminates it and just makes it all worthwhile,” said Petzing.