The luck of the Irish ran out last year on St. Patrick's Day, normally one of the busiest times for bars and pubs. March 17, 2020, was the first day of a two-month-plus-long COVID-based lockdown in Colorado, which closed restaurants to in-house dining and made bars that couldn't come up with some way to serve food strictly verboten. Just a few days earlier, Denver's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade had been canceled, though incautious revelers still packed bars in trendy neighborhoods that weekend (since social distancing and group- gathering rules hadn't yet been imposed in the state). A year later, with most Denver restaurants now operating at Level Blue on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's dial dashboard, Irish pubs are making plans to douse the city in kelly green — but with an eye to public health and safety. Bars with no food service are still closed, but most have figured out ways to provide good grub to customers and meet state requirements.