Gearing Up For Unofficial St. Patrick's Day

University of Illinois students plan to be out on the streets Friday, celebrating  "Unofficial Saint Patrick's Day".  On Thursday night, students began out picking up their kegs and getting their green clothes out.  Whether they're Irish or not, many will be out in full force.  UI sophomore, Amy Pacilio, will be going out in style with her friends tomorrow.  They all bought matching green shirts.

Pacilio says, "It's just a fun holiday because everyone's so excited and there's so much energy on campus."

Pacilio and her friends won't be the only ones wearing green. Employees at Te Shurt are working overtime, to print piles of personalized green shirts. Carly Schneider, an employee, says, "we've all been working a lot of hours this week to make shirts for St. Patrick's Day, and people have been coming in at all hours of the day to pick up shirts and put in orders"

And they aren't the only ones profiting from the "unofficial" celebration.  One volunteer organization is selling green beads to make money.

Christina Fedaj, a junior at the University, says, "we're using the holiday to help us raise money to go to Florida and Costa Rica and help provide care for little kids."

And Fedaj's volunteer organization is making money off green beads, just down the street, a business is profiting off green kegs.

Jim Randall is the manager at Discount Den.  He says people are getting more prepared this year, and instead of beer on Thursday or Friday, they're buying it on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Randall says this year, kegs are in high demand. Junior Andrew Friedman planned ahead.

"We reserved one and called up yesterday because we assumed they'd be sold out for Friday."

Despite tougher rules on alcohol sales, and a city ban on keg permits for the week, the number of kegs sold here has tripled since last year.  Some say it's a sign that if the city wants to get rid of green beer, beads and shirts, It'll have to get rid of "Unofficial"...first.