St. Patrick's Day 2012 in Cleveland: A hit from corned beef to downtown parade

CLEVELAND - St. Patrick's Day 2012 in Cleveland was a hit from the corned beef to the parade downtown.

A big part of St. Patrick's Day Celebrations across Northeast Ohio is the food. People lined up outside of Slyman's restaurant on St. Clair Avenue at 5 a.m. waiting to get one of their famous corned beef sandwiches.

The beautiful weather coupled with St. Patrick's Day celebrations brought a huge crowd to downtown Cleveland. The temperature reached a record high of 77 degrees with clear skies. A sea of green lined the streets for one of the biggest parade's in the city's history.

Cleveland's St. Patrick's Day parade coordinator Patrick Murphy says that this year was the largest parade ever with more than 15,000 parade participants and 500,000 spectators.

The Cleveland Police Department released the following statement in regards to the events downtown:

"Today's St. Patrick's Day Parade was fun and interesting to watch. The beautiful weather brought out lots of green clad spectators of all kinds. All in all, things went rather well, and although fights were reported, no major incidents occurred. The Cleveland Division of Police addressed many security concerns well in advance. We used social media for the first time, including Facebook and Twitter, to update the public on events as they occurred including safety tips and traffic issues.
The Cleveland Division of Police is currently reporting an arrest count of 21 people pertaining to the St. Patrick's Day detail. An overall statistical breakdown is not yet available. The Division also has a Sobriety Checkpoint in progress now at W. 6th Street and West Huron Road until 11pm to decrease the number of alcohol related accidents.
Thank you,
City of Cleveland
Division of Police"