Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police estimated 100,000 people packed center city Saturday for several St. Patrick's Day events along with a concert at Time Warner Arena.
More than half of those attended the St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday afternoon. Organizers say it was the biggest parade yet with about 130 floats.
"Everybody's Irish today and tomorrow…we give them special permission," Parade organizer Art Fitzgerald said. Fitzgerald says parade officials work closely with CMPD. "We have been doing this for 17 years..we have yet to have a problem."
And police planned to keep it that way once families headed home and partygoers kept going for the night. Police say they're on the lookout for open container violations and drunk drivers.
"Of course when you have large groups of people and alcohol you have intoxication issues and some people can get out of hand..but by and large it's not a big problem for us," Major Jeff Estes said.
Officers were also at several major intersections, especially around Time Warner Arena, directing folks when to walk and where not to drive. "It didn't take us too long to find a parking space but it took us a little bit…after I found out Pink was gonna be here..I know there is a lot fans. I just want to get out of here before traffic gets heavy again," DeQuita White said.
Nearly two dozen people were charged with DWI or driving with an open container at a checkpoint on Sharon Amity Road Saturday.
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