ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Downtown Orlando is set to be a sea of green as St. Patrick’s day weekend approaches.

Bar owners are stocking up, expecting crowds to flock to their businesses to celebrate starting as soon as Friday night.

Ryan Davis, Owner of The Other Bar on Wall Street, is preparing to see a lot of green this weekend, and not just in the drinks.

“St. Patrick’s Day is probably the greatest holiday of the year. It’s pretty much bar’s super bowl,” said Davis.

With some luck of the Irish, this weekend will be huge for his bottom line. So much so that he’s temporarily changed the name of his bar to Kevin O’Ryan’s, an Irish nod to his and his business partner’s names.

They are also hosting a “St. Practice Day” party Saturday, for those who want to celebrate a little early. They are expanding their hours over the weekend and plan to open as early as 11:00 a.m. on the actual holiday.

“You want to make sure you’re fully stocked on as much inventory as you can cram in anywhere you can find, because you’re going to go through it,” said Davis.

This will also be the first St. Patrick’s Day weekend in many years that Orange Avenue will be open to traffic during the festivities. The city started opening the road in a phased approach last year in an effort to curb the street party atmosphere, opening it up fully back in February.

“Everyone kind of knows that going downtown and hanging out in the middle of the street is not acceptable anymore,” said Davis.

While Davis is happy there are efforts to cut down on violence, he would prefer to see the closures continue at least during holidays.

“When we have an influx of people in and it’s really busy, I think it’s probably safer to close things down and not have the threat of cars driving by and stuff like that,” said Davis.

He is also ramping up safety measures of his own, increasing the numbers of both off-duty officers and T-shirt security on Wall street.

“We wand an ID at all the entrances on Wall Street Plaza, and it’s been kind of known that, you know, none of the incidents ever take place inside the block party,” said Davis. “It’s always out in the streets”

With all this planned, he’s confident they’ll have a safe and successful weekend.

“This is the spot to be, for sure,” said Davis. “It’s going to be nonstop the whole time.”

While the City of Orlando shared that they do not plan on changing any traffic patterns during the festivities, the Orlando Police Department shared their security measures in a statement.

“The safety and security of everyone remains the Orlando Police Department’s top priority. While we don’t discuss specific security measures, we always plan and staff large-scale events appropriately to provide proper public safety and assess the needs of the event to make any necessary security modifications. The Orlando Police Department wants to remind our community to always call 9-1-1 or flag down an officer working the event if they see anything suspicious. Whether security measures are visible or not, officers are always working on the streets and behind the scenes to ensure the safety of our city.”