Whatever might be in your bracket, Providence hotel and restaurant owners were among the big winners on the first day of games in college basketball’s biggest tournament.
Downtown streets were packed with fans of all stripes.
Not all of them had to travel long distances. One couple in bright blue Jayhawks regalia from head to toe turned out to be almost locals.
“We live in Bristol, Rhode Island,” they confessed. “But we did move here from Kansas!”
Other fans actually did come from afar. Another Jayhawks fan, here for the first time, marveled he wasn’t in Kansas anymore. But he and his buddy seemed to be enjoying their first trip to Providence.
“It’s a crazy town,” he said. “They can’t make their streets wide enough, for crying out loud.”
Tanya McGinn and Grace Paolo are a bit more familiar with Rhode Island. They used to live here until they recently moved to Orlando.
“It’s good to be back,” McGinn said. They were on the way to grab dinner at Track 15 before heading over to the Amica Mutual Pavilion for the game.
The new food court below Union Station opened earlier this week, with March Madness in mind.
“Today’s actually our third day being open,” said hospitality manager Amanda Perez. “We knew March Madness was coming in and was going to be really beneficial.”
That turned out to be a smart move. Fans from a variety of teams converged there between games. Track 15 was buzzing with business.
The first day of games brought disappointment for Kansas and Clemson fans. The Jayhawks narrowly lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks, 53-55. And the McNeese Cowboys edged out the Tigers, 69-67. Both wins were upsets.
But that’s all part of the drama in March Madness.
Number 2 seed St. Johns fared better, blowing out the Omaha Mavericks, 83-53.
John Chiumento was delighted to be there to see it. A Delta Airlines customer service manager from Atlanta, he grew up in Connecticut. The last time he was in Providence was in 1985, to watch Georgetown take on Georgia Tech.
He was in high school then. Now he’s a die-hard St. John Alum.
“I’ll go wherever St Johns is at,” he said. “It’s been a long time waiting for this. So wherever it is at, I was gonna be there.”
