San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose has continued to see enormous crowds day after day for World Cup watch parties. Thursday, the area was crowded with more than 30,000 fans clamoring to watch the Mexico versus South Korea matchup, so many people that security had to turn some away. The San Jo se Earthquakes have designated the square the official Soccer Celebration headquarters through July 19, and fans seem to have taken to the watch party environment in the blocked-off downtown street. These watch parties began on July 11, and now businesses in the area have had more than a week to adjust to the massive influx of traffic. “It’s been absolutely insane, the Super Bowl on steroids,” said Douglas Cookerly, VP of Operations for the Sushi Confidential bar and restaurant in San Pedro Square. In particular, businesses say that drinks have been in demand — especially given the warm weather. They noted that the most in-demand drink is beer, followed closely by tequila. Cookerly said he was expecting big crowds during the World Cup, but didn’t anticipate the popularity of the watch parties to rise to this intense level. He said much like the World Cup is the chance for teams to shine on a global stage, this period of time is a chance for San Jose businesses to shine and make an impression on people who’ve never been there before. “We’ve been ordering beer and liquor every single day, doubling up on the food, calling in the reserve staff, yeah, it’s been all hands on deck,” he added. Sushi Confidential has been so busy that owner Randy Musterer posted on social media that the business got an alert from San Jose water about a possible water leak, but it turns out the business was just using a lot of water to wash all those dishes and flush toilets. Friday, fans filled San Pedro Square throughout the day to watch three major matches: USA versus Australia, Brazil versus Haiti, and Turkey versus Paraguay. San Jose resident Luke Van Poetsch said he went to the square for the community watch party experience. “I mean, here you get the atmosphere, you get the feels, you hear the vuvuzelas going off, it really adds to the atmosphere,” he said. The energy isn’t just drawing in locals; plenty of international visitors are stopping by as well. “It’s really, really good vibes,” said Cai Clarke, who is the bay area, some people say its kind of boring, but I’m here and its absolute vibes, so I’m having a great time. ...read more read less