River Green in Chicago

Reposted from 2018 St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago.

Seeing the Chicago River turn green on St. Patrick’s day has been on my “life wish list” for a long time. Might have something to do with my maternal Grandmother’s name being Mahoney or maybe it is just curiosity.

Last weekend I had a chance. We were in Chicago with a group of friends to see Hamilton. It just happened to be St. Patrick’s Day, a huge deal in the Windy City.

I ventured down to the river a good hour before the designated time, carefully selecting my spot along the walkway between the Columbia and the Michigan Avenue bridges to see what the fuss was all about. Across from me I could view the new Apple store, with a section of glass covered over. Evidently they have had some problems. If you haven’t been to the store, go, it’s terrific. For a blog post, click here.  (New Apple Store Opens in Chicago ).

But back to the Green River. Many cities around the world have traditions for St. Patrick’s Day, the day when Irish go crazy over the death of their patron saint on March 17, 461AD. These celebrations have been going on for over 1000 years. Lots of Guinness and/or Irish whiskey is consumed.

Traditionally the Irish would go to church in the morning and celebrate by drinking, dancing and feasting in the afternoon and evening.

In Chicago, the festivities start early when the river is dyed with a secret recipe. Promptly at 9 am boats zip up and down the waterway, spraying a yellow liquid into the water and then churning it up. Fans in their silly Irish themed garb cheer, hoot and holler as the water morphed into an electric green. It took multiple boats and almost an hour for the section I was observing  to be turned a glorious green for the day.

It’s really worth seeing once. A bit of trivia: this practice started in 1962 in Chicago when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges.  They realized that the green dye could provide creative way to celebrate the holiday.

Enjoy my effort to capture the fun along with a couple provided by friends.  Ryan DePersia  was able to ride on a boat for the hoop-de-doo and graciously shared a couple of his photos.

St. Patrick’s Parade in Chicago

Another part of the festivities was the parade, which was held at noon on Columbia Avenue, one of more than 100 St. Patrick Day Parades held across the United States.  Frankly I was little disappointed with it but maybe I’m spoiled with seeing the Rose Bowl Parade and Macy’s every year on TV. It seemed home grown and not well organized in comparison.

The bagpipe bands were impressive though. Must have been at least four. The sounds reverberate near the Frank Gehry pavilion, echoing the call of the pipes on the moors of Scotland. The parade is worth attending  just to see them.

But what really caught my attention was the Noggeler Band from Lucerne, Switzerland. Lucerne is Chicago’s sister city and evidently the carnival band comes to Chicago every couple of years. Lucky me. They made the trip this year. Their music was great but what made me smile ear to ear were their masks. Each band member wore one and they were all different.  Funny and Fun.

Made me want to go to Lucerne where this band is a big part of a huge festival held every year.

We had a chance to chat with a couple of the band members later in the day when we jammed in a crowd trying to make our way back to the hotel. They guys we chatted with said the masks are replaced often.  They can be  hot and impede hearing but the band member who we talked to said they don’t mind.

Here are a few more pictures to  capture the spirit of the parade.

Goofy Getups on St. Patrick’s Day

My gosh, the goofy factor comes out on St. Patrick’s Day. We decided the holiday is mostly the chance to wear crazy stuff and to drink a lot. You were in a minority if you didn’t have something green and silly. Here’s some examples to enjoy.

As we headed out of a sleepy (and most likely hungover) city on Sunday morning, I stopped to check  the color of the river.   Yep. Still a glorious Irish green.