Happy Friday!
Last night, I was talking to our son Ryan - home from graduate school for Spring break - about his favorite St. Patrick's Day memories. Aside from his adorable elementary school recollections of building an elaborate leprechaun trap, the elusive leprechaun footprints his class would discover after recess and frantically trying to find something green to wear, he mentioned the popular annual tradition of dyeing the Chicago River its iconic bright shade of emerald green as a definite March highlight and I completely agreed.
He experienced it during his four years as an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago taking the CTA into the city with friends and I would often have lunch with colleagues near the river just to take it all in when I worked downtown for the Hilton Hotels Corporation in the early 1990s. The event kicks off the city's best festive celebration and unofficially marks that Spring is finally rounding the corner after the icy cold winter wind blasts!
Fun facts about the Chicago River tradition:
In the effort to clean up the river when Mayor Daley assumed his role in 1955, the dye was originally used to locate the areas where the sewage was leaking into the waterway.
The color of the dye powder is actually orange!
In 1962, the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union decided to use the dye to turn the river green in honor of St. Patrick's Day and is still in charge of dyeing the river today.
Environmentalists convinced the city to adopt a friendly vegetable-based dye and the formula developed is a closely guarded secret.
The dyeing process involves workers on two motorboats dumping the powder in the water followed by other boats stirring and distributing the color. People gather along the waterside and on the bridges to watch it all unfold. Within minutes, the river is green and the parade can begin! Check out a couple of fun timelapse videos on YouTube to see the process.
Enjoy a restful weekend and Happy St. Patrick's Day!
weekend+notes | 3.17.23
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