Chicago dyes entire river green for St Patrick’s Day
The Chicago River has been dyed bright green (Picture: Metro.co.uk) It’s St Patrick’s Day today, and..
It’s St Patrick’s Day today, and that means it’s time to celebrate all things ‘Irish’ – and that includes painting everything you see green.
Yes, today is the day when everyone you know suddenly reveals they have some distant relation to the ‘Emerald Isle’ and Guinness is drunk by the bucketful.
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It probably comes as no surprise to learn that our American friends always take to the day with typically robust enthusiasm, since there are more people who consider themselves ‘Irish’ in the US than there are in Ireland.
And how do they celebrate St Paddy’s Day across the pond? Why, they turn an entire river a wonderful fluorescent shade of green of course.
Watch the whole thing here:
To celebrate the day, officials in Chicago turn the Chicago River a healthy-looking bright green, a tradition which has been happening every year since 1961.
The annual tradition sees the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union dump orange dye into the water from a boat ahead of the city’s huge St Patrick’s Day parade.
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As soon as the powder hits the water it turns green and then a second boat follows to make sure the dye spreads out.
But don’t worry – the dye is completely environmentally safe and is the same stuff plumbers used to detect leaks in pipes.
According to the city’s official parade site, the union business manage got the idea when plumbers’ white overalls were stained ‘the perfect colour green’ after detecting leaks.
So there you have it. Happy St Patrick’s Day.
