St. Patrick’s Day 2015

Thanks to Choose Chicago and Shoreline Sightseeing, I had a front-row seat to the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day festivities along the Chicago River. What started as a chilly morning turned into a picture-perfect day. Bright sunshine, and some thin high-altitude cirrus clouds made for great shooting conditions. Our cruise departed from 200 S. Wacker, so we were lucky to cruise through the Loop before docking. It was a great chance to check out all of the new construction projects along the river banks, too.

By the way – here’s the story behind the tradition. The first instance of the river’s dyeing was in 1962. The story goes something like this…Local plumbers were trying to locate and disconnect a waste pipe that was illegally draining into the river. To do this, they pumped a special green fluorescent dye through various pipes in hopes of revealing which pipe was discharging the waste. After the job, one of those plumbers, who now had dye on him, stopped into Stephen Bailey’s office to discuss plans for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade. Upon seeing this perfectly green color on the plumber, Bailey, Business Manager of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union #110, had the perfect idea – Why not dye the river green for St. Patrick’s Day?

54 years later the tradition continues and is carried out every year by The Chicago Plumbers Local Union. After years of perfecting the process, the group now uses 40 pounds of vegetable dye dispersed with a sifter while motorboats churn and mix the water to create this perfectly green spectacle on the Chicago River.