Chicago - Event

The first St Patrick's Day parade in Chicago took place on 17 March, 1843. Now every year a magnificent street parade thrills spectators in the downtown area of the city.

One of the lesser-known and more extraordinary aspects to Chicago's celebration of Ireland's patron saint is a wonderful tradition of splashing green dye into the Chicago River. In 1962, a city plumber whose overalls had been coloured green with dye used to trace pollution inspired Stephen Bailey, a labour leader and close friend of Mayor Daley, to turn the river green for St Patrick's Day. When 17 March rolled around 100 pounds of green vegetable dye were added to the river, enough to keep it green for a week!

These days, 40 pounds of a green food colouring keep it green for only a few hours, but this brilliant tradition is kept alive and we salute them for it!

The parade consists of marching bands, floats and hundreds of citizens dressed in green who come to enjoy the annual family day out.