St Patrick’s Day Free Festivities in Chicago – March 13

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Chicago — everyone is Irish next Weekend!!  Come out for the annual free St. Patrick’s Day Parade and free Greening of the Chicago River on Saturday, March 13, 2010 as well as other festivities held around Chicago, including the new South Side Irish Family Fest.

Chicago Official St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The free parade takes place at 12:00 noon, Saturday March 13th, which begins at Balbo and Columbus Dr. and follows Columbus to Monroe St., and the Chicago River is dyed green a little earlier about 10:45 am.  The parade is always held the Saturday before the actual calendar date of Saint Patrick’s Day, which allows families to participate in the festivities without having to remove their children from school.

South Side Irish Fest

There’s no more South Side Irish Parade. It’s been replaced by the South Side Irish Family Fest which runs all day Saturday at the Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St.  Hosted in conjunction with the Beverly Arts Center, this daylong event will feature activities such as an Irish soda bread contest, a best-dressed “Irish” dog contest, and a children’s parade around the art center’s grounds. The event will also offer family-friendly activities such as Irish-themed arts and crafts for kids, children’s films, and a live production by the Beverly Arts Centers’ own children’s theater group. In addition, this event will feature food, drink, numerous Irish vendors, and live entertainment from bagpipers, Irish dancers, and a host of Irish musicians. The evening will culminate with a performance by Hothouse Flowers, a world-renowned band hailing from Ireland that combines traditional Irish music with influences from soul, gospel and rock.

Naperville Irish Parade

The Naperville St. Patrick’s Day Parade is scheduled for Saturday, March 13. It kicks off at 10 a.m. at Naperville North High School, 899 N. Mill St. It follows Mill Street to Jefferson Avenue, then travels east to Main Street before turning south to Water Street.

Northwest Irish Parade – March 14

The Northwest Side Irish will be hosting its Northwest Irish Parade on Sunday, March 14, beginning at 11:00am. This parade runs from Raven Street (at Neola Avenue) to Northwest Highway (at Harlem Avenue). After the parade, the Official Northwest Side After Party will be held at Moretti’s restaurant, located at 6727 N. Olmsted.

Dyeing the River Green – 10:45 am – March 13, 2010

Turning the Chicago river green has been unique to Chicago for the past 40 years. Most people did not know that this is a privately funded operation, which gets more expensive each year.  In 2010 we will be turning the river green on Saturday March 13, starting at 10:30 A.M.! This year we will be east of Wabash Ave, and west of Columbus Dr. The dyeing operation can be best viewed from the East side of the Michigan Avenue bridge, the West side of the Columbus Drive bridge or upper and lower Wacker Drive between Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive.

The History Behind Dyeing the Chicago River Green

A modern day miracle occurs each year as part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade celebration when the Chicago River turns an incredible shade of Irish green. This spectacular transformation ranks right up there with the parting of the sea by Moses and the Pyramids of Egypt.

For the past 43 years the Chicago River turns green for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade celebration. One would ask how this is different from the rest of the year when the river is always a murky shade of green. The difference is both significant and breathtaking because the color green is identical to the greens of Ireland from where it got its name “The Emerald Isle.”

In 1961 Stephen Bailey was approached by a plumber who was wearing some white coveralls, they knew this only because they could see some of the original color. These coveralls had been mostly stained or dyed a perfect shade of green, an Irish green to better describe it. It was when Stephen Bailey asked how the coveralls got this way, that they discovered that the dye used to detect leaks into the river turned green, not just any color green, but the perfect color green. “A tradition is born”

Today this miracle belongs to Mike Butler and his crew, which he claims to always have a little help from a leprechaun who seems to just appear at this time each year.

If you were watching this for the first time you would think this is a mistake or a bad joke. You see the dye is orange and its initial color on the surface of the river is orange and you would think to yourself what heathen would do something like this. After a moment or two you then see the true color magically appear.

Two miracles appear that day, the river turns a perfect shade of green something that many other cities have tried but have not been successful at doing, and the second miracle by starting with the color orange giving the impression that river will be orange only to convert the river to that true Irish green. We believe that is where the leprechaun comes in.

As the late Stephen Bailey has said, the road from Chicago to Ireland is marked in green. From the Chicago River to the Illinois River, then to the Mississippi, up the Gulf Stream and across the Atlantic you can see the beautiful green enter the Irish Sea, clearly marking the way from Chicago to Ireland.

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