Spectators on land and sea watching the Chicago River dyeing on March 12, 2022.Photo: Vincent D. Johnson/Xinhua via Getty
After two years oftempered St. Patrick’s Day celebrationsnationwide, everyone will again be a little bit Irish this March 17.
A tradition since 1962, the process uses 40 lbs. of a vegetable-based dye (that’sactually orange, per NPR). Members of the Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 handle the coloring of the river, using one motorboat to dump the dye and two to churn the water and spread it. The color lasts about 48 hours.
The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2018.Stephanie Keith/Getty
In New York City, the annual Fifth Avenue parade — the oldest in the country, first stepping off in 1762 — will return on March 17 after going virtual last year.More than 150,000 marchersare expected to entertain upwards of 2 million spectators,per Thrillist,over the course of five hours.
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Boston is also home to a big parade, which makes sense given it’s home to the States' largest Irish population.Organizers actually claimthe city was the first in the U.S. to even celebrate the holiday; they pair the festivities with those commemorating Evacuation Day, a.k.a. the day British troops evacuated from the Dorchester Heights neighborhood of Boston in 1776. Thoughthe event is shortened this yeardue to the ongoing pandemic, it’s a welcome return to normalcy for revelers.
While New Orleans might not be top of the morning — er, mind — when thinking St. Patrick’s Day, the city celebrates for weeks (of course) leading up to March 17; this year,marches began as early as March 12and will run through the April 2 Irish-Italian Parade.
source: people.com
