The Chicago River is dyed green each year for the St Patrick's Day celebration, shown here in 2005.
As part of a more than forty year old Chicago tradition, the Chicago River is dyed green in observance of St. Patrick's Day.The actual event does not necessarily occur on St. Patrick's Day and is scheduled for the Saturday of the closest weekend. For example in 2009, the river was dyed on Saturday, March 14, 2009, whereas St. Patrick's day was on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.
Bill King, the administrator of Chicago's St. Patrick's Day committee, stated that "the idea of dyeing the Chicago River green originally came about by accident when a group of plumbers were using fluorescein dye to trace illegal substances that were polluting the river". The dyeing of the river is still sponsored by the local plumbers union.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlawed the use of fluorescein for this purpose, since it was proven to be harmful to the river. The ingredients used to dye the river green today are claimed to be safe and not harmful to the thousands of living organisms that find a habitat in the Chicago River. Forty pounds of vegetable dye are used to color the river for the celebration.
In 2009, in keeping with the Chicago St. Patrick's Day tradition, at the request of First Lady Michelle Obama, who is a Chicago native, the White House fountains were dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Kinda' kewl thing to see I think...
;o)
via people.tribe.net
