Chicago Sights: Dyeing the Chicago River Green

For today’s antics check out #DyeTheRiverGreen #HolidaysAtCountry and #CountryFinancial 

Hey y’all and top of the whatever time of day it is for you! I woke up bright and early to head to the Chicago River for the annual dyeing of it for St. Patrick’s Day. Outside of the obvious reasons why this is the first time in my life I’ve done this, I’ll let you know that it’s usually cold in March, and being downtown during a parade is not good for those of us who tend to cry behind the wheel in traffic. Ever since moving, I’ve become such a softie with traffic. ANYHOO – I was a guest of Country Financial as they took over a boat from Shoreline Cruise to dye the river green! That green is BRIGHT yo, and the poor people who are responsible for putting that dye into the river. Yeah, read to the end to see a photo of them. Poor lads and lasses. 

How does the Chicago River turn green for St. Patrick’s Day? 

The dyeing of the river is sponsored by the local plumbers union (some members are in the boat that you see above), but now they use a harmless orange vegetable dye to get the desired hue. They wouldn’t share the exact formula as it’s a closely guarded secret, but I’m assured that it has been tested and is safe for the environment. 

We gathered on the southern portion of Navy Pier at 7:30 this morning to board the boat, and then set sail at about 9 am to travel the river from Lake Shore Drive to Wells. The sun was our friend this morning my friends. I’ve never been so in love with its beaming rays as I was today. During the summer, we’re breaking up, but TODAY, I loved it so very much. 

If you aren’t privy to being in this great city of mine, you can definitely check out all of the photos that I’m sure will be posted using those hashtags. There was also a parade immediately following the dyeing of the river, and that’s a HUGE event as well. We had grandstand seating, right in front of Buckingham Fountain, and it’s the best spot for people watching ever. If you come to our city and don’t go there and people watch, you really haven’t visited Chicago. I mean, the folks below sprayed orange powder into the Chicago River for you, and they are going to be wearing it for a while. 

We had the Shannon Rovers Pip Band on the boat with us too! They did a fantastic job keeping the bagpipes going! 

I know that you’ve seen some of the other things that I’ve done with Country Financial over the days, and I love working with them because they really support local Chicago businesses and the community. They were a large part of the educational aspect of Habitat for Humanity. Really answering questions for the homeowners, and making sure that we understood the paperwork we’d be signing. 

For those of you who celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I hope you do so responsibly. I hope that you also learned a little bit about dyeing the Chicago River green today! It’s a tradition that’s pretty cool! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Country Financial. The opinions and text are all mine.