A green Chicago River is the city-wide signal: the St. Patrick's Day festivities are officially on.
Saturday morning's event marked the 51st year of the river dying, a major part of the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade festivities.
According to the Associated Press, some 400,000 spectators turn out each year to see the river change color and to watch the parade, which kicked off at noon.
Chicago has long-held bragging rights to one of the country's top St. Patrick's Day celebrations alongside Boston and New York City. In 2012, the Windy City managed to pull Irish Prime Minister Edna Kenny away from Dublin for the holiday; Kenny spent this year in NYC with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Though temps were low, the crowds for the parade were strong. ABC Chicago reports the parade Grand Marshal was Notre Dame's head football coach, Brian Kelly, who led the Fighting Irish to an undefeated regular season.
The Chicago River is dyed green right before the start of the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago, Saturday, March, 16, 2013. With the holiday itself falling on a Sunday, many celebrations were scheduled instead for Saturday because of religious observances. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
No comments:
Post a Comment