Crowds began forming early Saturday morning in downtown Chicago to kick off the city’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend, with thousands lining Wacker Drive from Wolf Point to DuSable Lake Shore Drive to watch the traditional dyeing of the Chicago River.
The gusty winds didn’t spoil the festivities. Just after 10 a.m., a sightseeing boat packed with members of the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 UA began chugging west, spraying fluorescent green water into the river, continuing a tradition the union started in 1962.
Onlookers cheered and played traditional Irish music as several small power boats zig-zagged behind the plumbers’ vessel.
Lakeshore East resident Kate Liebelt, wearing a green wig and carrying her dog Jennie, took a boat tour as the plumbers continued pouring dye into the water. Liebelt attended the event with her nine-year-old neighbor Glayden McQuade and said she never misses the riverfront celebration.
“By far one of the happiest, most fun days in downtown Chicago is celebrating the river being dyed green,” she said. “It brings the community together to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day and the start of spring.”
South Loop residents Tom and Sue Keegan boarded a boat at Freedom Boat Club’s Streeterville dock and said they don’t miss the event regardless of the weather. Both are members of Old St. Patrick’s Church in the West Loop and said their Irish heritage makes the day important.
“We call this a high holiday,” Tom Keegan said.
It took the plumbers about 45 minutes to transform the murky gray river to bright green, a color expected to last for several days.
After the dyeing, thousands of residents and tourists streamed toward Grant Park to watch the downtown Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The half-mile parade, in its 70th year, kicked off around 12:15 p.m. to the sounds of bagpipes and drums played by members of the Chicago Police Department. Marchers assembled at the intersection of Columbus and Balbo drives and headed north to Monroe Street.
Marching bands from several military service branches led the way, followed by high school bands, Irish dance companies, a group of American miniature horses and thousands of union members and their families.
The parade is always an opportunity for local politicians to make an appearance. Both Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker were on hand, waving to the crowd that was densely packed along Columbus Drive.
Justin McCarty brought his family from Springfield, Missouri. It’s the first time they’ve ever attended.
“We’ve got a parade in Springfield, but not at this scale,” he said.
A union pipefitter, McCarty was dressed head-to-toe in green, including a matching top hat. He said the parade was also an opportunity to show solidarity with union marchers, who included auto workers, ironworkers and many others.
“It’s a brotherhood thing,” he said.
Members of United Auto Workers Local 551 said they marched in the parade to celebrate winning a new contract after participating in the 2023 national strike against GM, Ford and Stellantis.
“We got a damn good contract, the best we’ve gotten in 30 years,” said Lenny Faria, an assembly line worker at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant on the Far South Side.
UAW 551 member Kaelan Harris, a forklift driver at the Ford plant, said he usually attends the Northwest Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade but that this year it was important to join thousands of members at the city’s largest event.
“We’re all in the union together, and if this parade looks like a hit, we’re going to do it next year,” he said.
