On any given day the Chicago River is a unique shade of green. A history of pollution and poor management (not to mention an entire reversal of flow) have given the river a one-of-a-kind hue. Every year when St. Paddy's day rolls around, Chicago ups the ante with its green river.
For some 40 odd years, two families from the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers have been dyeing a roughly two block stretch of the Chicago River a brilliant neon green for the St. Patrick's Day holiday. An entire history of the tradition can be found here.
I missed the river last year. It was not the best day out, I was sleepy, and I did not want to make the trek downtown by myself. With only several weeks left in Chicago, however, I knew I could not miss it this year. I found out when the dyeing would take place, called up Mom to see if she wanted to make the trip in to see it with me, and put it on my calendar.
Mom got in Friday night and crashed almost immediately. We rose fairly early on Saturday and left to get downtown and along the river with plenty of time before they started. Having never been, we did not know how many people would be in attendance and we wanted to make sure we had a spot where we could see. A block from the train stop we ran across a Dunkin Donuts and decided hot chocolate and donut holes would make an excellent breakfast. Got everything to go and kept walking toward Upper Wacker between Columbus and Lake Shore Drive.
We found a great viewing location on the Columbus Bridge and got settle. We ate our donut holes, shivered a bit in the wind coming off the water, and were enjoying people-watching when two cops on bikes rode up. "You can't stand on the bridge! Move!" Now, we weren't the only ones on the bridge - not by a long shot. The cops ushered everyone off, despite the protests that people could stand on the bridge last year to view the event.
Well, crap. We had had a great spot and now needed to find somewhere new. We decided to head down to river level on the North side of the river, where there were already many spectators lined up. We had to walk down the block a bit until we found a somewhat open space along the railing overlooking the river. There was a group of about 5 late-20s women next to the open spot who felt we shouldn't be there because they were there first and, of course, were so much more important. I got quite a few glares when I stepped up to the railing and claimed that spot. The women had been very spread out with their belongings and selves, but I have bigger hips, take up a wider area than they did with their city-approved, fashionably anorexic bodies, and I just kept encroaching little by little over the 45 minutes or so we had to stand there until the dyeing began. By the time the boats made the first pass there was enough room along the rail for both Mom and me.
And so we bore witness to the 2009 Dyeing of the Chicago River. It was a lot of fun and the results were even more spectacular than I expected. A pair of honkers who had been hanging on the river in the sun lasted for a few passes of the motorboats, but finally gave up and lifted off, unknowingly showing off their perfectly dyed green bellies. Not to worry - the dye is vegetable based and harmless.
The way the dyeing process works is as follows:
1. The larger of the two boats carries four men. One drives while the other three spill the dye off the sides and back of the boat, respectively. This boat works the river lengthwise (East to West) and makes several passes in both directions.
2. The smaller boat carries two men. One sits at the back, steering and controlling the speed, while the other sits at the front and is there purely for weight and stability. This boat works the river widthwise (North to South) to mix in the dye.
3. The whole process lasts 15-20 minutes and the river will remain brilliantly green for only several hours.
I was reading about the history last year and watched a short PBS documentary on the families who do this year after year. Apparently it's the same two families that work together to dye the river, and the men in these families will not let the women out on the boats. Stupid men with stupid, old, dumb ideas.
Anyway, getting back up to street level after the dyeing was done and the boats were docked was a whole barrel of fun. There is one staircase from river to street level and, of course, the hundreds of people at river level were trying to go up at the same time. To compound the problem, there were a handful of idiots trying to come down the staircase. It took awhile to get up to street level, where we were met with another crush. The sidewalks were jammed with people trying to move in both directions at the same time. If one ever needs to learn a little patience, go to the river dyeing in Chicago.
Once we reached street level I had a guy behind me who did not like how slow everyone was moving and who felt all one had to do to get people going forward was to shove the person in front of him (me) to start a chain reaction. I'm not guessing at this mindset... he was talking to someone on the phone and stated his philosophy in no uncertain terms. He tried it on me all of three times. The first surprised me, the second annoyed me, and the third got him an elbow to the ribs. He grunted and stopped pushing after meeting and shrinking from my over-the-shoulder glare.
Sometimes I worry the city has made me colder and harder, but then I think that maybe I have just learned that in some cases it is alright to fight fire with fire.
And there be the end of my story. The rest of the day was spent doing some shopping since I had a car at my disposal, eating a fantastic supper at a local restaurant Mom had not yet tried, and packing up a significant portion of my room to send home with Mom. The next time she will be here will be my graduation, after which we will move everything else out. All told, I think this place is only my home for another 7 weeks or so. Shocking.
I will upload pictures and movies as soon as my computer stops being dumb.
Love!
~g
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