CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – A Chicago St. Patrick's Day tradition for six decades, the dyeing of the Chicago River, drew thousands of people Saturday.
A large crowd lined the Chicago River with many cheering as the Plumbers Union Local 130 carried on the tradition using barges and boats to churn up an orange powder dye that makes the river a luminescent emerald green.
“It’s fun. It’s simple and simplistic. And the first time we came down we were like, ‘Are we really going to go down just to watch this?’ And then it was just like wow, this is actually fun. It’s a good time,” Penny Kaiser, who was watching the river dying from Upper Wacker Drive, told WBBM Newsradio.
Fun but very cold, said Kevin Weiler, a member of the plumbers union.
When asked how he was doing in the cold weather that dipped into the teens Saturday morning, Weiler replied, “Not so well. But, you know, love being a part of a Chicago tradition.”
A Chicago tradition that started 60 years ago with dye used to detect leaks in pipes.
The formula is a secret that the union will not give up.
People here were just glad to see this happening again after the coronavirus pandemic interrupted how many would watch the dyeing of the river and canceled the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
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