St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

Tuesday, March 17, marks the day set aside by the Church as a celebration of the Christian faith’s arrival in Ireland. For most of us, though, it’s simply St. Patrick’s Day. While some cities in the Northeast may be more popular for their St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans, the residents of Chicago definitely know how to have a good time as well. You can spend the entire weekend before the 17^th dressed in green and drinking Guinness with their festive line-up.

First things first, you can’t be in Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day and not check out the dyeing of the Chicago river. Every year, the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers dye the river a bright fluorescent green. Don’t worry — even if it may not look like it, the dye is 100 percent safe for the environment. If you want to see the water up and personal, check out Shoreline Sightseeing’s St. Patrick’s Day River Tour, which also includes an Irish buffet and bar.

You also have your pick of a few different St. Patrick’s Day parades in the city. The Downtown Chicago Parade begins at noon on Saturday, March 14, and is held sun, rain, sleet or snow. The South Side Irish Parade is Sunday, March 15, and also begins at noon. A newer addition to this parade is the Emerald Isle Mile Fun Run held directly before the parade’s kick-off, with prizes for each male and female winner of the event.

But what’s any St. Patrick’s Day celebration without a trip to an Irish pub? There are a lot of great Irish pubs in Chicago, as well as a lot of pub crawl events happening over the weekend. If you don’t know where to start, though, look no further than the annual Irish Pubs of Chicago Trolley Tour, which is accompanied by your own tavern historian as you make your way across the city.