Green Chicago River, Magnificent Mile, Chicago
On Saturday, March 13, Chicago held it’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and dyed the Chicago River green. I was in Texas so I missed it. The river is still green, but not as intense as I heard that it was this past weekend.
18 responses so far ↓
1 pjm // Mar 17, 2004 at 9:54 am
So all of a sudden the complete text of your posts, with photos, is in your RSS feed! What did you change? I’m using MT as well (also on Dreamhost, not that that matters) and I haven’t dug too deeply into this puzzle yet…
2 el // Mar 17, 2004 at 10:12 am
did they really dye it green? that can’t be good for the environment, right?
3 jens // Mar 17, 2004 at 10:36 am
I was thinking the same thing but i guess there are env. friendly dye to make it green. But what initiative!! Im impressed - that would never happen over here in sweden…
4 rachelle // Mar 17, 2004 at 10:37 am
pjm, my friend walt helped me out with it. im not sure what exactly he did.
el, this article says that the dye is bio-degradable and wont harm the river.
5 tien // Mar 17, 2004 at 11:01 am
they do it every year. it’s quite cool, if not disturbing.
6 matt // Mar 17, 2004 at 11:29 am
Brings to mind a funny quote from The Fugitive: “If they can dye the river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?”
I once worked in the bar area of a restaurant and had the pleasure of working during St. Paddy’s Day. We did the green beer thing, but no one warned me that a single drop of food coloring is plenty. So for my first beer, I put in way too much and the beer turned almost black. “Umm, I guess you don’t want this one,” I said to the slightly grossed-out customer. A little dab’ll do ya!
7 Richard // Mar 17, 2004 at 1:57 pm
If you look at them side by side, that is nearly an identical perspective of a photo you posted on Feb 10th.
8 Reinhard // Mar 17, 2004 at 2:15 pm
very interesting. compare the green river with your foto http://www.rachelleb.com/001606.html
greetings from switzerland
reinhard
9 pjm // Mar 17, 2004 at 2:34 pm
Figured out the full-text RSS thing, thanks…
10 rachelle // Mar 17, 2004 at 3:37 pm
yeh, i must have been standing at roughly the same spot when i took both photos. the one in february has ice/snow though. they were both taken out a window in my office.
11 LOOT New York Classified Ads: Bargain Blog // Mar 17, 2004 at 3:44 pm
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
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12 cracker // Mar 18, 2004 at 9:11 am
hollah chi town. Boston St Patty’s was a drunken affair. it’s like our own New Years, where lame bars jack up prices to the amateur drinker.
Hey R, funny story, i may too end up in chi town
freakin bank1 jpmorganchase mergers, looking like some technology opportunities for me and my group
ill bring jowee crack, and fun times will be had for all.
13 rachelleb // Mar 18, 2004 at 9:21 am
awesome, let me know if you do! and, yes, bring joel along!
14 rachelleb.com // Oct 1, 2005 at 9:57 am
West of Michigan Ave.
West of Michigan Avenue, Chicago Normally the views I get from my office are to the North, East, and South, so when I was on the west side of the building recently, I took the opportunity to take a…
15 Luis // Mar 17, 2006 at 10:56 pm
why doesn’t it let me post my comment?
16 Anonymous // Mar 17, 2006 at 10:58 pm
oh ok…i guess it’s because it can’t be as big as it is…
My friend sent me this today, and the thought of enviromental damage disturbed me quite a bit, so I went and did some research, and I found quite a few interesting information.
“Most of the natural dyes were collected in the wild from sources such as oak tree galls, larkspur, woad, indigo, madder, and cochineal. Only a few of the sources, such as indigo, were intensively cultivated. As synthetic dyes were developed, reliance on natural dye sources diminished. Synthetic azo dyes (an acid direct dye that yields yellow or orange-red) were introduced to many weaving areas between 1875 and 1890. Synthetic indigo was developed in 1897, and by 1914, only 4% of the indigo produced was extracted from plants. As the carpet industry has grown and commercial production has demanded more reliable supplies, vegetable dyes have been largely replaced by synthetic dyes, including acid, reactive, chrome, and metal-complex formulations.”
So…whoever said that they found an article saying it’s bio-degradable…i highly doubt it…
17 Luis // Mar 17, 2006 at 11:00 pm
There is more on this if you go to http://cleanerproduction.com/Pubs/pubs/Nepalarticle.html
Also I found it quite ironic that it was the Chicago “pollution-control” workers that first started with the dying of the river….
hey guys…we’re here to control pollution…so how about we dump 100 pounds of vegetable dye into the river…sounds like a plan!
and than in 1966 when enviromentalists told Bailey, the guy who started it all that it was polluting the ocean and harming the animals…he laughed…and told them that they found something else to use that wouldn’t harm the river…
http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com/chicago/ for more information…
18 Luis // Mar 17, 2006 at 11:01 pm
and there’s this one…
“Today, in order to minimize environmental damage, only forty pounds of dye are used, making the river green for only several hours.”
basically stating that there are still causing environmental damage…
this was found in the history channel:
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/?page=history3
There’s a lot more thing on this subject…I just hope you guys aren’t to lazy to read….enjoy
-Luis
sorry for having to keep reposting my comments
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