How they dye the river green

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

In Chicago, it has been a tradition since the first Mayor Daley to dye the Chicago River green for the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

In 1992, videomaker Patrick Creadon, on assignment for THE 90’s, went downtown at 2:30am to cover the preparation for the parade and to talk with the guys from Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union #110 about this tradition. The footage didn’t make it on the show, but 20 years later, we pulled it out of the archive and cut together a segment.

Since his early work for THE 90’s, Creadon has become an accomplished director of documentary features such as Wordplay and I.O.U.S.A.

You can watch the whole tape, including Streets & San setting up for the parade and an interview with Mayor Daley about the future of the Democratic Party at Media Burn.

Read more about the tradition as recalled by its creators.