The River Runs Green

With a little help from our friend, Amber, we were treated to a birds-eye view of the traditional "greening" of the Chicago River for St. Patrick's Day. A couple facts about the tradition:
- The dye that is dropped in the water is actually orange, but it turns the river green. Go figure.
- The dying operation is privately funded and performed by the plumbers union.
- 100 lbs of dye was used the first year (1962) and turned the river green for a week. The second year they tried 50 lbs which lasted 3 days. Finally they knocked it down to 25 lbs which lasted a day.
- They now use 40 lbs of vegetable dye that lasts only 4 to 5 hours.