Supper with Sylvia #12 - Our Plumbers Are Cooler Than Yours: St. Patrick’s Day

There’s no place like Chicago when it comes to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The river is a sea of bright green and the hallowed hum of bagpipes lead the annual parades. North side,  south side,  it’s all about the green beer and the scent of corned beef and cabbage wafting through Irish pubs across the city.  This week the lines form early at Fado Irish Pub where purveyor Kieran Aherne keeps the Guinness flowing for the biggest celebration of the year.  And then, Jason Lesniewicz joins us from Choose Chicago with some Irish history and a rundown of all the events this year.  So get your green on, pinch a friend and enjoy this especially Irish episode of Supper with Sylvia!

Show Notes:

Fado's Irish Pub ~ 100 W. Grand Ave. Chicago   www.fadoirishpub.com/chicago

For a rundown of all things going on in Chicago this St. Patrick's Day head to www.choosechicago.com

This episode is produced by Jane Stephens

Audio engineering and original music by Donnie Cutting

Social Media and Promotions by Magali Blasdell

Check out SupperwithSylvia on Instagram.
Email us at SupperwithSylvia@gmail.com

Transcript

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Seventy years after Chicago's first St. Patrick's Day parade, the Windy City has become the number one destination for all things Irish. The river is glowing green, the Guinness is flowing, and thousands will pour into the city to celebrate this beloved holiday. No one knows the magic of the day better than Kieran Aherne. Straight from Ireland, he's been serving up good times at Fadot Irish Pub for years.

Later, Jason Lesniewicz from Choose Chicago joins us with a full rundown of the best things to do this St. Patrick's Day. So grab something green, pinch a friend, and enjoy this very Irish episode of Supper with Sylvia. Kieran Aherne, how are you? It's so nice to meet you. And you too, Sylvia. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we had to have you on because...

Fadoes is a staple in Chicago. When we think St. Patrick's Day, there are a few bars that come to mind and yours is definitely one of them. So excited to have you. I love St. Patrick's Day in Chicago. I personally think it's the best city to celebrate in the United States for sure. So let's just start with a little history about your beautiful place because if you've never been for our listeners, each

floors tells its own story and it is not what you'd expect to see in the middle of a city. So it's pretty special. Let's start with what does the name Fado mean? Fado means long ago, Sylvia. And you know, this pub has been here. It opened up in November of 1997. Everything was brought over from Ireland. So all floors, you know, as you said, we have three floors here.

All Floors tell a bit of a story about the Irish pub culture and what it was like and what it is like today. So upstairs is more of an old farmhouse style as far as what you might expect when you walk into a pub in Ireland. Downstairs and the mezzanine level are more contemporary, more is in line with what you might see in a pub today. And then when it comes to the food and beverage, we try and stay...

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pretty in tune with perspective what the current trends are, not just here, but in Ireland as well. Okay. I want to talk about, you guys have several locations. How does Chicago compare to the other locations when it comes, since we're focusing on St. Patrick's Day, I personally think, as I said, it's the best city to celebrate in the United States. Describe to people who are not from Chicago, those who are from Chicago, those who live out of state, out of the country.

What is St. Patrick's Day like at your place in Chicago? Well, first and foremost, think Chicago is the greatest city in the world. mean, we're blessed to live in a city like this. And Chicago just does everything well and St. Patrick's Day is no different. know, they died a river green. you know, it's a really cool thing that I don't know of any other city that does something like that. So to kickstart things off on the...

Parade day in Chicago for us becomes our busiest day. So that's the day that the city is designated that there's going to be a St. Patrick's Day parade, which is always the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day. So this year that falls on Saturday, or Saturday, March 15th. And that's where we've got the parade and the Dita River green and all these people come into the city and early on in the morning, the city just feels alive. There's a buzz about the place and there's a lot of people down by the river where the plumbers union

They died a river green. you've never seen it, you should. It is such a cool thing. And then we've got one of the best St. Patrick's Day parades in the country that comes down Columbus Drive. And it's just, it's amazing. And, you know, by 11 or 12 o'clock, we're at capacity. There's just so many people in the city. Everybody wants to kind of get their green on and everybody's Irish on that day. And it's, it's just fun. There's a great atmosphere around the place. Everybody's in good spirits. It's a very young crowd.

and it's, it's interesting for us because you see such a different dynamic on the Saturday, early on in the day, it's a lot of young people that are out enjoying all the festivities. And then as it goes into the evening, it's the people who didn't go out during the day, they come out at night and, it just, it just goes all day. And so we get a lot of Irish people that will come into us, they come into the city for the celebration. And it's like they've, they've heard about what goes on in Chicago, even as far away as Ireland.

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and they want to be a part of it and they come in and St. Patrick's Day is a big day in Ireland, but it's a holiday and it's celebrated, but it's not celebrated like it's celebrated here. And it's just such a great day from early morning to late night from music and people just want to be a part of it. It's fantastic. It's like a bucket list thing. You should come here for St. Patrick's Day at least once in your life and just experience it.

I agree with you and I love how you described it because you know, you and I have been here for many St. Patrick's Day, haven't we? And I will tell you, I never get sick of watching the river being dyed green. I'm just fascinated by the whole thing. And I'm fascinated at how early these young people you are referring to get out to start celebrating. So I want you to do me a favor. I want you to paint a picture to help our listeners visualize

Fido's on St. Patrick's Day, because I've seen those lines. So paint us a picture of what we can expect. So Parade Day and St. Patrick's Day for us are two uniquely different kind of days, right? So the Saturday, because everything starts off in the city so early, we respected the river dying and the parade. It pulls a lot of people into the city super early. So we'll open up at nine o'clock on the Saturday. And as you said, we will have a line down the street all the way down to the end of the corner.

People wanted to come in and get some breakfast into them, maybe have a Bloody Mary or whatever the case be. Pites of Guinness to beat the band. mean, there's Guinness flowing all over the place. then they're heading off down into the city to do what, you know, they watch the river or go to the parade or whatever the case be. St. Patrick's Day itself then just becomes a bit of a different dynamic. It's a bit more low key. The younger crowd are all at work. It's on a Monday this year, so there isn't as many people kind of down in the city.

come mid-afternoon, the atmosphere changes into it being a real celebration. Now we've got people who are taking half days. Those people who are in town for the parade on the Saturday, especially if they're in from out of town, stick around through the Monday because it's only a couple of days away. And all of that starts to filter in in the afternoon. by mid-afternoon, we're full, we're at capacity. Everybody's in kind of full celebratory mode. We've got live music going. It's just, it's a party.

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fun. It is fun. is fun. And I love that you said that. Even people, because I have met a couple of people from Ireland who have said, I've heard Chicago St. Patrick's is incredible. I want to go out there. So as you said, it usually is the Saturday before St. Patrick's this year, the Saturday at St. Patrick's falls on a Monday. Not only do we have the parade on Columbus that you referred to, but we have the parade

in the Irish neighborhoods where, in fact, the parade we have in the city is one of the largest in the country. So much to see, so much fun. Everybody is so happy. It doesn't even matter what the weather's like. Usually we get lucky and the weather's pretty decent. But yours is one of the spots that a lot of people want to go to. So I want to talk about what you guys provide because not only is your bar absolutely beautiful, but you're known for having great pub food. So when I come to Fado's,

can I expect on the menu? So a lot of places on bigger days like that trim their menu down and they do a limited menu. We don't. Our full menu that you will have today if you were to walk in is available on St. Patrick's Day. We'd like to think of it as standard beer in the city. At least we try to be around certain key items. So shepherd's pie, corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips, those Irish staples. We do a boxedie, which is a potato pancake.

that is very unique to us in the sense of how we use it in the likes of our corned beef rolls, which is like Irish sushi. We've got our cheese dip, which is a cheese dish that we use where we fry the boxed and we use it like a dip. All of those are available. And again, we take great pride in our food. Again, we try to be the staple in the city. If somebody says, hey, I fancy having a shepherd's pie or a corned beef and cabbage that we want to be

foremost in people's minds, irrespective of, if you want to have the best, you got to go here. And we hope that that's in everybody's logic, irrespective of Fidole. Yeah, I read that for your cod, that it's wild caught and that you actually have two boats that fish exclusively for Fidole's. Wow. Yeah, we tell a great story, Sylvia, irrespective of that. It's, yeah, again, it's...

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Quality for us is super important. So our Irish breakfast as an example, I obviously am a little biased, but I think we have the best Irish breakfast in the city. And part of the reason for that is where we get our Irish breakfast products. So our Irish rasgur sausage, black and white pudding, we actually have a company out of Vermont who makes that specifically for us under the Fido brand to an Irish recipe. And we have that shipped all over the country to our locations.

we take great pride in the fact of going, hey, we want to be the standard beer around certain things. And we go to some extreme lengths in order to be able to achieve that. And with the fish and chips and with the Irish breakfast, there are two great examples of it. That's amazing. That's amazing. OK, so let's talk Guinness because obviously when you think of St. Patrick's, when you think of the Irish, you think of Guinness. I am not an expert when it comes to beer. So I read somewhere, I can't remember if it was Reddit or something, but they said if

If you want Guinness, Fado's is one of the best places to get Guinness. Why is that? What's different? How is your Guinness more special? Tell me about that. it's how we handle it. We've got standards with respect to from when we receive that Guinness, when it comes in, we try to get the freshest dates that we can. So we have the freshest product that's available to us from how we store it with respect to the temperature that it's held at and ensuring that that temperature is kept.

cold and never warm and that it's handled correctly from that to making sure that we've got the correct gas mix, which the vast majority of American barrels don't have the correct gas mix. Guinness needs 75 % nitrogen, 25 % CO2. Every other beer needs 60 to 40. The vast majority of barrels pushed their Guinness out with 60-40 as opposed to the 75-25. We were one of the only places back in 1997 when we opened up here.

to bring in a gas mix that's specific just for Guinness. So we bring in bulk gas. We've got these huge tanks downstairs to where we've got nitrogen and CO2 that we mix ourselves just to ensure that the mix for Guinness is correct. And we've been doing that for 28 years. Now, a lot of the Irish pubs that have come along since have adapted the exact same strategy. So when you go into a lot of Irish pubs today, they're all using that kind of a gas system. But Fido was one of the first to do so.

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We beer clean our glasses every week. We take great pride in the fact of making sure that our staff are well trained on how to pour correctly. know, Guinness is for us, it is something that is our bread and butter in the sense of going, it's over 27 years and you build that reputation of going, hey, where do we get a great point? We want to make sure that when you come in here, 100 % of the time you are getting a perfect point to Guinness. That's always going to be our goal. And over time we've built up that.

that reputation. you know, we, again, this past year, we were the number one selling Irish pub in the city for Guinness. We take great pride in that. It doesn't happen by chance. it, and as Guinness does well, and Guinness right now is doing really, really well, Guinness just as a brand, you know, all over the city, all over the country, all over the world, is going through this kind of purple phase of just it being a thing to where people want to be a part of. The whole splitting the GE is a

is a thing online with respect to people wanting to do it and take pictures and stuff. And so, and opening up the Guinness Brewery here in Chicago for us, think, has been a great thing too. So people go and experience the brewery and they go, hey, that was great. Is there a place in the city that we can go to experience Guinness again? And, you know, we're one of those that are on that list. So it's great. I love that. I didn't know about that. Okay, wait. So what's going on online? Explain that to me. So the splitting of the G, so the Guinness glass,

right in the middle of the glass that has Guinness on it. And it has become a thing to where with your first swallow, if you can get the Guinness to line up with literally the line on the G, it's become a whole kind of viral sensation, the splitting of the G. And a lot of these young kids are into it and it's, hey, you know, it's great for Guinness. It's a thing and it's great for the likes of us. You got kids coming in and they're going, hey, we're trying to the G. And you go, hey, that's cool.

That's very fun. How long has that been going on? I want to say it's been six to nine months. yeah. It's cool. Yeah, it's relatively new. it's yeah, if you do a little research on there, you'll see what it's all about. And again, some of these these younger these younger kids are all about it and to take great pride if they have to do it. And if they do it, they're taking pictures of it and they're posting it and stuff. And it's not easy. It's you know, your first swallow, you got to drink about half of a pint. So, you know,

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And then you got to get it right on the, on the nail. It's fun. had to be somebody with Guinness marketing because it was genius. I love it. How fun. Any excuse to have a party and competition. So for people who are not familiar with Guinness, explain what it is exactly and what makes it so special. So it's, it's been around since the 1700s. know, Arthur Guinness,

signed a 9,000 year lease back in St. James's Gate for one pound. And if you're ever back in Dublin and you go there, the brewery is right in the heart of Dublin. It's an amazing location. And the Guinness Brewery there is the number one visited tourist attraction in all of Europe. There's more people who go through that than go see the Eiffel Tower, is amazing. you know, it's obviously

an Irish beer that has become a worldwide thing. For me, was the, when craft beer became a big thing out here, the quintessential craft beer has been Guinness. It's been around for forever. And it's one of those that has just gotten stronger and stronger over, over time. It's got its niche. It's, as I said, it's going through a purple phase right now. And when you, when you have a product like that to where, when it's done correctly, it is.

Exceptional. It's a light beer. People look at this and they go, that Guinness is really heavy. It's not. So if you've ever had a half and half for argument's sake, to where you see a Guinness and a half float, Guinness floats on that beer. If it was heavier than it, it couldn't float. And so there's this misperception and misconception with respect to Guinness, respect to it being a super heavy beer. It's not. The calories are light. I think a Miller Light's got like 95 calories. A Guinness has got 120.

There isn't much in the difference between a light beer and the likes of Guinness. People say, and some of it's probably an old wives tale, that Guinness is good for you. And that was a lot of their marketing for many, many years. there's elements of iron in it that can be good for you. And when you get a good pint of Guinness, it's hard to beat it. I love it. wow. What a great description. OK, now let's talk whiskey, because that's something else, right? Let's talk Irish whiskey.

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versus Scottish whiskey. Do you offer both of these in your place? We do. So we've got one of the best whiskey selections in the city. Irish whiskey is we've got 60 to 70 Irish whiskey is it kind of goes up and down a little bit. Scotch is we've got 10 to 15. Obviously we're a little biased that the whole the whole expression of when in Rome Sylvia applies here. If you come in and you're a Scotch drinker, I'm going to try and turn you on to an Irish whiskey.

Irish whiskeys down through the years have evolved and adapted and changed, no different than kind of beers and such to where you've got Irish whiskeys now that taste like Scotches, you've got Irish whiskeys that taste like Bourbons and Rye's. Irish whiskeys has evolved to just be a great ambassador for Ireland. At last count, I believe there was something like, I don't know, over 150 to 200 different Irish whiskeys that are out there. It's incredible.

And when you have an Irish whiskey, it's meant to be sipped. It's never meant to be drank as a shot, even though that's how lot of Americans drink it. But when you're actually able to add a touch of water to it and open it up and truly enjoy the nuances of an Irish whiskey, it's incredible. Savor it. Savor it. And the evolution of cocktails over these last few years and how cocktails have come back into the fore and things like, know, old fashions and Manhattans and stuff.

They've brought whiskey back into the realm of being just something that's very approachable. There was a stigma, I think, around a lot of people when it comes to whiskey and, it's a little harsh and especially ladies might be a little apprehensive about trying it. And the evolution of cocktails into that form, with respect to old-fashioned coming back and Manhattan's coming back, made it a lot more approachable for people to try your whiskey and go, wow, that's really nice. And understand the...

fact of going, was never meant to be drank like a shot. Sit down, enjoy it, add a touch of water, sip on it, enjoy the nose, the taste, the finish, do all of that and truly enjoy whiskey. That's what it's meant to be. Ooh, I like the way you described that. Try to explain that to those revelers on Saturday morning on St. Patrick's Day though. Yeah, well, you know, as they say, horses for courses, Sylvia. We're happy to have those guys that want to come in and...

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Absolutely. that shot as well. But if you're really going to enjoy the nuances of And again, know, Jemison, Tullamore Dew and all of those whiskeys do a fantastic job having a presence here in the city and really doing a great job of promoting themselves. And all of those brands have these higher end whiskeys that are out there that are just, never meant to be drank like that. They're meant to be enjoyed. And if you're going to drop 20, 30 bucks for a drink, you should be able to enjoy it.

And thankfully there's a lot of options out there now when it comes to Irish whiskey that are just really, really great brands, really great whiskeys that will compete with any of the Scotches, any of the Bourbons and Ryes that are out there. Ooh, wow. I love how you described that. Now I want to do a little taste testing and research myself. What's the difference between like a Scottish whiskey and an Irish whiskey and which one do you think is better? So even outside of the fact that I'm obviously going to be a little biased.

know, whiskeys are no different than, you know, coffee or beers in the sense of just going, Hey, everybody's got like, I, when it comes to beer, I like, obviously I love Guinness, but I don't like IPAs and stuff. And that's not to say that there's nothing, there's anything wrong with an IPA. It's just that my, it's not my cup of tea. not, I'm not into that taste profile. when it comes to whiskeys, I'm not a scotch fan. I don't like all the smokiness that comes with, with scotches. They're a little overbearing for me. whereas Irish whiskeys tend to be a bit more subtle.

They don't have that very strong nose. The taste profile on it is it's a little sweeter and the burn doesn't necessarily last as long. so for me with the Irish versus the Scotch, it comes down to that nose. And again, it's just a little bit more subtle, the Irish and a Tide sweeter. I got a sweet tooth, Sylvia. So I'm almost going to lean towards the sweet. OK, I'm with you on that. I think we're both on the same page there.

I didn't get a chance to ask you and I wanted to, what brought you to Chicago? mean, obviously we have this huge Irish population here. Was it specifically Fido's or how did this all come about? So my dad and my brother who still live here were living here back in the nineties and I had originally come out back in 1997. I lived in Florida for a couple of years and had been to Chicago a couple of times and just thought it was just a fantastic place to be.

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made the decision to move here in 1999, have never regretted it. Chicago is just a, it's a fantastic city. Again, I think there's an argument you made for five or six months of the year, Sylvia, that this is the greatest city in the world. And from, from May to September, October, respect of all the different things that go on here, I'm blessed to live here. It's, it's, fantastic. Oh yeah. And, um, I, I love that, that you're saying that too, because before I, before I spoke to you, typed in

Just for curiosity's sake, because I know it goes back and forth, where is the best city in the United States to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? One year it tries to say New York, one year it tries to say Boston, one year it says Chicago. Obviously, we're a little biased. But for people who have not had the opportunity, and we kind of touched on this before, what do you want to say to the listeners who are thinking about coming out?

and taking advantage of St. Patrick's Day in Chicago for the weekend and to come out and visit you.

Do it. Don't even think twice about doing it. There is no comparison. You can go check out New York. You can do Boston and hey, listen, they're great places. But Chicago is the be all and the end all. It's Midwest. is the people are fantastic. People will talk to you. They want to talk to you. They want to get to know you at peace. They want to show you a good time. They want to show you the best that the city has to offer. And on that particular weekend, you will see it all from

young people that are out having a good time that know how to behave to being inside in an environment to where people are just happy to be there. I've worked in this pub for 28 years, Sylvia. I have worked 25, 26 St. Patrick's days, whatever it is. I have seen a punch thrown once in all that time in all the thousands and thousands of people that were in here. That's just not how midwesterners behave. It is a great spot to

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to be. And the weather, as you said, is usually pretty nice. It's, know, Chicago, it's a bit of a bad rap as it being cold. But there, four or five years ago, we had an 80 degree St. Patrick's Day. It was fantastic. Chicago is just, again, it'll offer you up experiences that you won't get anywhere else from the dying of the river. The parade is fantastic. All of our hotels for a big city, Sylvia, we're actually quite small.

And it's easy to get around here. know, it doesn't have, you know, the scale of New York to where it can be overwhelming. It is a very walkable city. You can get around from A to B pretty easily. And again, people are friendly here. You know, they want to engage. They want to be able to, if you're looking at your phone and you're unsure where to go, they go, let me help you. That's not what you see in the East Coast. It's just that. And then coming to your place is incredible.

Just such a beautiful bar. I think I was telling you right before we went on that I've been there a few times actually covering news stories for my TV station, including the World Cup. every floor is just so beautiful. The bar that you're sitting in front of now, that, tell me about that. Is that the one that was shipped in? is. So this bar is 150 years old. It was brought in from a pub in

an area called Dunleary, which is right outside of Dublin. The name of the pub is the Portie Kitchen. And Ciaran McGill, who is our owner, he was so happy when this bar was brought in. The Irish pub company is the company who designed this pub and all of the Fido pubs. So everything was brought over from Ireland. And when he heard that this particular bar was coming in, he was he was thrilled because as a young man, when he lived in Ireland, he had drank at this bar and

So to have it actually end up in his pub here for him is just a huge honor and he's just delighted. And as you look at this bar and you see the detail on it, they don't make bars like this anymore. And it's an amazing thing. for us, we love showing people around here. Again, everything was brought over from Ireland. Every part of the pub tells a little story about Irish pub culture and why there's a reason for everything is to.

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why it's here. We've got an area that's a shop. We've got a post office area. We've got a snug. We've obviously got this bar behind me. Even the fireplace that doesn't work, there's a story to why that's there and why it didn't become a real fireplace. So, you know, no different than most Irish pubs in the city of Sylvia. We love to tell a story. you know, Fido does a really good job about telling the story of Irish pub culture and what it means to us.

Yeah, and hence the name. So is there a saying that the Irish have this time of year when you're celebrating, not just St. Patrick's Day, but is there an Irish saying that maybe I have missed or maybe I've forgotten? What do you guys do when you celebrate? So obviously sláinte would be the one kind of term that's out there in the sense of just going cheers, know, sláinte would be very common. Olcule August Crack is a term for us that

that we use here. have it up on our wall. All is drink. Cue all is music. August is end and crack is just good types. So it's the embodiment of what we want to try and bring, especially on St. Patrick's Day. And that season is it's let's have a drink, some bit of fun, interspersed with some music. And that's obviously the mantra. Karen, such a fun time talking to you. You've got me excited. I'm going to come visit you, but I might come before St. Patrick's Day.

Yeah, you know, it's we would always love to see you, Sylvia, of course. yeah, I mean, look, it's it's one of those things with respect to St. Patrick's Day and parade day to where I say to friends of mine, it's going to look if you want to come down, have a good time, come on down. It's going to be a little bit of a different experience than what you would have if you come in on a day that's not one of those days. But it's still fun. It's again, it's a good, fun, safe environment where you go around. Like-minded people are just into having a good time and

And yeah, get the Irish on. It's not a bad thing, Sylvia. let's all get our Irish on. So great to talk to you. Thank you so much. And I hope to see you soon and look forward to the celebrations. And I can't wait to come in and get a lesson on whiskey and Guinness. So thanks for your time. I really appreciate it. My pleasure, Sylvia. Thank you. OK, happy St. Patrick's Day. Thanks, you too. Don't go away. Coming up, I'll be talking to the organization, Choose Chicago, about why our city is the

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perfect spot to celebrate not only Saint Patrick's Day, but to visit year round.

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Always great to see you. Thanks for having me today. I love Jason. Jason and I go way back. He's come on my newscast often to talk about Chicago because he is with Choose Chicago, which is one of my favorite organizations. Jason, you know, I'm a Chicago girl. I love my city. I love you guys. I love how you promote it. And when you think of Chicago, one of the quintessential thoughts is St. Patrick's Day, isn't it? It is. It's an iconic celebration.

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holiday in Chicago every single year. Absolutely. And for those of you who are listening and not watching on YouTube, Jason wore green for me today. Was that on purpose? Of course. How can you talk about St. Patrick's Day without one of your best green shirts? Okay. What is it about Chicago that makes it the best location to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Why should people care to come? Well,

Chicago just a little history has a very large Irish American population. know, we're a city of immigration and Irish really came over in large numbers since our founding. So we have these great Irish neighborhoods all throughout Chicago on the south side, on the north side, near north. And so, you know, we do St. Patrick's Day right. There's multiple parades.

But one of the best traditions that people really know Chicago for is the Dying of our River. It's now in its 53rd year coming up on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day. And it's one of those iconic visuals. You you see St. Patrick's Day celebrations around the world, and then you see, you know, this Kelly Green River in Chicago and people coming up and just really celebrating in a fun way.

And you know, I live by the river and I see it every year. And I can honestly tell you, Jason, it never gets old. That fluorescent green blows your mind. So it's really worth coming to see. Let's give a little history. Tell everybody how the dying of the river started, because many have tried to copy since other cities. But Chicago is the OG. How did this all come about? Yeah, we get to thank our local plumbers union. They were

using this dye to test out the water so they can identify where sewage was coming from. Obviously you don't want sewage in your drinking water. And one of the plumbers got some of the dye on a pair of overalls and it dyed it this green color. And so in 1962, the Plumbers Union convinced Mayor Daley, at the time our first Mayor Daley, to dye the river and they used...

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100 pounds of this dye in 1962 and it lasted a full week, Sylvia. know, today it tends to last, you know, 24, 36 hours. But, you know, can you imagine a whole week of that kelly green, fluorescent green, river? And so it has been an annual tradition since 1962.

and the people line up on the Riverwalk. I get out, I get there early, I try to find a spot. I love to go and watch it, it never gets old. But explain to people, so I know that the recipe for the dye is supposed to be environmentally friendly, and it's a plumbers union recipe that we don't know. But from the beginning, it actually starts out as an orange powder, right? Explain that. It is, it's an orange powder. They're gonna mix it up.

in drums. So when it comes out of the boat, it's going to come out as a liquid. You'll see it on the back of a boat. They tend to use one of our river cruises and then there's a small boat on the back. And so it's going to come out in streams and liquid form. And as it's coming out of the drums after it's been mixed with water, it is kind of that green already. It shoots into the river with about five to six different hoses off the back of the boat. So they mix it in these drums ahead of time and it hits the river.

And that boat starts doing circles to mix it all up. And you you let the river, the flow of the river kind of catch it and it off it goes throughout the main channel of the river. And they do that between State Street and Columbus. So they're going to have one big boat mixing it, a couple other boats churning it throughout the river. And in a matter of, you know, 20 to 20 minutes to an hour, you have a fluorescent green river downtown. Describe that to people because it's,

It's something that you can't believe until you actually see it with your own eyes. It truly is. You you think Emerald Green, you think St. Patrick's Day, but this is fluorescent neon and it really stands out. One of my favorite sites is to see one of our yellow taxis, our river taxis on that green river because the contrast between the green and the yellow is stunning. And it's just exciting. is, you know.

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The crowd is just so happy, so jubilant. They're lining the bridges so you can get, you can line the bridges, you can be on the upper level of the Riverwalk on both sides. Definitely, as you mentioned, come out early and people are cheering on the boats. It's quite a scene. And it's just, it's almost magical when you're there and you're experiencing it live, as you said.

You know, people come out early, they do that, and then they go over to the parade, which happens a few hours later. And so it's just a really great, fun Saturday to celebrate the holiday. what you didn't mention is all the Irish pub bars in Chicago, they start early. The lines are really long. There are these two Irish dancers, very well known, popular on TikTok brothers. And they came to do

a dance for St. Patrick's Day weekend at a church, St. Pat's, I believe. And they said their dream, though, was to come to Chicago. These guys are from Ireland. Their dream was to come to Chicago to be here for St. Patrick's Day weekend. know, to Chicago, you guys keep track of the number one cities when it comes to tourism, when it comes to St. Patrick's Day. Where would you say we rate and who are we constantly competing with? You know, I would say, you know,

Dublin, course, when you're looking at celebrations around the world, but any other large cities in America that have large Irish populations, New York, Boston, these are destinations that have their own events. Some people have tried to copy us, as you mentioned. think San Antonio tries to turn their river green, and I believe Charleston, if I'm correct. Tampa.

And yes, but no one quite, you know, our river's so large. It's this, you know, this really large kind of canyon of buildings going right through downtown. So the views, the pictures, you know, there's going to be photographers that put out pictures. know, Barry Butler is a great photographer who does great photos of the river and he'll do it from his drone. it's just hard to believe how green our river gets. And, you know,

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People see it from around the world. These images really put Chicago on the map for St. Patrick's Day. And so it really helps draw in visitors, not only for this weekend, but throughout the spring and summer months, I believe. Yeah, and I always love to see how long it's going to last because, you know, it happens on the Saturday before St. Patrick's. And sometimes I can look out my window and it's on Wednesday and it's still green. It's just so much fun. And then overall, as a ambassador to Chicago,

And you know, we have a lot of listeners who don't live here. What do you want them to know about coming to our city? Not only for St. Patrick's Day, but year round, because we're often voted the number one tourism destination around the world. Yeah, you know, we've been named the best big city in the U.S. by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler for eight years in a row now. And we're really proud of that, you know, and sometimes Chicago gets has a bad narrative for certain other things. But this is

Definitely, I use world class, but it is a world class city. It's one of the best cities in the world in the summer months, as our weather warms up a little bit. Every weekend, are free festivals throughout our neighborhoods, free culture throughout the summer, Blues Fest and Jazz Fest, and all these great cultural activities for free. And then you just get into the other aspects, our museums.

Our food, I know you love talking about our food scene, Sylvia, but it is one of the, we love to be, we're hospitable people. Chicagoans love to host. We love to have a conversation over a good meal. And that Midwestern kind of hospitality really comes out in Chicago. And you're not gonna have a bad experience here if you come for our museums, our theater, our food, our attractions. It's just.

You know, people spend two to three days, you could spend two to two weeks here and, know, really have a great vacation at any time of the year. agree. And I always like to give everybody a pro tip before we leave. OK, you've been in Chicago for a while. You've seen the Dying of the Green. Is there a location that you want to share with our listeners that is really the prime spot that maybe people aren't as familiar with? Come on. Yes. You know, if you don't want to be in the crowds,

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Right? You know, it will get busy. You know, it gets a little packed, but there's so many great ways to experience it. And I will say, aboard one of our river cruises is one of the best ways to experience the river. Once the boat's clear and it's all mixed up, the cruises go out. And you know, our river cruises are always ranked one of the best tours in the world, if not one of the number one tours. So you get to learn a little bit about the city and then you're right on the fluorescent river. So.

I believe there's four different boat companies, First Lady, Shoreline, and others, Wendella, that offer these cruises. Or if you want to, you know, relax a little bit and have a drink and a meal, a lot of the restaurants right along the river, some of the rooftops have viewing parties. So you can be up above, you can view it from down below. So those are great options as well. And there's many of them right along the river. Pizzeria Portofino, The Raised,

urban rooftop there is a great place to see it. On the London House up on their rooftop, you know, you really get a bird's eye view and the Langham has viewing parties and so there's lots of great options either right on the river, on a boat or a lot of our great restaurants along the river wall. I've never tried being on a boat. Maybe I'll do that this year. Okay. I want everybody to know if you want to learn more information, your website is the place to go. Tell everybody how they can find out how to do everything.

Yeah, our websites choose Chicago.com. You know, we have information on all the celebrations. We have three different parades going on that weekend. You'll see some of the other events throughout our neighborhoods at the Irish American Heritage Center, Navy Pier. And then we have our we have a blog just on all the drink and food specials because you know, you can get out all throughout our neighborhoods. We have great Irish bars and restaurants that you can really experience a great weekend in Chicago.

Yes, we do. And we are profiling one of them for the St. Patrick's Day special. Fado's, we talked to them and it was awesome. You guys have so many good resources. Choose Chicago. Make sure you go there. Jason, happy St. Patrick's Day and thank you for the wearing of the green. I appreciate you. Of course. I always appreciate you, Sylvia. And you do a great job promoting Chicago with us. Thank you, my friend. We'll talk soon. All righty. Thank you.

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This podcast is produced by Jane Stephens, audio engineering and original music by Donnie Cutting, social media and promotions Magali Blasdell.