An Ultimate Guide to St.Patrick’s Day Events in Chicago

Our Ultimate Guide will help you with your St. Patricks Day celebrations, irrespective of whether you are a local or a visitor to Chicago.

St.Patrick’s Day or St. Patty’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17.

Every year on March 17th, parts of the world turn green in celebration of the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick.

The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years.

Why is St.Patrick’s Day so famous in the America?

A lot of festivities occur all over the globe on this day.

This including huge parades, green everywhere and an alarming number of people dressed as leprechauns during St. Patty’s Day.

While you might be thinking Ireland is where the party is the largest, it’s actually America that hosts the biggest celebrations.

There are festivals all across the country from San Francisco to New Orleans.In our city of Chicago the river is dyed green.

The parade through New York City sees around two million people attend every year.That’s over four times as many as Dublin.

Congratulations, for making it through the bitter winter!

Brace yourself for the “Green Scene”!

The iconic event of the city, St. Patrick’s Day is coming up this weekend.

There is nothing like St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago!

The Irish restaurants are filled with revelers, cultural events appear everywhere and the Chicago river shimmers in vivid hues of green.

The History of the St.Patrick’s Day Festival in Chicago

The Diaspora

Diaspora : The term diaspora comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to scatter about.”

And that’s exactly what the people of a diaspora do — they scatter from their homeland to places across the globe, spreading their culture as they go.

People have been leaving Ireland for centuries, creating Irish communities, or what’s known as ‘the Irish diaspora’, all over the world.

It’s estimated seventy million people worldwide have Irish ancestry – just 6.5 million of them live in Ireland!

Emigration has many causes, but the one that helps explain the large Irish presence in America goes back to the 1800s.

At the time, many Irish were suffering persecution at the hands of the British state.

Irish Catholics were restricted from owning land and voting and the standard of living for lots of people was extremely low.

These factors contributed to emigration, but things got worse with the devastating potato famine between 1845 and 1852.

For large numbers of the Irish population, potatoes were an essential part of their diet, because they were cheap to grow and packed full of nutrients.

Disaster struck when a fungal disease called potato blight spread across the country wiping the potato crop out, made worse by a lack of action or help from the British government.

Many Irish died and many others decided to move and rebuild their lives elsewhere.

The American dream

Although Irish citizens emigrated to many other places around the globe, the main destination was the USA.

However, life was still hard after making the journey across the pond.

Some Americans at the time viewed Irish immigrants as violent and disease-ridden and accused them of stealing their jobs.

This led to widespread discrimination against Irish citizens in the USA; it wasn’t uncommon to see signs banning Irish people from entering certain buildings, or job adverts discouraging Irish applicants.

Against this backdrop of adversity Ireland’s national day became one of the most famed across the globe.

At home in Ireland, St Patrick’s Day was a modest day of religious observance, culminating in a feast.

However, in the face of their ill treatment, Irish Catholics in America decided to throw huge, proud parties on the 17th March to celebrate their heritage and show pride in who they were.

St Patrick’s Day celebrations had existed in the USA since the 1600s, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that they became the huge festivals that we know and love today.

St. Patrick’s Day Events in Chicago

In Chicago, the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are more than 175 years old.

It’s a long time tradition in Chicago, which began in 1844 with the Irish Parade which became a city event in the 1950’s.

A dyeing process on the Chicago River began in 1962 and soon became a major event in Chicago.

The city of Chicago and the suburbs, hosts many memorable events including parades, Irish parties and an 8K race through the Loop, as part of St. Patty’s Day celebration.

Join in the fun, dressed in your best green and watch the famed St. Patrick’s Day parade.

May the luck of the Irish be with you !

Take your hooligan tribes for a holiday, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this year at several locations, presented by social scenes, Irish jigs,DJ’s and live bands.

Dyeing the Chicago River Green

Pouring the vegetable based dye into the Chicago river has been a tradition since 1963 by the representatives of the Journeymen Plumbers Local Union.

They turn it an emerald shade of green in celebration of the Irish spirit. The green color stays for about a week and then the river returns to its normal murky shade.

The dyeing takes place between Columbus Drive and State Street. If you want to catch the best views, head to the Michigan Avenue bridge or snag a spot along the Riverwalk .

The Chicago river will run green and you will see more than a few leprechauns bar crawling early in the morning.

Recommended viewing spots

• the riverwalk between Michigan and Columbus,
• the west side of Columbus,
• and all along Lower and Upper Wacker Drive between Michigan and Columbus.

Arriving half hour early might guarantee you a safe spot to watch the river dyeing , later on in the day, the crowds can get a little overwhelming.

Chicago’s St.Patrick’s Day Parade

After the Chicago River is dyed green, the city’s big St. Patty’s Day celebration moves to Grant Park for a parade along Columbus Drive. This year, it is going to be held on Saturday the 11th of March, 2023.

If you want to catch one of the largest events in the country with bagpipes, drum corps, Irish dancers and politicians you are at the right festive procession.

The parade marches north from Balbao Drive to Monroe Street, with a viewing stand situated in front of Buckingham Fountain.

Public Transportation highly recommended

BLUE OR RED LINES : Exit train at any of the loop stops and walk east to Columbus Drive.

BROWN,GREEN OR ORANGE LINES : Exit at any of the stops along Wabash and walk East to Columbus Drive.

METRA : Exit Union Station and walk 7 blocks East to Columbus Drive.

BUS : Check CTA for best instructions to downtown Chicago.

DRIVING

From North or NorthWest : Enter Downtown Chicago via I-94, you can exit and go East at Washington, Monroe or Congress Pkwy.Look for Parking at either Wells or Wabash.

From West : Take 290 East onto Congress Pkwy. Look for parking before you get to Michigan Ave, there will be plenty on the right.

From the South or SouthWest : Take I-94 into the Loop, exit at Congress Pkwy, Monroe or Washington.Look for parking at Wells or Wabash.

Irish American Heritage Center

Channel the spirit of the Irish by celebrating their food, dance and live music at the Irish American

Heritage center which will be filled with Irish vendors selling gifts and crafts and children’s activities.

The Bottom Line

St. Patty’s Day in Chicago is definitely a party of a lifetime! Visit our beautiful city for the St.Patrick’s Day celebrations this year.

Tell us about the most memorable party of your life?

If you are thinking which one, you must make it to this one, we bet you will have a lot to write home about 🙂

Like the Irish say, “Bring on the shenanigans !”