Another St. Patrick's Day down the toilet

When I was younger, St. Patrick's Day meant wearing some green and watching John Wayne in The Quiet Man on TV with my mom. When I got older it included going out to a local bar (sometimes an Irish one, sometimes not) and celebrating with beer, song and friends.

In honor of this holiday I thought I'd see how other people celebrated. Of course many towns have the traditional parade. New York City is home to the largest one but I bet you didn't know that Hot Springs, Arkansas has the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. This parade has the strangest cast of characters, too, including Irish Elvis impersonators (Erin go bragh thankyou thankyouverymuch), belly dancers, and some middle-aged Irish dancers who call themselves the Lards of the Dance. Now these seem like my kind of people. Not traditional and quirky enough to be amusing.

In Chicago they dye the river green for the occasion. Talk about extreme. That's a helluva lot of food coloring to add to an entire river. Be kind of funny if the river ever backed up into the sewer system. Then everyone could have the luck of the Irish in their toilets. Yellow and green mix to form what color?




*These traditions and today's history lesson provided by smithsonianmag.com