Green Rivers and Grand Rapids

Saturday my roommates had some high school buddies in town – we joined up with our Chicago Semester friends Phil, Lauren, Jennie, Rachel, and Jessica, and headed down to watch the famous Chicago-river-turning-green spectacle. My roommates and many of my friends down here are from Illinois. They assured me this was something worth seeing.

Me: “I’ve never seen the Chicago River dyed green on Saint Pattie's day!”
Illinois People: “Oh – it’s awesome! You have to!”

We heard that the dying was supposed to happen at 10:30. I was in charge of breakfast for our group of ten before the dramatic greening of the river. I cooked eggs, pancakes, and veggie–soy-sausage… people ate the eggs and pancakes. :)

We made it to the river at 10:35, five minutes behind schedule, worried that we had missed the whole things. Thousands of people were gathered to witness this epic annual event – on top of bridges, in the road and along the sides of the river. There were bagpipers, men in skirts and green everywhere. It was a chilly day – I instantly regretted going without a hat and gloves. But we made it in time! And that’s what’s important.

So here’s what I’m expecting. After five minutes of waiting, horns and cheering and fanfare erupt as the river suddenly lurches forward in true tidal wave fashion. Green water splashes through the canal like a summer water slide and instantly the Chicago rivers glows bright green! It would be sudden, shocking and glorious!

Here’s what happened. After 20 minutes of craning my neck to see the river, clearly nothing had changed. After what felt like an hour of waiting, I began to wonder if the dark greenish tint in the river was the dye, and we had missed the whole un-impressive thing. Finally we spotted a bright green patch way up the river. It was not moving. We left our prized position on the State and Randolph bridge and walked towards the green. It was not moving. We got to the beginning of the bright green ink stain in the water, and it was still wasn’t moving. I stared at the water and realized it was moving… about 5 inches an hour.

Perhaps a college-educated person such as myself should have easily reasoned that dying a slow moving river like Chicago would be a long and less-than-dramatic process. Clearly, I did not. But by the mid-afternoon the river was an impressive sight to see! The process was less dramatic than I expected, but unquestionably “worth seeing.” I recommend arriving late. :)

On Monday my co-worker Michael and I took a quick road trip up to Grand Rapids for some work stuff. I had a few minutes to stop at Calvin, my college and soon to be alma matter. It was a blast to see everyone and catch up, but did remind me that I’m done with my formal classroom education at Calvin. Three and a half years went fast, and I miss being around friends in Grand Rapids…

… but I don’t miss mid-terms. Haha, enjoy studying guys!