Why do they still dye the rivers green for St. Patricks Day? It's not a good look for downtown Chicago.

Fun fact: It’s actually beneficial that they do this because they use Gatorade which has electrolytes and as we all know, that’s what the plants crave.

I don’t remember the comedian, but I remember the joke:

“If they can dye it green for St. Patrick’s Day, why can’t they dye it blue the other days of the year?”

The crowds it attracts today still are huge. What do you mean the novelty has worn down? I have lived in the area since 2012 and I still haven’t gone down to see this because I don’t want to deal with the crowds.

On another note, I guess I’ll be there in a jiffy if they shot me with an Italian beef - wet (not from the river) and lots of giardiniera.

Head over to the unpopular opinion group, you're not asking a question, you're stating an opinion.

As a Dubliner (Ireland, not one of the many Dublins across the pond), I must say that Americans are really weird about Paddy's Day. We have a large parade in Dublin and smaller ones in smaller cities, and then those of us who have kids ho to family fairs, and the rest for a pint at the local. We leave the city centre to the tourists who get shitfaced on overpriced, prepoured Guinness for no good reason. And even though we did some weird things with our river (the time in the slime), we never dyed the Liffey green.

This causes no harm to the wildlife and is a fun celebration. People here are always talking about "let people enjoy things" when that thing is some counter-culture thing. Well, I say let people enjoy things, even when that thing is a mainstream holiday. Have some fun. Let loose.

A recent article asking the same thing on Tampa Bay's activities

While there doesn't seem to be obvious red flags of harm, something doesn't feel right to me about dumping chemicals into the environment that eventually break down. The article says the company making this particular dye warns about it in higher quantities or letting it become concentrated in places downstream, and wearing protective equipment when handling the larger amounts. How much of that is only legalize to protect from misuse vs. actual tested issues?

I don't care so much about the novelty. I want to know what impacts this has on the environment.

I assume it's been studied to be non-toxic for fish. Or at least I hope it has. But what about other effects it might have? Does it significantly reduce visibility and impact the ecosystem in that way? Some other effects?

Tribal custom. They do it because they’ve always done it.

Upgrayedds not gonna be too happy about this.

How is it not a good look?

leprechauns flying up and down the river wearing water jet packs, shooting people with their Chicago-style hot dog cannons

I mean, they're not mutually-exclusive. You can do both.

I this what you want?

Release the Lepredrones!

It's the hotdog cannons that really made this fly for me.

In case it’s not just a typo, it’s “upgrade” not “upgrayedd”

Screw little rivers. Dye the oceans green.

The people who make the green dye are probably perpetuating it because it means an influx in dye sales.

All this strikes up another good question, why don't they dye it gold for Oktoberfest, red for Dyngus Day, etc.? It seems incredibly overshadowing one culture in a multicultural city has outright terraforming privileges while others get a couple of tiny cornerstreets to call home once a year.

better yet, make a green dye outta algae, so that it actually does something other than look interesting. And knowing how rivers in cities work, it's polluted enough that algae will die off withing a few days tops, so it'd be efficient