Eric on The Road

Journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and forgotten - by Eric Model

Friday, March 14, 2008

Heard on the Radio: The Greening of Chicago River for St. Patrick's Day

For almost forty years, Chicago has been dyeing its river an "Irish" or emerald shade of green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

As the story goes, it all started back in the early 1960's around the time that water pollution controls were first being put into place. One day Stephen Bailey, Business Manager of Chicago's Journeymen Plumbers Local Union #110, ran into a plumber who was using a shamrock green dye to track waste leakage into the river when Bailey had what Oprah might call "an a-ha moment." The river has been dyed ever since.

On this Hidden America feature, David Goodfriend of Left Jab Radio speaks with Kevin Sherlock of the Journeymen Plumbers Local about the tradition these days - especially in a time of increasing environmentalism.

If you can't catch the segment live on Left Jab - XM Satellite Radio Channel 167, Saturday at 11 a.m., repeated Sunday at 1 p.m. (All times Eastern) , you can later catch as a podcast at:

http://www.leftjabradio.com/

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