St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

Chicago doesn't do St. Patrick's Day as one day. It does it as a weekend, and usually not the weekend you'd guess. The river gets dyed and the downtown parade marches on the Saturday on or before March 17, the neighborhood parades follow on the Sunday, and if the 17th lands midweek, the city throws a smaller second party on the day itself. Check the calendar before you book a hotel.

Bars open early, some of them before breakfast, pouring Guinness and green beer and serving corned beef and cabbage, and the crowds build long before anything starts. It's usually cold, sometimes snowing, so dress for standing outside for a few hours. Our things to do in Chicago in March page covers the rest of the month.

The green river

The dyeing is the part everyone comes for. In recent years it has started at 10am on parade Saturday and taken about 45 minutes. Members of Plumbers Local 130 run boats up and down the main stem of the river, scattering an orange powder that turns the water a bright, slightly unreal green within minutes. The union has done it since the early 1960s. The story goes that plumbers were using a fluorescent dye in 1961 to trace illegal discharges into the river, and someone suggested doing it on purpose. The original dye was later dropped over environmental concerns, and the current recipe, reportedly about 40 pounds of powdered vegetable dye, is still a secret (Wikipedia). The color is brightest for a few hours and can hang around for a day or two, depending on the weather.

Not everyone is a fan. Friends of the Chicago River, the local conservation group, has said it doesn't think the river should be treated as a holiday decoration. It's worth knowing before you post the photo.

Where to watch: Upper Wacker Drive between State Street and Columbus Drive is the spot, and the parade committee also points people to the stretch of Upper Wacker from Columbus east to Fairbanks Court. In 2026 the city closed the lower Riverwalk overnight and kept spectators off the bridges (CBS Chicago), so don't count on the Michigan Avenue or State Street bridges we used to recommend. Get there early if you want a spot on the railing. If you'd rather sit down, the boat companies sell dyeing cruises, and Lizzie McNeill's, an Irish pub at 400 N. McClurg Court right on the river, is about as close as a bar gets. It has put up a tent with live music all day and sold advance tickets to skip the line, which tells you how long the line gets.

The downtown parade

The Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade follows the dyeing at around noon (12:15pm in 2026). It steps off at Columbus and Balbo drives in Grant Park and heads north on Columbus Drive to Monroe, past a reviewing stand in front of Buckingham Fountain. The Shannon Rovers pipe band has led it since the first official parade in 1956, according to Choose Chicago, and behind them come floats, step dancers, marching bands, unions and a lot of politicians. It runs close to three hours.

Expect security. In 2026 the route opened to spectators at 11am, entry was only at Jackson Drive and Ida B. Wells Drive, bags were checked, and coolers, alcohol and personal water bottles weren't allowed. Streets around Columbus start closing early in the morning. Skip the car. Take any Red or Blue Line train to a Loop subway stop, or the Brown, Green, Orange or Pink Line to a Wabash Avenue station, and walk east. From Millennium Station on Metra, it's a short walk south along Michigan Avenue.

The neighborhood parades

The South Side Irish Parade marches on the Sunday, down Western Avenue from 103rd Street to 115th through Beverly and Morgan Park, stepping off at noon. It started in 1979 with 17 kids and a baby buggy float, and the committee now counts more than 200,000 spectators. Back in 2010, this page said it had been cancelled. That was true. The committee called it off after the 2009 parade because the crowds had grown too big and rowdy to police, and it returned in 2012 as a family event, with a strict ban on drinking along the route. The pubs along Western Avenue, like Cork & Kerry at 10614 S. Western, are another story. The Metra Rock Island line's Beverly Branch runs from LaSalle Street Station to 103rd Street, which beats trying to park.

The Northwest Side Irish Parade is still going too, on the same Sunday. It's smaller, family-friendly and now past 20 years old, stepping off at noon from Onahan School, 6633 W. Raven St., and winding through Norwood Park along Northwest Highway. And on the Saturday, the Archer Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade marches through Garfield Ridge on the Southwest Side.

After the parade

Once the parade is over, the city turns into one long bar crawl. River North, Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park fill up with people in green wigs and shamrock glasses, and the lines outside the bigger pubs can stretch around the block by mid-afternoon. If you want a pint of Guinness poured properly and a seat, head to the neighborhoods instead. Our list of the best bars for St. Patrick's Day sorts them by what kind of day you're after.

If the 17th falls on a weekday, expect a second, quieter round. Plenty of Chicagoans take the day off, start with eggs and beer, and keep going through dinner.

For something with more culture than cover charge, the Irish American Heritage Center at 4626 N. Knox Ave. on the Northwest Side has a library, museum, pub and auditorium, and it runs events in the run-up to the holiday. Old St. Patrick's Church in the West Loop has put on a pop-up Irish pub, Shamrock'n the Block, with a heated beer tent.

More ideas for the month are on our holidays and events page. If you're bringing kids, see spring break in Chicago, and pack for the cold with our spring packing guide.

Photo by multisanti