How they dye the Chicago River green

In Chicago, it has been a tradition since the first Mayor Daley to dye the Chicago River green for the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

In 1992, videomaker Patrick Creadon, shooting for The 90’s, went downtown at 2:30am to cover the preparation for the parade and to talk with the guys from Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local Union #110 about this tradition. The footage didn’t make it on the show, but 20 years later, we pulled it out of the archive and cut together a segment.

Since his early work for The 90’s, Creadon has become an accomplished director of documentary features such as Wordplay and I.O.U.S.A. His latest film, If You Build It, recently won the Bright Future Award at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards.

You can watch the whole tape, including Streets & San setting up for the parade and an interview with Mayor Daley about the future of the Democratic Party at Media Burn.

Read more about the tradition as recalled by its creators.

Also, Sara was recently featured in an Alumni Spotlight at the University of Chicago’s Community Service Center. So head over to the UCSC website to check out the article, where Sara talks a little bit about why she first came to Media Burn, and why she’s still here 10 years later.