CHICAGO — Chicago dyed its river green, bagpipes sounded on New York’s Fifth Avenue, and in Georgia, crowds waited for 30 minutes to buy beer for breakfast before watching Savannah’s 188-year-old St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Thousands gathered Saturday morning along the Chicago River, some in shamrock-shaped sunglasses and others dressed as leprechauns with fake orange beards. Applause erupted as a motorboat sped in circles and a man on board dumped a secret dye in the water, quickly turning it a psychedelic green. The much-loved annual ritual kicked off a day of partying.
This year, the guest of honor was Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who took part in the parade of floats, traditional Irish dancers and musicians marching along an avenue near Chicago’s lakefront. Kenny began the day at City Hall with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Both men sported green ties and shamrocks in their lapels.
The prime minister said he was honored to take part in Chicago’s festivities and praised the city with a large Irish population for being so receptive to immigrants.
“That’s a privilege that I shall remember for a long time,” Kenny said of his role in the festivities.
In Savannah, revelers set out folding chairs before dawn to catch the parade, a tradition that started in 1824 as a procession with religious roots by settlers who immigrated to the Georgia coast.
Lines of thirsty patrons were spilling out of downtown bars before the pre-parade Mass wrapped up at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.
“It’s ridiculous for still being in the a.m.,” said Timmy Watkins, a utility worker who emerged from Pinkie Master’s Lounge with a beer in each hand after standing in line for 30 minutes. “These are both mine. I waited in line long enough. I figured I’d get two.”
In New York, a sea of green, kilts and bagpipes flowed along Fifth Avenue as large crowds gathered for the city’s 251st annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, leader of the city’s Roman Catholics, announced before the parade stepped off that iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral would undergo a $175 million renovation. He said the first phase will involve cleaning the cathedral’s soot-damaged exterior and replacing its windows.
Across the ocean in Dublin, an estimated half a million people turned out for the parade that serves as a focal point for worldwide celebrations. It brought some cheer to a nation that has been grappling with 14 percent unemployment, a massive debt burden and a resumption of emigration levels last seen in the 1980s.
In his St. Patrick’s Day message, Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady offered prayers to the estimated 50,000 citizens who have emigrated in the past year to escape Ireland’s weak economy.
“May the memory of St. Patrick, who was himself carried off from his homeland at the age of 16, sustain all those who have left our shores for other lands,” Brady said, referring to the saint’s legendary background as a slave imported from Britain.
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President tips back Irish brew • WASHINGTON —His jacket was only moss green, but his pint was true Guinness. President Barack Obama tilted back a glass of the dark Irish brew Saturday, observing St. Patrick’s Day at a boisterous Irish pub with his ancestral cousin from Moneygall, Ireland, at his side.
At the White House, the main South Lawn Fountain burbled green water. Nearby, workers prepared for a visit Tuesday by the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
Obama took his motorcade to the Dubliner Restaurant and Pub. He wore no Kelly green, but his jacket was pierced with a button that read, “VIP GUEST — Tell ’em Danny sent you.” The president waded into a crowd, some in leprechaun hats and others in dyed green hair, at the entrance of the tavern near Washington’s Union Station.
Reporters were ushered into the pub briefly, long enough to catch the president taking two sips of his beer. He held Dubliner owner Danny Coleman’s 21-month-old grandson, Danny, in his arms.
One of Obama’s great-great-great grandfathers on his Kansas mother’s side was Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker who emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1850. Last year, Obama visited his ancestral home of Moneygall, a small hamlet in Ireland, and was a hit when he drank a Guinness at the local pub. On Saturday, the owner of that pub, Ollie Hayes, and Henry Healy, an eighth cousin to Obama and the closest relative still living in Moneygall, joined him barside at the Dubliner as his guests.
The Associated Press
