Happy St Patricks Day !
Besides our love of Green Beer. Here are a few more interesting ditties on St Patricks Day.
– The original color associated with St. Patrick was blue, but because the Saint preached about the Holy Trinity through the symbol of the shamrock and the Irish ‘little folk’ were also associated with green, it became the most common shade in connection with him.
– The world’s first recorded Saint Patrick’s Day Parade took place in Boston on March 18, 1737 followed by the New York Parade, which first took place in 1762.
Ireland took over a century to jump on the parade float with the rest of the world and only had their first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin in 1931.
– 100 lbs. of green dye was poured into the Chicago River in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.In 1961, business manager of Chicago’s Journeymen Plumbers Local Union, Stephen Bailey, received permission to turn the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day.
Due to uncertainties about the amount of dye it would take to turn the river green, a massive 100 lbs of vegetable dye was used in comparison to the 25 lbs used today.
The Chicago River stayed green for a full week.
– The global corporate-relations director of Guinness says 5.5 million pints of Guinness are sold on any given day, but this figure rises to an astounding 13 million on St. Patrick’s Day.
IBISWorld also reports that Saint Patrick’s Day 2012 brought in $245 million in beer sales.
Who’s up for making March 18 into International Hangover Day? ; ) > Lr