The Chicago River turned green after the city’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot reversed an earlier decision not to open the waterway due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. After Lightfoot granted permission for the citizens to perform the dyeing ceremony before St. Patrick’s Day, people on boats began throwing green dye along the river at 7 p.m. on Monday, local time. The clear view of the Chicago River, which has since turned green throughout, delighted pedestrians engaged in morning walks.
Chicagoans Lori Jones and Mike Smith noticed that the water had turned green and said that they were happy to see the tradition, which began in 1962, to have now re-emerged this year after Corona. “We are delighted that Mayor Lightfoot decided to continue this tradition because, like so many other things in 2020, we missed this one last year,” Jones, 59, told the Chicago Tribune.
Last year, Lightfoot abruptly cancelled the city’s 2020 parade and the river dyeing ceremony just days before it was to take place in the early days of the pandemic. She had recently said she would not allow the parade this year as well due to the prolonged effects of the pandemic and that claimed that the river would not be dyed again. But a spokesman for Lightfoot said in a statement that the city had authorized its partners, the Chicago Plumbers’ Union Local 130, to dye the river, out of respect for its long-standing heritage.
Although this has been received with a lot of cheer from the public, environmentalists are concerned over the long-standing effects that this might have on the river’s water quality.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.