The institution known as St. Patrick's Day...

One of the many strange adoptions in this country is the embrace of St Patrick's Day as America's own.  The journey each year begins on September 14 the previous year - with every bar, baseball club and most of the population celebrating 'Halfway to St Paddy's Day' as a mid-year practice run.  Go to a Major League Baseball game on this day and you're likely to receive a free green hat if you are one of the first couple of thousand visitors in the park, find yourself surrounded by people wearing green - and trying to order beers with an Irish accent to beat the band.... I suspect the MLB franchise started this tradition because they were so miffed at St Patrick's Day falling during the off-season and missing a big profit opportunity!

   Who'd have thought that they're really called the White Sox?

You know that you are getting close to the real St Patrick's Day when the new car manufacturer and dealership adverts start to appear with deals and offers related to Leprechauns, pots of gold discounts and suggestions that your neighbour will think you have the luck of the Irish when they see you driving in your new Chevy / Cadillac / Lincoln or whatever. (The US Advertising and media industries would likely have collapsed too if the government had allowed GM and Chrysler to fail back in 2010 - every 2nd TV ad is for a car!)

The State Lotteries also get into the game too - there are special scratch cards sold by the Illinois Lottery just for the run-up to March 17 - with a special 'Win a Million' card for a cool $20!  

St Patrick's Day itself is advertised and promoted in every bar in every town across the country - many open at 8AM (especially in the city of Chicago) - with great taglines to get the punters through the doors ("Kegs and Eggs" was one of the better ones I saw!")

Many bars - Irish or not - do a special Irish Breakfast - bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato, baked beans, potato, soda bread and black pudding (only real Irish bars seem to find White Pudding too...).  Washed down with a pint of Guinness is generally the only way to really enjoy it!

There is also an over-exuberance from most bar staff, every one of which will dress up for the occasion (unless it is a real Irish Bar in which case some of them dress like this all year round...!)

The BIG tradition and event in Chicago is - of course - the St Patrick's Day Parade, which sets off at midday and runs through the middle of Grant Park, close to the lakefront.   Today was the warmest March 17th in 141 years in Chicago - the temperature hit 81 degrees Fahrenheit even with the lake breeze, and over a hundred thousand people came into the city to see the parade - as well as the see the famous dying of the Chicago River (boats run along the river turning it Orange first, the a vibrant Green).

Of course by this time at least half the crown are drunk off their rocks - and it's said that the river does not need any more dye added to keep it green for the rest of the day and night....!

So should you visit Chicago during the St Patrick's Day weekend?  If you enjoy a party, can live with queuing up for 30 minutes just to get into a bar (any bar - not just the 'popular' ones), drinking beer out of plastic cups (for safety you know), and avoiding the staggering masses through the course of the afternoon and evening, then yes - you'll have a wild time!  If not, go to Dublin instead - it's full of real people telling great stories, drinking real Guinness and enjoying the day as it's meant to be - a celebration of the coming of Christianity to Ireland.