The Trinity Irish Dancers are gearing up for their busiest weekend of the year.
About 350 3-to-12-year-old dancers will split up into troupes to perform at roughly 100 shows in the Chicago area, including three St. Patrick’s Day parades from the South Side to the Northwest Side. They’ll also dance at Sunday’s Blackhawks game, O’Hare International and Midway airports, the House of Blues and various pubs. And the phone keeps ringing with more booking requests.
“It’s crazy in a good way,” said Natalie Howard, director of the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance. “Our dancers look forward to this weekend all year long.”
Along with the dancers, thousands of Chicagoans — whether they’re of Irish descent or not — will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day festivities this weekend. Residents and tourists undoubtedly clad in green shirts and beads will be mesmerized by the Irish dancers’ fancy footwork, listen to bagpipes and marching bands, watch Chicago River transform to a vibrant “Ghostbusters” slimer green and imbibe in green beer or a frothy pint of Guinness.
Here’s what you need to know to celebrate Chicago’s tradition.
3 parades
The 62nd annual St. Patrick’s Day downtown parade kicks off at noon Saturday at Columbus and Balbo drives and heads north on Columbus to Monroe Street. The grand marshal for the parade — with the theme “Irish Immigration: A New World of Opportunity” — is attorney Martin Healy Jr.
The 14th annual Northwest Side Irish Parade steps off at noon Sunday beginning at Onahan School at 6634 W. Raven St., running south on Neola Avenue to Northwest Highway, north on Northwest Highway and ending at Harlem Avenue. Among the 100 parade participants is grand marshal Joseph Schmidt, president of St. Patrick High School, as well as horses from the BraveHearts therapeutic horse riding charity. New this year is the St. Brigid Court honoring Irish women in the community.
The South Side Irish Parade begins at noon Sunday from 103rd and Western Avenue proceeding south on Western to 115th Street. After a two-year hiatus, the parade returned in 2012 as a family-friendly event to celebrate the community and Irish heritage along with a zero-tolerance policy against on-street drinking with fines up to $1,000 for open containers in the public way. This year’s grand marshal is the Les Turner ALS Foundation, and the Christmas Without Cancer charitable organization will serve as the honoree. The 100 parade entries include the Air Force Honor Guard, at least one 6-foot-tall Haribo gummy bear and dignitaries from Ireland, including Chicago’s Irish Consul General Brian O’Brien.
How to get there
On Saturday, the CTA will provide more frequent service on the Red and Green lines and longer trains on the Blue, Green, Purple, Brown and Orange lines.
Six bus routes — No. 6 Jackson Park Express, No. J14 Jeffery Jump, No. 124 Navy Pier, No. 126 Jackson, No. 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express and No. 147 Outer Drive Express — will be rerouted because of street closures associated with the downtown parade.
And if you don’t want to head downtown at all, the downtown parade will be broadcast live on WLS-Ch. 7.
Metra will provide additional service Saturday for various train lines for the downtown parade as well as on Sunday for its Rock Island District trains to accommodate the increased number of passengers heading to and from the South Side Irish Parade.
Alcohol is prohibited on all Metra trains Saturday and the Rock Island District trains Sunday.
Green Chicago River
At 9 a.m. Saturday, a boat crew will begin shaking an orange powder from a sifter into the Chicago River. Another boat crew will follow and stir up the powder into the river to spread the green color.
The tradition dates to 1962. The recipe remains a secret but is described by parade organizers and dyeing crew as environmentally safe.
The best place to view the river dyeing, parade organizers said, is from the east side of Michigan Avenue west of Columbus Drive.
Celebrating off the parade route
There’s plenty to see this weekend beyond floats and marching bands.
If you’d looking to burn off calories from Guinness and corned beef, there are a few runs scheduled for the weekend.
The Leprechaun Leap 5K and 8K Run starts at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park. Meanwhile, the Get Lucky half-marathon, 7K and 14K beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday will be held near Soldier Field.
On Sunday, the 1-mile Emerald Isle Mile race begins at 11:30 a.m. at 104th Street and Western Avenue just before the start of the South Side Irish Parade.
The Irish American Heritage Center in the Mayfair neighborhood will host the St. Patrick’s Festival at noon Saturday. The cost is $15 for adults to see performances by the Irish Heritage Singers, the Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band and the Trinity Irish Dancers.
The dance troupe will give a free lesson to children every half-hour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. before performing at the fest.
lvivanco@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @lvivanco
