Claiming Hope

Tom Rowan is a retired police officer in his late 70s who has been offering the city of Chicago a splash of hope each March for the past 59 years: Every St. Patrick's Day, he dyes the Chicago River green.

"The original Mayor Daley in the 1950s wanted to dye the whole of Lake Michigan green. But it was just too huge to do. The next best thing was the Chicago River," Rowan said.

Irish Chicagoans were thrilled when the Chicago River was first dyed green in 1962, and Rowan's father and a colleague on the police marine unit, Michael Butler, were given the responsibility of dropping dye into the river from the department's patrol boats. The two families have managed the project since 1962, and a crew of sons and grandsons of Tom Rowan Sr. and Michael Butler led the operation this year.

While the families will not reveal the secret ingredients of the bright green dye, they affirm that it is derived from an environmentally friendly vegetable base. The dye itself is an orange powder that only turns the shamrock green shade when it hits the water. To accomplish this impressive task, one boat drops more than 40 pounds of the powder into the river through a flour sifter, and a second boat -- known as a "mixmaster" -- speeds in circles to "churn the water up."

Rowan remembers one year when his father tried using giant fire extinguishers. Unfortunately the orange powder spread across local buildings and people, so the crew returned to the patrol boat process instead. The orange powder was originally used in the '60s to help plumbers identify leaks in pipes, and locals still call the dye "leprechaun dust" because of the magical way the orange powder turns to neon green when it hits the water.

Once dyed, the river only stays green for a few hours, and this past Saturday, the Windy City enjoyed its first St. Patrick's Day Parade over the green Chicago River since 2019, the year before the pandemic began. Despite freezing temperatures and snow, thousands of people turned out on Saturday to enjoy the river-dyeing tradition and parade.

"This is amazing after all these years of suffering ... and the sun is out," said one parade-goer.

For Chicagoans, St. Patrick's Day this year is a beacon of hope as mask mandates lift and people begin to congregate again. And Rowan's mixmaster patrol boats are providing just the hope-filled connection to the past that the Windy City needed as it leans into the promises of a post-pandemic spring.

As you move into your weekend, consider these words from the New Testament: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:32). What will you do today to claim the hope that the Lord so freely offers you?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jennie