Making You Feel Lucky-Irish or Not.

We’re not all Irish, but Chicago sure makes every last race and ethnicity feel lucky on Saint Patrick’s Day. 

A city home to celebration parades and entertainment, Saint Patrick’s Day manages to stand as one of the city’s top, most cherished festivities in which thousands of people gather to celebrate being Irish… or celebrate those that are Irish, like me.  The day encompasses a lively parade and extensive partying such as bar crawling and party/event hopping. 

The entire atmosphere of Chicago changes or better yet, it enhances, transforms… going from a fun city to a thrilling, captivating city, from a crowded city to a jam-packed, overflowing city.  Chicago goes from being a city of brightness and illumination to a city of utter color and flamboyancy in the beloved ritual of converting the Chicago River from blue water to green.

However, I am not here to sound redundant; I know typically Chicagoans have all heard, if not been a part of, the stories and memories created every year.  You might be of strong Irish decent in which this parade was or is taken more seriously; you may be in the actual parade; you may be a yearly loyal attendee.  Nonetheless, every one can relate, find some similar ground in that this day serves for everyone an excuse to celebrate and be happy about these joyful days history has given you, born from a family with Irish historical background or not.  It encourages a night out to disregard the pressures of life for a day and instead find time to spend, possibly eat and drink a little more than usual with new people and loved ones. 

That being said, my story encompasses each of the mentioned aspects of St. Patty’s Day in Chicago, though it’s considerably more fascinating than that.

Two friends of mine from college and I decided to visit the Saint Patrick’s Day parade for the first time last year.  Since we played for our school’s lacrosse team at the time and we had morning practice, we anticipated rushing frantically to witness the actual parade.  Turns out, we never saw the parade-but I did have not only one of my favorite days thus far in life and one of the best days of college, but a Saint Patrick’s Day I feel that beats a significant portion of the thousands’ Saint Patrick’s Day’s present that day. 

I’ll tell you why.  I don’t go to college in Chicago; I’ve never resided near actual Downtown Chicago; at this period of my life, the times I’d visited Chicago I was with friends that were better at directions than I, and it wasn’t until a year later I was more adept to finding my way downtown.  And even worse… my friends?  They were from St. Louis, had not a clue where to go. 

Once we missed the parade, we decided to roam the streets of Chicago and discover where and what this alleged exuberant action has to say for itself.

Well, we were failing… until one of my friends decided to begin conversing with every last person she perceived as approachable, investigating all suggestions about Chicago and this day.  She was reckless, and it was perfect. 

She demanded we jump on this big yellow bus that was free of people, persuading us to ask, potentially beg, whoever the driver may be to take us anywhere that holds St. Patty’s Day merriments. 

The bus driver, better yet, who the bus driver was driving, resulted in being the reason this was the greatest decision we could have made.

We ended up on a bus of illustrious Irish bagpipe players and Irish dancers that were on tour. 

They walked on the bus… silence.  Our faces resembling a deer in headlights, we stood staggering.  They all started to take their seats as the driver asked, “Hey!  Who are you guys?”  We then responded honestly.  Whether it was an actual sense of innocence we gave off that we were merely there for fun or the fact that they were just that awesome of people, when the driver shouted, “Up to you guys!  Can they stay?” the whole group chanted, “YES!”

The friend who got us on the bus and I on the actual bus.

We traveled that day… like a team-like as if we were actual members of these players and dancers.  We were no longer lost newbies of the crowd-we were the crowd.  On the search for just one single party ending in a day of hopping to all of Chicago’s most popular hotspots on Saint Patrick’s Day.  We went on stage, ate with these people, drank with these people-it was as surreal as feeling I was Irish for a day by the kindness these people offered in being part of their culture.

With all that being said, I find this day to depict a perfect picture of the cultural emphasis Chicago places on its city.  The abundance I learned regarding the richness of Irish culture from one day alone signifies the impact Chicago holds in empowering its citizens to appreciate both their known and new, different styles of living through culture.  It serves as a city that avoids discrimination and enforces variety among the people.

And I say If America remains a country of many cultures, let’s embrace these cultures with passion and eagerness… to celebrate and to learn.

Maybe not jumping on a random bus just because your friends tell you to… but you get my point.