Meet the Indian Family Behind Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations

Every year on March 17, Chicago ushers in one of the most famous and beloved St. Patrick’s Day parades in the country. Its renown is partly due to the beautiful — if not slightly disorienting — bright, emerald green hue the Chicago River takes on for the holiday. Over 30 million people in the United States identify as being of Irish descent, but the largest number of people with Irish ancestry in any county live in Cook County, Illinois — which encompasses Chicago.

But many don’t know that the very Chicago tradition of dyeing the river green — with environmentally- and marine-friendly dye, of course — has continued, in part, thanks to an Indian family-run business.