Should The Grand River Be Dyed Green for St. Patrick’s Day?

Everyone likes to go green on St. Patrick's Day and now someone is suggesting that the Grand River be dyed green to go even bigger with the celebration.

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No That's Not An Algae Filled River

Years ago before I knew that the city of Chicago dyed the Chicago River green, I was in the Windy City a day before St. Patrick's Day and said, "Wow, the river doesn't look safe," that was when I was informed they dye the river for the holiday.

Looking at the photo above, had you not known the Chicago River was dyed green you too would be thinking is this water full of algae or some nuclear or chemical spill? Chicago has been dyeing the river for 69 years.

What is Used to Dye Chicago River and Is It Safe?

According to Parade, an eco-friendly orange-red vegetable-based dye is used to color the river. The dye was changed from a plumber dye in 1966 to make it safer for the river ecosystem.

Should the Grand River Be Dyed Green for St. Patrick's Day?

The Grand River doesn't run through the middle of Grand Rapids like the Chicago River does in Chicago. So dyeing the river doesn't make as much sense not to mention, who's gonna pay for it?

Mike Stellino made a post on the Grand Rapids Informed Facebook page suggesting the city of Grand Rapids dye the Grand River. Stellino makes some great points but the people responding to his post don't agree.

The negative response to the post started immediately and carried on throughout the entire thread.

This thread had such a negative stretch of comments the Grand Rapids Informed administrator of the Facebook page turned off the comments.

You can see at the bottom of the thread the admin turned off commenting on the post so it looks like the people have spoken, it's a no to dyeing the Grand River for St. Patrick's Day. Sorry, Mike.