St. Patrick's Day: Green rivers, green fountains, green beer

On St. Patricks' Day, forget about painting the town red. Revelers across the country turned rivers and fountains green, painted themselves green, guzzled green beer and marched in celebratory parades.

Chicago observed one tradition in an nontraditional way -- gathering to watch the Chicago River turn lime green, but this year under a warm sun. The Chicago Tribune reported that Saturday was the warmestSt. Patrick's Day in 141 years, with temperatures reaching 81 degrees.

Even the city's guest of honor, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, commented on the warmth -- from both the weather and the city.

“It’s great to be in this sunshine, and I’m very privileged to be in Chicago on this St. Patrick’s Day, my first time in Chicago for a parade,” the Tribune reported Kenny as saying. “We’ve had a wonderful visit with the mayor and the governor of Illinois, and it’s a great opportunity to celebrate Ireland and what it is to be Irish."

In New York, thousands dressed in shades of green -- forest, lime and Kelly -- and crowded onto sidewalks for the city's 251st annual parade, the nation's largest.

While green water sprayed in in the main fountain on the South Lawn of the White House, President Obama ducked into a pub in Washington and raised a pint with a distant relative from Ireland.

The president, wearing a moss-green jacket, threw back a Guinness with Henry Healy, an eighth cousin to Obama and his closest relative still living in Moneygall, Ireland -- where one of Obama's great-great-great-grandfathers on his mother's side was from -- the Associated Press reported.