The World Goes Green for St Patrick’s Day

The world goes green for St Patrick’s Day

#GlobalGreening spreads Ireland’s message of hope and welcome

The whole world is going green this St Patrick’s Day, with cultural and historic landmarks in illuminated in Ireland’s favorite color as part of Tourism Ireland’s “Global Greening”. Parades may be cancelled and pubs may be closed, but people in over 50 countries will be able to see some of their most beloved buildings and sights transformed into an Irish spectacle of emerald hues. 

The London Eye, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sydney Opera House, and Zambia’s Victoria Falls will all be included. Landmarks will be lit up in Singapore, Cuba, India, New Zealand, Turkey, Sweden, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Argentina and so many more. The most northerly location this year will be a postbox at the summit of a Norwegian mountain – 350 kilometers above the Arctic Circle!

Our readers in the US and Canada might be able to spot their own view of this global celebrations, with dozens of choices in cities from Albuquerque to Worcester and Bakerville to Vancouver! 

In the US, green-lit locales will include the “Welcome” sign in Las Vegas, Chicago’s Soldier Field, Boston’s Longfellow Bridge, and Atlanta’s City Hall, plus a host of colleges, including Notre Dame, Fordham, and the University of Hawaii. 

There’s a little Canadian quirkiness to the choice of that nation’s spots: alongside the civic buildings in Toronto and Vancouver, sites include Beaverlodge’s Giant Beaver Sculpture, the Big Nickel in Sudbury, Cape Breton Island’s Big Fiddle of the Ceilidh, Mac the Moose in Saskatchewan, and the World’s Largest Hockey Stick and Puck on Vancouver Island. 

The CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons, explained why the tourism body is lighting up so much of the world: “More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage. This year, in particular, we aim to bring some positivity and hope to our Diaspora across the globe. At a time when people living overseas cannot travel home, we want to shine a green light in as many locations around the world as possible, giving our Diaspora a sense of connection with home and reminding them that we cannot wait to welcome them back, as soon as it is possible to do so.”

Will you be able to see some of the Global Greening close to home? Check out our list of participating American and Canadian places below! And if you can, take a photo to share on social media using the #GlobalGreening hashtag to share in the fun. 

Starred locations are first time ‘greenings’

United States

• Fordham University, New York *
• New York Irish Center, New York *
• University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
• City Hall, Atlanta *
• Indiana University Kelley School of Business, Bloomington *
• Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, Boston
• Longfellow Bridge, Boston *
• Northeastern University, Boston *
• 303 East Wacker, Chicago *
• 875 North Michigan Avenue (John Hancock Center), Chicago
• Chicago Board of Trade building
• Civic Opera House, Chicago
• Gaelic Park, Chicago
• Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago
• Kimpton Gray Hotel, Chicago *
• Novak Construction, Chicago
• Prudential Plaza, Chicago
• State Street, Chicago
• Soldier Field, Chicago
• The Merchandise Mart, Chicago
• United Center, Chicago
• Wrigley Building, Chicago
• Xavier University, Cincinnati
• Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland *
• St. Norbert College, De Pere *
• Dublin Wave Waterpark, Dublin *
• George Mason University, Fairfax *
• The Fountain, Fountain Hills *
• University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu *
• University of Indianapolis *
• New Jersey City University, Jersey City *
• ‘Welcome’ sign, Las Vegas
• Maryville College, Maryville *
• Marquette University, Milwaukee *
• University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame *
• University of Mississippi, Oxford *
• Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia *
• Irish Cultural Center and McClelland Library, Phoenix *
• Fore River Bridge, Quincy *
• City Hall, San Francisco
• Coit Tower, San Francisco
• City Hall, Santa Monica *
• Pacific Park on Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica *
• University of Scranton
• Swarthmore College, Swarthmore *
• Washburn University, Topeka *
• Carroll University, Waukesha *
• King’s College, Wilkes-Barre *
• University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington
• Kenneth F. Burns Memorial Bridge, Worcester

Canada
• Niagara Falls (on both the Canadian and US sides)
• Casa Loma, Toronto
• CN Tower, Toronto
• The Distillery District, Toronto
• Toronto sign
• The Cariboo Sentinel (newspaper) shop, Barkerville
• Giant Beaver Sculpture, Beaverlodge
• Calgary Tower, Calgary
• The Big Fiddle of the Ceilidh (Fidheal Mhor A’ Ceilidh), Cape Breton Island
• Resurgo Place, Moncton *
• Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa
• Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
• Mac the Moose, Saskatchewan
• The Big Nickel, Sudbury
• BC Place, Vancouver *
• Bloedel Conservatory, Vancouver
• Harbour Centre, Vancouver *
• Sails of Light at Canada Place, Vancouver
• Vancouver City Hall, Vancouver *
• Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver *
• World’s Largest Hockey Stick and Puck, Cowichan Community Centre,
Vancouver Island

Credit CIE Tours