South Bend businesses looking forward to St. Patrick's Day Parade

It's a tale of two different businesses that can't wait for Saturday's St. Patrick's Day Parade.

One is brand new trying to make a few, while the other is South Bend's Irish hotspot that will have the St. Joe River shining a mean green.

Carol Meehan of Fiddler's Hearth came up with idea to dye the river green years ago.

"Chicago dyes the river and I thought, 'We have a river. We can dye our river,'" Meehan said.

The green river is now a Michiana tradition.

Meehan said the green, which is an environmentally safe vegetable dye, can flow down the river as far as St. Mary's College.

New businesses that line South Bend's Saint Patty's Day parade route hope to take a page out of Meehan's playbook

Kathryn Trethewey works at the Creperie, which opened in August.

"With his parade, I definitely expect there to be a lot of people here," Trethewey said.

She said she hopes to see some extra faces walk through the door on Saturday.

"I always enjoy seeing new customers because I just enjoy hearing their good feedback," Trethewey said.