cities across the country are turning to green as they take part in annual st patrick's day parades the day itself is not until tuesday   but many cities have already held parades, with attendees decked out in green to celebrate in the northeast, boston's st patrick's day parade included two gay and lesbian groups for the first time on sunday scroll down for videos  pride: boston's st patrick's day parade included two gay and lesbian groups for the first time on sunday  celebrating the emerald isle: the chicago river was dyed green for the 32nd time to mark the city's st patrick's day parade  color change: the boat sped through the water, casting out the green dye from the rear  crowds filled up a staircase to the see the chicago river be dyed green on saturday  queen of the scene: st patrick's day parade queen lauren elizabeth corry waved during the chicago parade (left) crowd member brian mcclard is seen holding his five month old son conell aengus (right) spirit: a man waves an irish flag in the chicago river on saturday  music: a band wearing green hats and blazers walk along the parade route in raleigh, north carolina saturday  alternative transport: a man rides past the crowds in raleigh, north carolina, on a unicycle  over 33 million irish americans are set to be involved in the festivities this year, abc7 chicago reported  according to the television station and wallethub, st patrick's day will see $46 billion in sales this year around 13 million pints of guinness will be drunk, the abc affiliate reported chicago has followed its 32 year old tradition by dying the river green in front of thousands of people who traveled to the city from across the country on saturday, parades were held in a number of us cities as well as further afield in tokyo and rio in america these included pittsburgh, pennsylvania; chicago, illinois; charlotte, north carolina; raleigh, north carolina; myrtle beach, south carolina; atlanta, georgia; dallas, texas; salt lake city, utah; and san francisco, california approximately 350,000 people showed up to check out the saturday parade in denver, colorado, cbs denver reported social media: alex nowakowska left, and joanna puchlik right, both of chicago, take a selfie after the chicago river is dyed green  history: freddy murphy, of boston, front left, waves an irish flag while marching with the lgbt community advocacy group boston pride during the st patrick's day parade on sunday in south boston  pride: us rep seth moulton, d mass, center, waves while marching with members of outvets, a group of gay military veterans, as they, too, participated in the sunday south boston parade  bagpipe brigade: the boston police gaelic column attended the sunday parade as well  here we go! spectators cheer during the st patrick's day parade, sunday in south boston  greetings: outvet founder bryan bishop (left) and veterans council's brian mahoney (right) were at the parade  boston's st patrick's day parade made history sunday as two gay and lesbian groups marched after decades of opposition that went all the way to the us supreme court the gay military veterans service group outvets and gay rights group boston pride joined the annual celebration of military veterans and irish heritage at the invitation of the sponsoring south boston allied war veterans council the allied war council's current leaders voted 5 4 in december to welcome outvets as one of about 100 groups in this year's parade boston pride said it also received an acceptance letter this week boston's mayors had boycotted the event since 1995, when the council took its fight to exclude gay groups to the us supreme court and won on first amendment grounds musical: new york shields pipes & drums marches during the 27th annual north myrtle beach st patrick's day parade and festival on saturday,  in north myrtle beach, south carolina  wet weather: heroes 4 hire marches along the streets in the rain in south carolina  covered up: the rain would not dampen the spirits of these women playing kazoos in north myrtle beach  procession: bagpipers were in attendance at the saturday parade held in atlanta, georgia  cheer: a man in the crowd is see at the atlanta parade on saturday  pet parade: a woman holds her cat   decked out in costume   for the atlanta parade  snap: girls held their smartphones up while watching the atlanta festivities  setting up: one man is seen in atlanta with a number of st patrick's day related items for sale  drink in hand: jerry o'bryan is seen standing in front of a  west lafayette, indiana, bar  form above: crowds gather along the parade route outside the gateway salt lake city, utah on saturday  excitement: spectators lined the streets in lincoln, nebraska, during the build up to the procession  streets painted green: the colorado rockies wished their fans a happy st patrick's day and posted a picture outside their coors field stadium in denver ahead of the saturday parade  outfit: pittsburgh penguins player sidney crosby wore a green jersey on saturday  the dallas mavericks social media team took a selfie in their holiday attire and posted it to twitter on saturday  workers unloaded a truckload of portable toilets  in pittsburgh in time for the celebrations on friday  ready to run: thousands of enthusiastic, green clad runners attended the annual st patrick'  day dash sunday, march 15, 2015, in seattle, washington  all smiles: a woman is seen at the st patrick's day dash in seattle  this year mayor marty walsh, gov charlie baker and other massachusetts political leaders took part first term us rep seth moulton, who served four tours in iraq as a marine, marched with outvets 'i believe gay rights is the civil rights fight of our generation and this is a small, but important, step in the steady march toward freedom and justice,' he said some roman catholic groups declined to march, including the state knights of columbus, saying they felt this year's parade had been politicized police were preparing for the festivities, with forces around the country putting on extra officers and increasing dui checkpoints wtnh reported that the parade on sunday in new haven, connecticut was predicted to bring in more than 300,000 attendees philadelphia, pennsylvania also held a parade on sunday in tokyo large crowds took to the streets to celebrate st patrick's day, with a number of people wearing green meanwhile in rio de janeiro in brazil, the statue of christ the redeemer was turned green around the world: rio de janeiro's christ the redeemer statue was bathed in green light sunday  in japan dozens of people donned green outfits to take part in a omotesando parade  people in japan entered into the spirit of things and a dog was even dressed as michael jackson (right) a japanese girl plays the bagpipes (left) while others dressed up to take part in the parade on saturday  cheer! attendees in toyko raise their hands in the air  dozens of people in japan entered into the spirit of things at the weekend to celebrate st patrick's day early 
irish americans chicago river 32nd this year st patrick's day $46 billion around 13 million pints guinness
over 33 million irish americans are set to be involved in the festivities . chicago river was dyed green for the 32nd time this year . st patrick's day will see $46 billion in sales . reports suggest around 13 million pints of guinness will be drunk globally 