File photo by Kristin Rey Johnson Pictured is last year’s event celebrating St. Patrick’s Day by turning the Chadakoin River green in Jamestown. This year’s ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, though other events kick off at 10 a.m.

The Jamestown community is preparing to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by hosting the annual “Turn the River Green” event downtown.

Patrick Smeraldo, owner of Collaborative Children’s Solutions, said the event will begin Saturday at 10 a.m. with Irish music and activities for children to participate in and enjoy prior to the official ceremony, which will begin at 11 a.m.

“There are booths or tables with different either agencies or businesses that help me through the year,” Smeraldo said.

This year, activities will include face painting, tie dye, crafts and a variety of games with small prizes for children in the community. In addition to these activities, Therapy Dogs United will have therapy dogs at the event, the Jamestown Jackals will be present at the event and the Prendergast Library will be highlighting their new “Maker Space” amenity that is available at the library.

“There’s like 10 exhibits or booths or tables, whatever you want to call them,” Smeraldo said, “where people are either doing a craft with groups of kids or playing a simple game for a small prize or something like that.”

Smeraldo told The Post-Journal a scavenger hunt will also be available throughout downtown Jamestown for community members to participate in during the day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 10 local businesses will be featured in the scavenger hunt.

“All you have to do is be at the river,” he said. “There will be a table where you can get a sheet with 10 clues for 10 different businesses, and it’ll lead you to the businesses and then you go in and when you locate the one that matches the clue, you take a picture or find an item maybe the business has highlighted, scan your phone to the QR code and then your entries are registered and then we’ll contact you after for some prizes.”

Smeraldo said the purpose of the scavenger hunt is to encourage people to “mingle” throughout downtown Jamestown and explore what the city and local businesses have to offer. He explained that the scavenger hunt provides an opportunity to increase “foot traffic” Saturday from the Chadakoin river and “up through downtown.”

While activities will be available from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the official “Turn the River Green” ceremony portion of Saturday’s event will take place at 11 a.m.

“At 11 is when the lucky leprechaun will uses his shillelagh and dip it in the water and turn it green,” Smeraldo said, “but the booths will stay open from 10 to 12 with the Irish music and everything.”

Asked about the importance of the “Turn the River Green” event, Smeraldo explained that the event is “huge” for the Jamestown community.

“To be honest with you, it could be bigger,” he said. “I mean, we could do a lot more and I’d like to do a lot more hopefully next year, but I think it’s huge. It gets people at the Riverwalk, which is great, and it brings people out.”

With the weather expected to be around 30 degrees, Smeraldo said the event should not be “ice cold.” He is encouraging community to take advantage of the free entertainment for children, the opportunity to interact with fellow community members, participate in the various activities and scavenger hunt and support local businesses and agencies in Jamestown.

“My goal is to drive people into businesses and restaurants and places to shop locally and promote the downtown area,” he said. “If we can drag a couple of thousand people downtown to watch a leprechaun change a river green and come out with all these positives because of it, I’m all for it.”

Having experienced the “Turn the River Green” event with his own children and working in an elementary school, Smeraldo said he is aware how important St. Patrick’s Day is and how much fun and entertainment the event is for the community event.

Smeraldo said that according to Dan Stone, Parks Department manager, Jamestown is one of just three cities in the United States that hosts a “Turn the River Green” event for St. Patrick’s Day.

“There’s no reason not to come out and see what’s in your community and the best part is it’s free,” he said. “You don’t have to pay a meter on a Saturday, it’s free. The entertainment is free. The kids can be involved in different events and see community things. It’s not too early in the morning. It’s at 10 on a Saturday morning, what are you doing other than nothing?”

Following the “Turn the River Green” event, Smeraldo said he is hoping attendees will take advantage of the opportunity to show downtown or eat lunch at one of the many downtown restaurants.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist told The Post-Journal that the city is “very excited” for the St. Patrick’s Day event and for the appearance of Jamestown’s Leprechaun, especially since the city is one of only three communities that celebrate by changing the color of the river. Sundquist added that the way the city changes the color of the Chadakoin River is with an environmentally friendly liquid, not a traditional dye.

According to Sundquist, one of the “biggest things” the city is trying to do is provide more events for families with children in Jamestown.

“We as a city have lost our youth department over the years, we’ve lost the individuals to help plan events, and so we’re really trying to turn some of the events that we do have and make sure that they’re really family friendly events and that people can enjoy not only our parks and our downtown and our other parts of the city, but have something to do on the weekends that you may not normally get to do,” he said. “This has obviously been a tradition, turning the Chadakoin River green, so we’re excited to be able to continue that.”