In honour of the annual celebration of shamrocks and shenanigans, a few St. Patrick's Day facts and figures.

249 - Age of the world’s largest and oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade, in New York City. The parade, which involves more than 150,000 marchers but no floats, travels a 2.1 mile route and lasts about six hours – at least until next year, when new city rules come into effect that will shorten all parades by 25 percent to save money.

98 - Length, in feet, of the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The parade travels the length of Bridge Street in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The celebrity grand marshal for this year’s parade is Bo Derek.

13 million - Number of pints of Guinness that the brewery estimates are consumed on St. Patrick’s Day, up from 5.5 million on an average day.
125 - Number of calories in a 12-oz glass of Guiness draft, according to realbeer.com. This makes the “meal in a glass” a lower-cal choice than other popular beers, including Miller Genuine Draft (143), and Heineken (166).

119.5 - Length of time, in seconds, that the six steps involved in the “perfect pour” of a pint of Guinness should take, according to the company.
 
166,000 - Number of visits to Ireland made by Canadians in 2007, according to Statistics Canada.

44 - Percentage represented by potatoes of the 79.5 kg of vegetables consumed per Canadian, both fresh and processed, in 2008. This means the average Canadian consumed just under 35 kg of potatoes. That’s a lot of spuds, but it pales in comparison to the 140 kg consumed annually per capita in Ireland.

1962 - Year that Chicago began its annual tradition of dying the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day.

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