Odd St. Patrick's Day: Human shamrock, green river, green monuments

March 17 (UPI) -- Odd stories can happen at any time and St. Patrick's Day is no exception as human shamrocks tend to form and green rivers and monuments appear in honor of the holiday.

Here are some of the oddest stories from the past few years that happened in or around St. Patrick's Day.

Company offers $1,000 to watch 10 movies on St. Patrick's Day

Those wanting to avoid drinking and getting pinched on St. Patrick's Day applied to watch 10 Irish movies for $1,000 through San Francisco resource company Zippia in 2020.

Zippia was looking for an aspiring movie critic to watch My Left Foot, The Crying Game, Far and Away, Circle of Friends, Hunger, The Departed, Leprechaun, Waking Ned Devine, Angela's Ashes and The Wind that Shakes the Barley during the holiday. The critic then had to write a 1,000-word summary on what they learned about Irish culture. A corned beef and cabbage meal for 4, a box of Lucky Charms, and a McDonald's gift card to get Shamrock Shakes was also included.

New York town breaks Guinness record for human shamrock

A gathering of 1,200 people wore green ponchos and formed themselves into the shape of a giant shamrock in order to break a Guinness World Record on St. Patrick's Day in 2019.

The participants, from New York state, had to stay in place for five minutes in order to break the record, which was previously set in Ireland with 815 people.

Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day

Chicago celebrates St. Patrick's Day every year by turning the Chicago River emerald green. The city recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of the tradition, which requires the use of about 45 pounds of vegetable dye.

The Chicago Journeymen Plumbers change the river's color by using a secret orange powder that turns bright green in the water.

Rome's Colosseum glows green for St. Patrick's Day

The Irish embassy in Rome turned the Colosseum green for the first time in 2015 in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

The embassy teamed up with Rome City Hall and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage in order to engulf the monument in an emerald green light. Italy's Tower of Pisa also goes green to mark the holiday.

Dublin Airport issues St. Patrick's Day plea for proper spelling

Dublin Airport wanted to make sure those in the U.S. and Canada were celebrating St. Patrick's Day correctly in 2014 by releasing a notice on how to properly spell and pronounce the holiday.

The airport took issue with how Americans and Canadians would say or write St. Patty's Day for short, stating that the shortened form of Patrick is actually Paddy. "Using the power of your network, hopefully we can banish the scourge of St. Patty once and for all," the airport said.