Hey Beaker (or anyone else who knows)!

I've read alot of your posts about places in Savannah, Ga, so I assume you're pretty familiar with the area? If so, I'm wondering if you can share with us about the St. Patrick's Day celebrations that take place there each year. I heard it's HUGE and gets pretty wild . Any truth to that?

You heard right.....St. Patty's Day is HUGE in Savannah! In fact, it's the 2nd largest St. Patty's Day parade in the U.S......which is saying alot considering parades like the ones in N.Y., Boston, etc. You'll actually see various groups of Firefighters, Police officers, etc. in their uniforms from places like N.Y. and Boston which travel down and participate in the parade.



The actual parade goes on for several hours. To get a good spot, you pretty much need to stake your claim in the very early morning hours because by 10 am, you won't be able to get a decent view from anywhere. Remeber that this is an Irish celebration, so expect plenty of Guinness and other forms of achohol to be consumed from the early morning throughout the entire weekend .





In the many years I've attended, I don't think that I once saw anyone forget to wear their green colors proudly. And if you have a kilt, this would be your chance to show it off as it seems to be a popular thing to wear during St. Patty's Day weekend.



What.....not formal enough for you? Ok, change the shirt for a black tie and coat and voila...


But if you really want to go all out, dust off the ole bagpipes as I've seen (and heard) a few of those too


But in a nutshell, St. Patty's Day weekend in Savannah is like a smaller version of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.....beads and all . If you're thinking of visiting during St. Patty's Day weekend, I'd suggest booking as early as possible since everything sells out pretty quickly.

That's exactly the type of stuff I had heard about it. It's good to hear (and see) confirmation from other sources. I'll have to give it a try some time. Thanks for sharing!

So is there a big Irish community in Savannah?

It's a very historical Southern city, so you wouldn't know people's backgrounds since they mostly identify themselves as "Southerners" rather than their heritage. But according to the stats, 7% of the population in Savannah, GA is of Irish decent.....which is pretty big, making it the 2nd largest country of heritage for the people of Savannah.

After looking into it, Savannah was a booming port town hundreds of years ago when there was a huge influx of Irish immigrants ariving by Sea. So many of them arrived and settled in Savannah.

Since the Irish notoriously believe in ghosts, Savannah also happens to be the #1 haunted city in America, recently taking the top spot from New Orleans. So you can also enjoy "ghost tours" and such .

Wow an eye-opening experience. I had only seen the St Patrick Day Parade in NYC. Seems that Georgia has much more color!

I'm from Savannah - 5 generations =) I've been living in NYC for four years now and I absolutely love it...but you couldn't *pay me* to spend St. Patrick's Day here. NYC's attendance is bigger because NYC is bigger, but Savannah attracts a far greater number of people - the city literally triples in size! Regardless, the amount of fun here doesn't even come close to that of downtown Savannah. =P

On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish. Regardless of cultural affiliation or geographic location, people can come together and celebrate the Irish and their emerald isle. At parades, pubs or St. Patrick’s Day parties, donning green is both a sign of participation and a requirement for physical safety (excessive pinching has led to several possible fatalities and has “gotten old” in an untold number of cases).