Saint Patrick’s Day Parade

This is awesome event. The streets start filling up at 8 am or earlier for the best spots. It makes sense to bring some chairs, the parade lasts for 4 hours. The participants come from all over the world. Savannah makes a big deal over this holiday, it goes on for at least a week with all the related events.

It’s crowded, it’s loooong (like 3+ hrs), but it’s worth experiencing at least once!
Lots of local Irish families walk in the parade as family groups, lots of politicians, lots of high school bands, bagpipes, guys from the NYPD, the NY fire department, firefighters from Boston, floats church groups, floats from local businesses, and more.
Despite living less than an hour away from Savannah for most of my life, I’d never experienced a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Savannah.
This year we were downtown on the day before the parade and I was shocked to see chairs chained to various thing– hydrants, parade barriers, park benches, claiming peoples spots.
If you want a good spot, I recommend getting their early Saturday morning. They run shuttles to and from various places in Savannah so you don’t have to worry about parking but those are usually very, very crowded.
I arrived at the parade around halfway through it and grew bored after about 30min– an hour and wandered down to City Market to listen to the bands instead.

I was a bit disappointed in the contents of the parade — I was expecting more floats and less groups of local politicians walking. Overall though, it is a super fun experience and I definitely recommend going. I couldn’t believe how long the parade was! It took about 3 hours for the beginning of the parade to reach the end of the route, I have no idea how people who set up at near the end kept their kids entertained for that long waiting for the parade to reach them?

Once in a lifetime MUST DO!!! Get there EARLY — this is not a joke. It is full of young college kids so pick your parade watching spot carefully. Bring plenty of sunscreen and green — so fun!

Can you say 4 – 5 hour parade? That’s right folks, this is one that you can enjoy all the day long! I was amazed but quite honestly it got a little bit boring after the first hour. Typical parade with marching bands, church groups, masons, shriners, etc. It was however very cool to just be there and take it all in. Not to mention if you do it right, you can get there early, get a cooler and enjoy day drinking while people watching. I swear, people watching and the crowds are more fun than the parade I think.

Greatness! What a Parade and party. Having lived in NYC experiencing the St Patty Day Parades there, this one blows NYC away! Still love the big apple. This one attracts NYPD, FDNY, Boston, Ireland, and others from all over for the Savannah big day.
If your coming from far away or first time, plan your stay carefully with reservations in advance to local hotels and parking.