SAVANNAH — Things are greening up in this city’s historic downtown, and not just the lawns of the squares and the leaves on the trees.
Symbols of St. Patrick’s Day are as much a sign of spring here as blossoming azaleas and short pants. Irish flags, shamrock stickers and magnets and many a green hat and jacket litter the landscape.
The celebration launches with the greening of the waters of the iconic Forsyth Park fountain on March 7 and continues through the downtown parade on March 17, the day honoring the fifth-century Christian missionary known as “the apostle of Ireland.”
Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, put on by a committee of 800 local male residents, is among the largest and oldest celebrations of Irish heritage in the United States. The parade dates to 1824, when a local Irish society, the Hibernians, invited the public to join them for a procession and reception for a charismatic Roman Catholic bishop from Charleston, South Carolina.
The family-friendly party takes over the city’s historic district with a march featuring bands, troops, floats and Alee Shriners Clubs snaking along a 3-mile route.
Here’s all you need to know about the 2025 parade:
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Who has a parade on a Monday?
The parade is part of the religious observance of the feast day of St. Patrick, which is March 17. The only exception is when March 17 falls on a Sunday. Those years, the parade is held on March 16, as it was last year, the 200th anniversary of the parade in Savannah.
The Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Committee has long ignored the occasional calls to move the parade to the weekend closest to the holiday. The parade became a custom in the 1800s when Savannah’s Irish families marched through downtown after feast day church services. Still today, the first parade day event is an 8 a.m. Mass celebration at the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the Roman Catholic church located along the parade route.
Why is Savannah an Irish American enclave?
The port city was a destination for Irish immigrants almost from its founding. Georgia’s second governor, Henry Ellis, was Irish, and Savannah’s Irish population grew quickly during Colonial times. Another wave of Irish arrived in the 1840s and 1850s during the potato famine, with a strong concentration of immigrants from County Wexford, on Ireland’s southwestern tip. Savannah continued to attract Irish laborers as the city’s growth surged during Reconstruction and the Industrial Revolution.
The Hibernians formed in 1812 to assist poor Irish laborers coming to America. The group’s members included Catholics and Protestants and remains active today. The Hibernians’ annual dinner is the evening of March 17 and typically attracts high-profile speakers, including at least one sitting president — Jimmy Carter in 1978.
What’s the attendance?
Exaggerating the crowd size is as much a Savannah St. Patrick’s Day tradition as green grits and whiskey-spiked coffee for breakfast. Last year’s 200th anniversary parade saw what officials called “historic” crowds in the neighborhood of 250,000 celebrants.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Attendance is expected to be lower this year with a Monday parade, although many of the city’s lodging operators are marketing St. Patrick’s Day to visitors as a three-day weekend. Local participation likely won’t suffer, as Savannah schools always close for St. Patrick’s Day, as do many businesses, particularly those downtown.
Parade-goers pack the sidewalks on both sides of the lengthy route as well as the city’s six public squares that the march passes.
Who and what will you see in the parade?
The parade’s origins as a procession of Irish societies and families persists. The parade’s grand marshal, elected by the parade committee, leads the march. Behind him walk past grand marshals, a contingent of committee members, Irish families who trace their Savannah roots a century or more and leaders of the many Irish societies, including the founding Hibernians.
Aside from the Savannah Irish, the parade lineup includes bagpipe bands from across the United States as well as from Ireland, fife and drum corps, high school marching bands, and even a few rock ‘n’ roll acts playing from floats. There are also dozens of commercial entries and appearances by University of Georgia mascot Uga XI, a Savannah resident, and Georgia Southern University’s bald eagle, Freedom.
Savannah-area military installations, such as Fort Stewart, send troops to march. Every student from Benedictine Military School, a local boys high school, walks the route as well, their uniforms crisp and black shoes gleaming. Elected officials typically participate.
Bringing up the parade’s rear are a number of Shriner’s Club units, each with their own theme, from pirates to hillbillies to clowns to Keystone Kops. A crowd favorite is the minicar unit, with large men crammed into tricked-out go-carts spinning choreographed routines at most intersections along the route.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
How do I get in on the fun?
Plan ahead and set an alarm clock. The parade doesn’t start until 10:15 a.m. but veterans know the best viewing spots are claimed before sunrise. The prime real estate is in the squares located along the route, and tailgate tent cities go up shortly after the city government opens the squares at 6 a.m.
For those less inclined to wake early and jostle for space, bleacher seating is available for purchase at several points along the parade route, including along Bay Street, next to the Colonial Cemetery on Abercorn Street, and in front of the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist near Lafayette Square. Seating for large groups is also available and can accommodate groups up to 50 people.
What to bring to the parade?
The parade is akin to a football tailgate, albeit one where you can watch the action from the comfort of your own lawn chair. You’ll also want water, snacks, sunscreen and bug spray. Adult beverages are allowed so long as the liquid is consumed from a cup and not a can or bottle.
Coolers to keep food and drinks cold are permitted, although throwaway coolers, such as those made from Styrofoam, are banned.
What to wear?
Layers and layers of green. The long-range forecast calls for morning lows in the high 40s rising to the mid-60s by midday. Sneakers or comfortable walking shoes are advised as attendees typically must walk several blocks — or more — from parking areas or drop-off spots to the parade route.
Sunglasses and hats are must-pack accessories. And donning beaded necklaces and other Irish “flair” items will make you look like a local.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
What about parking?
The earlier you arrive, the closer to the parade route you can park. If you mosey in after sunrise and you come across a spot that looks too good to be true, it probably is — follow all posted instructions, especially those forbidding cars along the inside of downtown squares. Firetrucks and other emergency vehicles with wide turning radiuses use the streets around these squares to respond to situations on parade day. You will be towed.
Municipal parking garages and surface lots are open, although those close to the parade route will be difficult to access after 8 a.m. as streets close down.
Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft and shuttles operated by Chatham Area Transit run throughout the day and pick up and drop off passengers at designated points near the parade route.
When nature calls?
It’s too late to train your bladder for an all-day hold. Don’t relieve yourself in bushes or behind parked cars. Public urination offenses typically top the police arrest blotter each St. Patrick’s Day.
The city government rents hundreds of portable toilets and positions them on the street at several points near the parade route. There are also public restrooms at Forsyth Park, Ellis Square and the River Street Visitors Information Center.
Another option is a “pottywagon,” which is a truck bed or trailer-mounted outhouse parked near the parade route. These are BYOT — bring your own toilet — and not for general public use. You can ask, but be polite about it, and be sure to take “no” for an answer.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Who is the grand marshal and how was he chosen?
Jay Burke, whose family immigrated to Savannah from County Cork during the potato famine, is the 2025 honoree. He’s a second-generation grand marshal — his father Jimmy led the 1992 parade.
Burke resides and runs a business on Tybee Island, known as Savannah’s beach. He’s long been active in the parade committee, including a stint with the adjutant’s staff that handles parade-day operations and as a member of the executive committee. He’s also well-known for spearheading the Tybee Irish Heritage Parade, or the “little parade at the beach.” That event is held the Saturday before the Savannah parade.
Grand marshal is the aspiration of every longtime Savannah Irishman. Applicants must be at least 55 years old, male — the Parade Committee is for men only — and be able to trace his ancestry to Ireland. Candidates spend decades building their profile through service to the parade committee, in Irish and Catholic societies such as the Knights of Columbus, and other community organizations.
The Parade Committee elects a new grand marshal every February in a festive, members-only election. The grand marshal presides over a series of events prior to the parade and is the committee’s formal spokesman. He works with the general chairman, who leads the parade’s executive committee and is the de facto director. Tim Mahoney, a local sales professional, is the 2025 general chairman.
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