SAVANNAH — Georgia’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration — and the second largest in the U.S. — closed out its second century sounding a familiar rhythm.
The hum of bagpipes. The rat-tat-tat of snare drums. The clip-clop of Clydesdales.
Saturday’s march marked the 200th anniversary of the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The port city welcomed tens of thousands of Irish immigrants between the 1730s and the early 1900s, and the parade has evolved from an intimate local celebration first staged in 1824 to the second largest in the United States behind only New York City. And it welcomed tens of thousands of revelers Saturday to celebrate the city’s rich Irish history.
“People come from far and wide to celebrate the greatest parade in the nation,” said Danny Stein, a Charlotte resident who attended his first parade in 1999 and makes the annual pilgrimage to watch from Oglethorpe Square. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Local businessman John Forbes was Savannah’s leading Irishman for the bicentennial, serving as grand marshal. The grand marshal is elected from among the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, an 800-plus member group that has organized the celebration for the last 100 years.
“It’s been the experience of a lifetime,” Forbes said during a ceremony on the eve of the parade. “It’s gone by too quick.”
The bicentennial went down as the biggest in parade history, with a record number of parade participants – 306 units – and crowds packing the sidewalks and squares along the nearly 3-mile route. Celebrants arrived downtown before dawn to claim seating, kicking off the party early, while members of local Irish societies gathered at event venues across downtown for breakfast receptions.
The official proceedings opened at 8 a.m. with Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, located along the parade route. The homily was delivered by Rev. Jacques Fabre-Jeune, the bishop of Charleston, South Carolina, a nod to the first celebration in 1824. The Charleston diocese’s then-bishop, John England, was the guest of honor for the inaugural event.
About the Author
