A 200-Year Tradition

Irish for the Day: Georgia Southern University students are among some 15,000 people who march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Savannah, photo Visit Savanah.

Savannah is commemorating a unique bicentennial anniversary as the city hosts its 200th St. Patrick’s Day parade this year. The parade – one of the largest and oldest in the U.S. – falls on Saturday, March 16, the day before the official holiday.

More than 350 groups and up to 15,000 people march in the three-hour parade, including award-winning bands, several U.S. military divisions, traditional Irish dancers, bagpipers and the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales.

The parade isn’t the only draw; tourists start arriving in coastal Georgia weeks beforehand for other events, like the investiture of the parade’s Grand Marshal on March 3 and the Greening of the Fountain in Forsyth Park on March 8.

Another popular event is the Celtic Cross Mass at the historic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on March 10, followed by a ceremony at the Celtic Cross Monument in Emmett Park. There’s also a Mass at the Cathedral on the morning of the parade.

The Sgt. William Jasper Memorial Ceremony, which is named after a Revolutionary War hero who lost his life during the siege of Savannah in 1779, will take place the day before the parade on Friday, March 15. That evening is the Fire Ball, a large gala hosted by the Savannah Professional Fire Fighters Association.

Savannah’s first public St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1824, when the local Hibernian Society president invited all local Irishmen to meet for Mass and join a public parade through the streets of Savannah to show their Irish pride.

Roughly 15% of Savannah’s population is of Irish descent, but as they like to say – on St. Patrick’s Day, we are all Irish.