Committee To Study St. Patrick's Day Changes

Over the years it seems our St. Patrick's Day celebration has evolved....there's a day version and, then.....there's a distinctly different night version. And there are all sorts of opinions as to whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. New voices joined the chorus on Tuesday - trying to find a consensus on what direction it should take in the future.

The public was invited to attend this inaugural meeting of the newly formed St. Patrick's Day Festival Committee. But it ended up being a relatively small group of those with a stake in the annual festivities. All seemed to agree they want to make the festivities the best they can be - they don't necessarily agree on exactly how to do that. Alderman Tony Thomas was there to listen, “The mayor often says you know, that democracy is messy and I think now that when they break out into these subcommittees and you get those divergent opinions all at a table, it's going to be interesting to see what does come back.”

Committees will form to study all sorts of issues like revenue, safety and sanitation. Pictures of trash in the streets and video of men urinating in an elevator illustrated what some believe is a festival with a changing demographic creating a bad reputation. Others said those things can and do happen year-round and the city should be careful about taking the adult atmosphere out of the nighttime festivities. “I think this is a signature event for this city. Everyone in the world knows, or everywhere I go, knows that St. Patrick's Day in Savannah is a key event. So I think it's important that whatever we do that we keep in mind that we're dealing with something that's very sacred to Savannians - but also something very special about us and the rest of the world and these committees will keep that in mind as they move forward.”

The group will split into 5 subcommittees involving different aspects of the festivities to come up with recommendations. Alderman Tony Thomas says the group should approach city council with their recommendations by the first week in January to allow time for them to be considered and communicated to the public.