Wednesday, March 14, 2012
© Copyright 2013
Gwinnett Daily Post
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Savannah is getting ready for a busy weekend as thousands of gaudy green tourists are expected to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Georgia's oldest city holds its sprawling St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday, and the weekend celebration has organizers predicting a very profitable event for local businesses.
Erica Backus of Visit Savannah, the city's tourism bureau, says all but a few of Chatham County's 15,000 hotel rooms are booked. Backus says mild weather helped Savannah see its best January ever for tourism this year, and a spring-like weekend could boost the St. Patrick's Day turnout.
Savannah has celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a parade since 1824, thanks to an early influx of Irish settlers in the city. On peak years, the parade has said to draw up to 400,000 revelers.
More like this story
- Thousands jam Savannah for St. Patrick's parade ( March 17, 2012 )
- Savannah left with plenty of hotel rooms for early St. Patrick's parade ( March 14, 2008 )
- Police: Tourist dies from fall near Savannah River ( March 16, 2012 )
- Savannah bans snakes from St. Patrick's Day event ( February 10, 2012 )
- Duluth man accused of slapping police horse in Savannah ( March 20, 2012 )
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID