Savannah set for "historic crowds" on this year's 200th St. Patrick's parade and weekend celebration

Savannah is expecting a historic turnout for this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade, which will be the 200th year of the celebration in the Hostess City of the South.

Savannah City Manager Jay Melder said at a Tuesday morning press conference that he expects this year to be a "record-setting celebration."

"We're expecting historic crowds from visitors and residents alike," Melder said.

There are numerous indications across the city that this year's celebration will be a big one. Projected hotel occupancy is at 99% on Friday and Saturday, according to data from the Tourism Leadership Council.

The Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is expecting 7,400 daily arriving seats this week, with estimates that those will be about 95% full. That’s about 900 more per day than the same time last year, according to Lori Lynah, the airport’s director of marketing and air service development.

Joe Marinelli, president and CEO of Visit Savannah, said a couple factors play into this year's expected uptick in parade-day participation.

"The first reason is it's the 200th," Marinelli said. "The second reason is the parade is on a Saturday, and of course, anytime the parade is on a Friday or Saturday, it sort of magnifies everything."

Meanwhile City of Savannah staff are devoting more resources to the weekend, including more police, more marshals enforcing code compliance and about 50% more portable toilets, Melder said. That's about 320 portable toilets available on parade day.

When it comes to public safety, Sgt. Jason Pagliaro said there will be about 200 officers along the parade route with another 150 downtown near City Market and River Street areas.

"For the City of Savannah, this is an all-hands-on-deck affair. This is our Super Bowl," Melder said.

He said the city expects activity to start picking up Thursday evening, with Friday being a lively day in town. There will likely be "tens of thousands" of people here for the celebration, Melder said.

Various festivities already are underway this year. On March 1, various buildings across Savannah ― City Hall, Plant Riverside, The Westin, the Savannah Convention Center ― turned their lights green. The parade's Grand Marshal was publicly invested as Savannah's top Irishman on March 3.

Then last Friday was the annual greening of the Forsyth Park fountain, which Mayor Van Johnson said is representative of the city's long relationship with the Irish community.

As Johnson said at a recent press conference, "Savannah becomes Irish in support of our Irish brothers and sisters."

Evan Lasseter is the city and county government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah set for "historic crowds" on this year's 200th St. Patrick's parade