16. St. Patrick’S Day On The River
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 234-0295
Description: The Savannah Waterfront Association sets up food booths on the plaza and brings in nationally known entertainers to perform, but the biggest attraction of St. Patrick’s Day on the River isn’t eating or listening to music—it’s being part of the crowd that jams River Street. This 9-block party is free for nondrinkers, and it’s the place to be during St. Patrick’s Day festivities if you like to rub elbows with people—literally. Those wishing to drink beer outdoors will have to purchase $5 wristbands. The merrymaking is at its peak on St. Patrick’s Day and the weekend closest to the holiday; the party cranks up about 10 a.m., and food sales and scheduled entertainment end at midnight.
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Address: 18 Abercorn St.
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Address: 711 Sandtown Rd.
20. St. Patrick’S Day Rugby Tournament
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 234-5999
Description: Billed as one of the largest tournaments of its kind in the United States, this event is staged by the Savannah Shamrocks rugby club on the weekend closest to St. Patrick’s Day. About 75 teams participate. There’s no charge for roaming the sidelines and learning about this sport that’s akin to American football and has been called “a ruffians’ game played by gentlemen.” The action starts about 9 a.m. on both days of the tourney, which was first held in 1979.
21. Spring Gardening Festival
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 921-5460
Address: 2 Canebrake Rd.
Description: Swing into the planting season at the Bamboo Farm by attending this program, which features garden exhibits and talks on horticulture. Also on the agenda are a container-gardening competition and a silent auction, and plant vendors will be on hand, perhaps offering that hard-to-find plant you’ve been looking for. The festival is held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a Sat in late Mar.
22. Savannah Garden Exposition
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 233-7787
Address: 601 West Harris St.
Description: During this festival in mid spring, flowering plants and greenery adorn the bays where mechanics once repaired steam locomotives. Growers, antiques dealers, and other merchants selling products to help your garden flourish set up shop in the bays. Exhibition gardens fill another portion of the Roundhouse, and window boxes created by local horticulturists brighten a long brick wall of the 19th-century railroad complex.Lectures, seminars, gardening demonstrations, children’s activities, and walking tours of Savannah add to the Expo, which is held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a Fri and Sat in early Apr. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $8 per person online or for $10 at the gate, and proceeds benefit the Historic Savannah Foundation and the Isaiah Davenport House Museum.
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
24. Sidewalk Arts Festival
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 525-5231
Description: The normally sedate slabs of the sidewalks leading through Forsyth Park pulsate with color for one previous day in late April, when the Savannah College of Art and Design stages its Sidewalk Arts Festival. SCAD students, alumni, prospective students, children, and preteens cover the concrete with chalk drawings, creating an immense art exhibit on the ground. You’ll see everything from reproductions of famous masterpieces to the flights of fancy of five-year-olds as you stroll through the park. Nearly 1,000 artists participate. Other attractions include the music of various bands and art projects for young children and preteens. The festival starts at 11 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m.
25. Confederate Memorial Day
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 232-3945
Description: An observance that began in 1866 with women decorating the graves of husbands, sons, and brothers who fell while wearing the gray and butternut of the Confederacy continues in Savannah with a gathering at the Confederate Memorial monument in Forsyth Park on the Sun closest to Apr 26, the day Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the last Confederate army at Greensboro, North Carolina. Civil War reenactors fire a 21-gun artillery salute, and there is a performance by a fife and drum corps. The solemn ceremony takes place in early afternoon.
26. Stand Up For America Day
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 965-1999
Description: Residents of the west Chatham County town of Port Wentworth show their red, white, and blue colors from early morning until midnight on a Saturday in April devoted to patriotism and fun. A parade featuring go-karts and bicycles decorated by youngsters starts at 10 a.m. near the city’s elementary school, winds its way through town, and ends next to the fire station on Cantyre Street. That’s also the site of a late-morning rally, craft sales, activities for children, and the fish weigh-in for the Savannah River Spring Classic. A nighttime street dance goes on until midnight and includes a fireworks show about 9 p.m. Festivities start at 7:45 a.m.
27. Fine Arts On The River
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 234-0295
Description: Artists from throughout the nation display their paintings, photographs, and crafts during this festival on River Street’s Rousakis Waterfront Plaza the end of April or on the first weekend in May. Wine tasting, live music, and sales of food prepared by River Street restaurants add to the festivities. Admission is free to this event, a production of the Savannah Waterfront Association.
28. Kirkin’ O’ The Tartan
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 236-3346
Address: 25 West Oglethorpe Ave.
Description: The Kirkin’ O’ the Tartan service begins with a procession of bagpipers and Scottish descendants bearing tartan banners representing their clans. After their entry into the church, the reading of scripture, the presentation of the banners, and a special sermon, there is more piping on the green outside the church. The service is at 11 a.m. on the second Sunday of May, and it’s an occasion when many worshipers, Scottish and otherwise, rededicate themselves and their families to God.
29. Scottish Games And Highland Gathering
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 233-6017
Address: 9520 Ferguson Ave.
Description: Although tests of strength and dexterity are the focal point of the Scottish Games, there’s more to the event than brawny lads tossing long poles (“cabers”) and heaving sheaves of hay into the air. Aye, there are winsome lassies performing the dances of the Highlands, and stouthearted bagpipers playing their melancholy tunes. Also, members of more than 50 Scottish clans bring a touch of plaid to the green fields of the Bethesda Home for Boys as they gather to parade, socialize, and celebrate their heritage during this festival on the first Saturday in May. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for teens, $5 for children younger than age 12. Tickets, maps, and directions may be found on the website.
30. Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum Anniversary Celebration
City: Savannah, GA
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (912) 231-8900
Address: 460 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Description: Workshops and lectures inside the museum and activities held at a local church in late May emphasize the museum’s founding in 1996. Workshops, lectures, and traveling exhibits deal with aspects of African-American heritage, and so do the activities, which include a food festival and entertainment by dancers and musicians. Admission to the museum is $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens, and $2 for students.