200th anniversary of parade in Savannah!

The event has been hyped ever since last year - for real!

There are expectations of more than 500,000 visitors just for this one event.

It's the 200th Anniversary of the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in this seaport and it began at 10 AM.

I think I most remember the parade from 1984.

March 16th that year was my final day as an active-duty member of the US Navy.

[This is the 138th entry of 309 groups participating in the 2024 parade. Two hours have already passed.]

I spent the day getting the necessary signatures from the doctor, from the optometrist, from the dentist, from the administration.

The "i"s were all dotted and the "t"s all crossed to verify I was fit to leave.

[This is the Naval Junior ROTC group at Jenkins High School. We didn't have that when I was a student there. The time is now 12:30 PM.]

Then I had last good-byes with my friends and colleagues in San Diego, and at NSGA Imperial Beach, on the West Coast before catching the red-eye flight to Savannah on the East Coast.

[Here are the members of the Savannah branch of the Navy League, right on the heels of the high school group.]

Mama and my soon-to-be stepdad, Frank, met me at the airport and we went straight downtown so as not to miss a moment of the parade to welcome me home.

Hahaha! That's a little joke, y'all!

[These sailors are with the submarine base at Kings Bay, just south of Brunswick. They were the third, and last, of the Navy entrants.]

I can't say I remember a lot of that 1984 parade, but I can definitely say this: it was considerably shorter than the one this year.

[Here's one of my favorites every year: the bellydancing man with the Alee Shriners! This year, he seemed a bit tired by this point in the parade. That's certainly not surprising, as he's been walking and dancing almost three and a half hours... and the parade isn't done yet.]

I kept watching, flipping back and forth between WSAV and WTOC.

When WSAV stopped, I stayed on WTOC, who, bless them, kept going to the very end, at 2:30 PM.

Four and a half hours of parade: wow.

[Here, as they are signing off, the trio sent greetings to Jimmy Ray. Hey! He's in Post 36 of the American Legion, with me! Very nice!]

Hopefully, next year, I may venture down to experience the parade in person again.

I'm sure I can go with Tony and Laura!

That will be very nice, indeed.