While thousands took to the streets of Savannah’s historic district for the annual bacchanalia that is St. Patrick’s Day here, the crowd generally behaved itself.
By 4:30 p.m., Savannah-Chatham police reported a total of 15 festival-related arrests, including four in the nights leading up to Saturday’s parade.
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Final Saturday arrest numbers were not immediately available late in the evening, said Julian Miller, police spokesman.
But overall, he said, the massive crowd was “very, very good today.”
“It was a good crowd, so far,” he said. “We had a few more arrests today than the past couple because a few more people were a little over-served, but it was the usual drunk arrests we see — we didn’t have any serious incidents.”
Miller said he expected final festival arrest totals to be available Sunday morning. He anticipated they would be comparable to the number last year, when the festival also took place on a Saturday.
Miller credited most revelers with acting responsibly and added that a large number of uniformed police located throughout the festival zone likely helped keep the vast majority of party participants in line.
“So far it’s been a great day,” Miller said. “A lot of folks here are having a lot of fun, and they’re doing it the right way.”
— Corey Dickstein