Businesses along parade route prepare for St. Patrick’s Day

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Several local businesses along the St. Patrick’s Day Parade route in downtown Savannah are preparing for the holiday this week.

Many hotels in Savannah’s historic district are just about sold out for St. Patrick’s Day, including the DeSoto on Liberty Street. The DeSoto is in between the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and Madison Square, right at the end of the parade route. Traditionally this has always been one of Savannah’s busiest hotels near St. Patrick’s Day. We spoke with the managing director who says this year the majority of guests are turning the holiday into a several night stay.

“We’re seeing lengths of stay anywhere from three to four nights actually. People coming in on Wednesday staying through the weekend. We’re almost completely sold out for Thursday,” said Jay Wiendl, Managing Director for the Desoto.

In addition to local guests, Wiendl says visitors are coming from all over the region, Florida, South Carolina, and lots of travelers from the Atlanta area.

Just down the street, Hitch Restaurant is already seeing an influx of customers. The assistant general manager says they already had huge numbers this past weekend. Many of the customers from out of town, excited to being the St Patrick’s Day Celebrations. With a few changes to the festival this year, she expects big crowds, and says they are more than prepared.

“Were definitely expecting a lot more business since we’re not doing street vendors. so were gearing up for a really busy bar crowd. We stocked up last week and we’'re getting a container to put our back up food, dry storage, alcohol, so we’ve just got all the inventory on deck,” said Hannah Sanchez, Assistant GM at Hitch.

Sanchez also said they’re expanding their hours this week and plan to open at 7 a.m. on St Patrick’s Day to keep up with demand.

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