St. Patrick's in Savannah

Last weekend, I headed to Savannah in Georgia with my friend Anna. Savannah boasts one of the biggest St. Patrick's day celebrations in the country, and this year, over 40,000 people flocked to the city to participate in the shenanigans.
We got there and already we were not like most people because we didn't have to worry about where to stay, since Anna's dad has a house in the city. Not so for most people. With hotel rates skyrocketing, many decided to spend the night in their cars or not to sleep at all.
My experience was also different when we walked down to River St. and saw a morass of absolutely plastered young people wearing green, drinking green, throwing up green, and swaying side to side. Knowing what it feels like to be that drunk (and especially the next day), I decided that I would not, in fact, be intoxicating myself nearly as much as the average person. Still (or maybe, because of this) I had a lot of fun. There was enough music, men and women in kilts, and people walking around that there was no way for it not to be entertaining. It was, any way one spins it, a spectacle. The best green shirt was worn by a very dark-skinned man. It read "Kiss me, I am Irish--ish."
Before that night, we had gone to watch the big St. Patrick's day parade downtown. It lasted three hours and had all sorts of different floats. People went all out, and really represented their views. It was fun, engaging, and quite the experience.