Mardi Gras meets St. Patrick's Day in the third annual Savannah Slithering Lantern Parade

As the legend goes, St. Patrick drove all of the snakes from Ireland. The Savannah-based Krewe of the Humble Hedonists is looking to bring them back, for one night at least.

The 3rd Annual Savannah Slithering Lantern Parade is set for the evening of March 8.

“We wanted to bring that back in as a playful contrast to the seriousness of St. Patrick’s Day,” said Krewe member Brent Buice, one of the event’s organizers.

The local lantern parade began somewhat by accident and somewhat by necessity, as a confluence of separate events came together to result in their first illuminated march through Starland back on the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day in 2022

Brent’s wife Heather Buice was heavily involved in the Atlanta Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons, and found herself traveling to out-of-town events eight to 10 times a year, a routine that had gotten stale. One of those events was in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Atlanta Beltline, for which they created two enormous wearable snake puppets.

Meanwhile, she, Brent, and others who would come to ultimately form the Savannah cousin to the Atlanta Krewe had been doing events locally, as far back as six to seven years ago when they collaborated a few times with local indie-entrepreneur Clinton Edminster and the First Friday Art March folks.

One of those “others” is current Bike Walk Savannah Executive Director Caila Brown, who was among the group who conceived of ultimately bringing a lighted parade to the Hostess City of the South.

“We were always partnering on different events, different ways that we could start implementing the illuminated lanterns,” Brown said of her collaborations with the Buice’s and their fellow Krewe mates, “and I had worked on some to include as part of Moonlight Garden Ride with Bike/Walk Savannah.”

“I remember sitting in a bar, us talking about St. Patrick’s Day, but sort of lamenting that often, when you go down to the parade, it’s you and your buddies standing and drinking a lot, and then these boring floats coming by,” added Mike Kuenlen, who does much of the group’s graphic design work. “Several of us had been to New Orleans recently, and we’re like, ‘Why can’t we have the fun of some wonderful New Orleans revelry, at a time in Savannah where revelry is acceptable?'”

That first parade was a test run more than anything, with Brown noting that they’d hoped that around 50 people would show up, expecting them to be mostly “family and friends that we were forcing to come to the parade with us,” she said. But 300 people showed up.

“And so then, the second year we were like, ‘Okay great, maybe we can get that 300 again, and then the next year we can start to be successful,’” she went on to say. “And I think we had 600 to 700 people.”

This year, they’re hoping for a thousand illuminated paraders to join them as they march from Lone Wolf Lounge to DeSoto Row, and they just might get that and more. Thanks to the fiscal partnership between the Krewe of the Humble Hedonists and Bike Walk Savannah, they were able to get a Weave-A-Dream grant from the City of Savannah, allowing them to give away lantern-making kits at several outreach events leading up to the parade.

At one recent event at The Magical World of Toys, they brought enough premade kits to supply 25 kids with everything they needed to make a lamp, but demand was so high that they ended up having to make an additional 15 kits on site.

And for those who might have missed their events, the free kits can be found at Bike Walk Savannah’s offices and at Starlandia Art Supply, where would-be marchers can also pick up whatever they may need to decorate their lanterns.

For the parade itself, attendees are encouraged to not only bring their lanterns, whether or not they were created from the kits supplied, but also to wear costumes and be prepared to dance: Bagpiper Chuck Bohannon; Jared Hall and The Savannah Slithering Jug Band, which includes local art star José Ray on the drums; and the incomparable Samba Savannah will all be marching and playing along.

“What we want is for people to make things at home,” Heather Buice said. “Bring the freaks out.”

The family-friendly event meets at Lone Wolf Lounge, 2429 Lincoln St., starting at 6:30 p.m., and the parade will officially begin at 7 p.m. At the head of the metaphorical snake will be City of Savannah District 4 Alderman Nick Palumbo, this year’s “Grand Snake Charmer,” Savannah Slithering’s tongue-in-cheek answer to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal. From there, the gathered participants will march a mere 0.6 miles to DeSoto Row, where the various musicians will lead a jam session/dance party, before dispersing into the various Starland watering holes and eateries for the informal afterparty.

It’s not exactly getting drunk in the squares while watching floats for 3-plus hours, but that’s kind of the point.

“It’s not that we were trying to hate on the St. Patrick’s Day parade here,” declared Hether Buice. “We just wanted a more local flair, with more art and creativity and inclusion and all that.”

To learn more, go to savannahslithering.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Slithering Lantern Parade lights up Starland on Friday night