St Patrick's Day Festival Zone Explained, Under Fire - WSAV: News, Weather, and Sports for Savannah, GA

It's a change in the way the city of Savannah does business on St. Patrick's Day.

To drink out in the streets on this holiday, you'll need to chip in.

If you are in the Festival Zone, you will have to pay $5 for a wristband to have an open container.
 
That zone runs from MLK blvd to Drayton street, and includes City Market, Bay Street and River street, as well as surrounding bars and restaurants.

While there will be barricades saying you are entering the zone, no one is being kept in or out.  
 
There will be 22 different kiosks where you can buy a wristband.  Back when the Festival Zone was just on River Street, there were only six.
 
There will also be folks walking around with wristbands for sale.  

Inside that Festival Zone will be 40 different bands.

"The money is going towards the services for this whole St. Patrick's Day cleaning, security costs, the live bands," explains Carrie Bligh of the Savannah Waterfront Association. "There's a dollar amount associated with it so we are trying to find the easiest way to pay for everything. Put on a great festival and it not be too much of an impact on somebody's wallet."

The city says the Zone was expanded because it didn't want too much of the party concentrated on River Street.
 
Savannah was also looking for a way to pay for the bands and services supplied by City Market, Waterfront Association and Downtown Business Association. And potentially start a fun for future festivals downtown.

The wristbands are designed to do just that - without interrupting the party.

But some businesses in the Zone aren't sold.

They are upset they weren't consulted on the idea, and neither was the public.

"Our locals are not going to be happy paying a cover charge to do something they have the right to do every day of the year, 365 days out of the year," said Melissa Swanson, owner of The Rail. "As far as expanding the Festival zone is concerned, it doesn't mean anything to me, because I wont see the music, I wont see the port-O-lets. I won't see anything that City Market gets or the Waterfront Association gets."

Bar owners also tell News 3 they are worried about the new zone, and the impact on police officers helping enforce the wristbands.
 
"If they are able to come by and be nice about it, great. But I can't imagine after working 18 hours being really happy about asking people to see their armbands when you are really trying to make sure everyone is in compliance with every other ordinance," said Swanson. "I welcome everybody. I know they are going to spend every dime in their pockets when they come to the city of Savannah anyway. Why try to get that first $5 out of their pocket before they start? Doesn't seem right."

The Waterfront Association tells me the money from those wristbands will hopefully cover all the costs for bands, cleanup and security for the festival.

They are asking for police to help monitor wristbands, but security officers will be in charge of doing that job.

As for the police, they told News 3 they are still determining exactly how they will deal with folks who aren't complying with the wristband policy, and will have a more specific policy for us next week.