photo.JPGSAVANNAH, GA -
The first night of St. Patrick's Day
partying is here and besides wearing green you'll need another accessory if you
want to drink on the streets. Before you get your to-go cup, you'll need to buy
a $5 wristband. The wristband allows you to drink outside in the control zone.
There are 22 locations within the
control zone where you can buy a wristband and you'll need to show your ID
before you can get one. You need to buy
a wristband each day if you plan on drinking outside.
As soon as the wristband booths opened
for business Friday morning the alcohol started flowing.
While most visitors to River Street
knew they had to have a wristband before drinking outside, some out-of-towners
weren't aware. To make sure visitors are in the know about the policy advanced
advertisements were posted.
"There's a flyer that goes into
every hotel room that we distributed. We printed 40,000 of those as well as all
the different St. Patrick's web sites have that information as well," said the
Executive Director of the Savannah Riverfront Association, Jim Downs.
"The hotel staff actually told us
and we didn't even have to look into it. They just informed us when we checked
in," said beer consumer Wade Tutt.
Not only will you be able to buy
wristbands at designated tents but also from roaming sales staff. As soon as you buy a wristband the staff
member will put it on to prevent anyone from giving it to someone else.
The $5 you'll need to fork over is a
lot cheaper too than the consequences if you don't have one.
"If you're caught without a
wristband, we're going to point you in the direction to buy a wristband. We
could potentially ask you to pour that out and the fine could go as high as a
$67 ticket with court costs," said Downs.
The booths to buy wristbands will be
open until midnight Friday and reopen at 7 a.m. Saturday. The wristband enforcement on Saturday
starts at 5 p.m.
