I’ve obviously been closely following some changes to this year’s St. Patrick’s Day party in Savannah.
And it’s getting sort of comical to read the different names applied to the area in which $5 wristbands will be required to drink outside.
You pretty much know that new policies and procedures are going to be a mess when organizers and the media aren’t even using consistent terminology. The confused branding for the new area is not a good sign for enforcement.
Consider the following:
The City of Savannah’s official page calls the wristband area the “entertainment zone,” even though you’ll see “festival zone” on the map below.
Curiously, in response to a query, the City of Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day Facebook page draws this distinction (using “Festival Zone” to describe the entire area where it’s legal to drink outdoors downtown): “… Festival Zone, which stretches from Jones Street to the River, those over 21 may consume alcohol outdoors on public property if […]. In the entertainment zone, which includes the riverfront and City Market areas […]”
In a single report, WTOC uses the terms “festival zone” and “festival control zone” and “control zone” and “new expanded controlled entertainment zone”.
The FAQ posted by Savannah Riverfront calls it the “control zone, otherwise known as party central.”
The Savannah Morning News is generally using the term “festival zone.”
The blog Savannah Secrets at Visit Savannah uses the map with the term “festival zone” but doesn’t use the word “zone” anywhere else — and the text makes it seem that wristbands are required all over downtown, not just in the defined areas.
Jessica Leigh Lebos at Connect Savannah notes that the area is being called both a “festival zone” and an “entertainment zone”, and includes this snippet about an information meeting last week:
“But what if they want to go outside to have a cigarette and they don’t have a wristband?” asked one of the attendees.
Johnston replied after confirming with Fire Marshal Craig Landolt that smokers did not need to purchase wristbands as long as they were within the 10-foot smoking buffer outside an establishment.
Of course, smoking is by ordinance prohibited within the 10-foot buffer outside of an establishment. The buffer is meant to exclude smokers, not envelop them.
