Tybee Vacation Rentals Concierge and Tybee Information Site

For next year’s dates and the list of times and dates for the performers AND others, go to: www.savannahmusicfestival.org.

The Irish heritage in Savannah, and spilling over to Tybee Island, is proud and celebrated to the hilt. The party each year begins on Tybee with the Tybee Island Irish Heritage Celebration Parade. The parade assembles at Memorial Park, proceeds down Butler Avenue, takes a left on Tybrisa Street, and ends on the Strand. This Irish Parade began seven years ago under the guidance of Jimmy and Jay Burke. It gives all the Irish a chance to celebrate their heritage. Since it began, it has become a tradition that seems to grow bigger every year. There will be lots of Irish families marching, along with bands, bagpipers, floats, and the Alee Temple Shriners. You are invited to join in this Irish Celebration, Tybee style. Afterward continue the celebration at one of the restaurants or bars that have specials in honor of the big day. Caed Mile Failte (One thousand welcomes).

Then on the 17th, come to what some say is Continue Reading »

It’s begun! The celebration for Tybee’s Mardi Gras began with the first King Cake party of the season. It was held at Tybee Time on the Strand on Jan. 6th.

What is a King Cake and what does it have to do with Mardi Gras?

The King Cake, a round wreath-like cake decorated with colored sugars, is named for the three kings or wise men who bore gifts to the Christ Child on Twelfth Night. The Cake originated in France in the 12th century as a homage to those three kings and when French colonists settled in New Orleans, LA, they brought the cake with them. After the Civil War, a group called the “Twelfth Night Revelers” heralded the start of the carnival or Mardi Gras season (Twelfth night to Ash Wednesday) with a King Cake as the main attraction. In New Orleans, the first cake of the season is served on Jan. 6th and once a week thereafter until Mardi Gras Day.

The cake is a yeast cake, flavored with mace and cardamon; containing a filling of sugar, butter and cinnamon; glazed with powdered sugar and then decorated with three colored sugars: purple for justice, green for faith and fold for power. When the cake is baked, a tiny plastic baby representing the Christ Child is placed into the bottom of the cake (it can also be a nut or jewel). Whoever finds the figurine is crowned king or queen for the day and is said to have good fortune for the upcoming year. They are also expected to host the following week’s King Cake party.

The Crab Shack will have a special King Cake Party on January 28th. There will be special food and drinks, live entertainment, contests, prizes and beads galore. The time is 7:00-9:00 pm. For more information call 912.786.9857.

“Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

Love to cook? We have cooking classes in and around Savannah. Several places offer classes ranging from learning how to cook a really good pizza, to romantic Italian, to classes for kids. Here’s where to get information.

Kitchens On The Square - 38 Barnard St. – 912.236.0100

Kitchen Outfitters - 5500 Abercorn St. (Twelve Oaks Shopping Center) – 912.356.1117

Chef Joe Randall-Savannah Cooking School – 5409 Waters Ave. – 912.303.0409

Culinary Cottage - cooking classes for children – 5702 Skidaway Rd. – 912.692.0105

Last December the Savannah Morning News reported that Audubon’s 110th annual Christmas Bird Count took place and among the birds spotted was an Eagle. There were also the usual birds, including red-tailed hawks, cardinals, blue jays, mockingbirds, a ruby crowned kinglet, a yellow-rumped warbler and a pileated woodpecker. But the crown jewel was the Eagle; three of them at that, with maybe three more immature Eagles in the group. They were all spotted around the Laurel Grove Cemetery on the west side of Savannah. Counters called it an “eagle-rama,” and said that a sight such as this would have been unthinkable earlier in their lifetimes.

Eagles were once on the brink of extinction, but their populations have recovered enough to merit removal from the Endangered Species List in 2007. Still, seeing three of more of them at once anywhere, let alone in urban Savannah is a treat.

Another jewel spotted by the bird watchers was the black and white warbler, which resembles a zebra, spotted in Forsyth Park. They spotted about 35 different species, including the blue-headed vireo, (which is slate gray above with a pale lemon throat and breast, white wing bars and a white eye ring), and a woodstork (the largest wading bird to breed in North America). It is an endangered species.

Savannah and the surrounding area makes for a great variety of birds because of our variety of habitats – wetlands, woods, shoreline, urban and marshes. And we have a lot of public areas where birds can be spotted.