No one is going to confuse Tybee Island with New Orleans, but a couple of friends and I had a pretty good time during Mardi Gras festivities on the island last weekend.
We had won a weekend’s use of a vacation rental at a silent auction back in the fall, and this seemed as good a time as any to redeem the gift certificate.
Mardi Gras is of course a public celebration of excess and unpredictability before the austerity of Lent, but Tybee’s festival flips that timetable around.
Tybee’s austerity is through the winter months. With spring on the horizon, the island’s growing Mardi Gras celebration might become the unofficial beginning of the bustling beach season.
A longtime bartender along the main drag told me how happy she was to see some new faces. She noted that the slow stretch between the busy weekends of Pirate Fest and Mardi Gras is punctuated only by New Year’s.
Saturday’s parade was pretty short, but it was filled with color and life. Multiple businesses took advantage of the chance for exposure by sponsoring entries, and various social groups — like the Mint Julep Queens — joined in the fun.
In relaxed Tybee fashion, parade entries could sign up as little as a week ahead, and no lineup numbers were assigned. I didn’t see any waving politicians, but maybe I missed those when I was ordering refills or photographing costumed dogs.
Some of the attendees were really decked out for the occasion, and Acme Costumes even had a tent set up for sales. Pretty much everyone seemed to embrace the silliness and revelry.
The outdoor stage near the base of the pier proved a great platform for live music, at least until a biting wind off the ocean kicked up late Saturday afternoon.
There were also events on Thursday and Friday, including parties at CoCo’s Sunset Grille and Fannie’s on the Beach.
All the restaurants that we visited over the weekend were at capacity or close to it, including Spanky’s Beachside, Sunrise, The Breakfast Club and the Tybee Island Social Club, which featured excellent bands on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Despite the pockets of activity, I was struck throughout the weekend by the pervasive quiet. With a year-round population of about 3,000, Tybee needs a lot of visitors to fill up the island’s public spaces, stores, restaurants and bars.
So will Tybee’s Mardi Gras eventually grow into a much bigger event — a true destination?
It’s hard to say, but I certainly hope to go back for a weekend again.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.