Each spring, Savannah sees a flurry of new businesses open downtown.
Occasionally, the timing of the openings is a quirk of the permitting process, but for the most part entrepreneurs are hoping to get their doors open before St. Patrick’s Day so they can take advantage of the long spring tourist season.
Even for a columnist covering city life, it can be tough to keep up with the changes.
West Congress Street has seen the opening of three new bars in recent weeks.
Ampersand is now open at the corner of Congress Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the space most recently occupied by The Sparetime.
Like The Sparetime, Ampersand has a spacious ground level and a second floor that’s ideal for special events. The downstairs bar will offer craft beer and signature cocktails like its predecessor, but is also serving more mainstream drinks.
Ampersand is offering a tempting but somewhat limited food menu. We’ll be checking that out soon and reporting back.
Ampersand’s grand opening was on March 21, but the establishment was operating during the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and served as the artist lounge for the recent Savannah Stopover.
The new bar Boomy’s is open at 409 W. Congress St. in the space last occupied by Murphy’s Law Irish Pub, which recently moved to 307 W. River St.
I haven’t had a chance to check out Boomy’s yet, but it’s worth noting that the ever-popular Liquid Ginger has already played a gig there.
Barrelhouse South recently opened at 125 W. Congress St., a space last occupied by Retro On Congress. The new joint is booking live music too and has already hosted performances by Zach Deputy, Domino Effect and KidSyc.
It’s good to see some activity in these spaces on Congress Street again.
There are some nice restaurants and other shops along West Congress between Whitaker Street and MLK, but the strip for many of us is the core of Savannah nightlife, and the empty storefronts weren’t good for the atmosphere.
And here’s hoping that these new venues, not to mention many older ones, are able to spread the word about their live music schedules.
A number of local bars and clubs are really, really disorganized when it comes to promoting events through Facebook pages, websites and press contacts.
The business openings aren’t limited to Congress Street.
The Funky Brunch Café opened earlier this month at 304 E. Broughton St., at the corner of Lincoln Street.
The new cafe serves breakfast, brunch and lunch from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day of the week.
The FraLi Gourmet also has just opened at 217 W. Liberty St. The store specializes in fresh, handmade pasta and other specialty items.
Savannah Coffee Roasters is right next door at 215 W. Liberty St. The cafe and coffeehouse had a soft opening a few weeks ago.
I hope to be writing about all these new spots in more detail in the coming weeks.
St. Patrick’s: A busy weekend followed by a slower holiday
I gather I made a few folks really mad with my criticism last week of the “control zone” and wristband policy during the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
But I also heard from a number of local folks who agreed wholeheartedly with me.
So I made a couple of trips into downtown over the long holiday and scoped out the scene.
Downtown was packed and pretty crazy on the Friday and Saturday.
Crowds really seemed to be enjoying the live music too. There was a great audience for Bottles & Cans on the stage near Johnson Square early Saturday evening.
But when I went into the heart of downtown on Monday afternoon, it was another story.
Drinks in hand, a friend and I entered the control zone via the intersection of Drayton and Broughton streets late on St. Patrick’s afternoon.
According to the event maps, there should have been wristband sales stands at that intersection and at Broughton and Bull Street, but they weren’t there.
We finally spotted a wristband stand in Ellis Square, but sales were obviously slow and enforcement appeared nonexistent.
There was a fair crowd listening to music on the main stage in City Market, but the nearby stage on Jefferson Street was shut down.
At 6:30 p.m., as I began to walk home, there was a band playing on the big stage facing Johnson Square, but there were fewer than 20 people listening in the street.
By that point, there was already ample on-street parking available south of Broughton Street.
Sure, it was a little chilly and a little wet, but I was fine wearing just a fleece and not using an umbrella. It was pretty common March weather, after all.
So what should we expect next year, when St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Tuesday?
The partying throngs will likely still descend on downtown on the previous Friday and Saturday, but there simply won’t be big enough crowds on subsequent days to justify some of this year’s policies and programming.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.