Savannah Saturdays: Tybee Island Beach Bum Parade

FIRST GUEST BLOG by my friend, Hungry Girl producer Lynn Bettencourt!!!
Tybee’s Beach Bum Parade
Let me preface this by saying we have had this day in our calendar marked off for a year. We missed the event last year and, come hell or high water, we were making it this time! Prepared is not quite the right way to describe us….. heavily armored, perhaps? We brought with us 2 bazooka-style water guns, 2 long shooters, and had 9 other short range guns.
Waiting for the fight, er...I mean parade, to begin was the most agonizing part. The boys in blue were making sure no one got started too early--- so we spent the time putting all of our valuables in plastic bags, stashing towels in dry areas, and suiting up (from hats to shoes, we were prepared to get soaked).
Once the spraying was underway we quickly had to make alliances. Luckily, we camped outside Bernie’s Oyster Bar and befriended the owner’s sons & friends. Six boys with limitless amounts of energy proved to be the best thing for our “team”, that and the endless supply of water that Bernie’s provided for us! People we originally deemed enemies soon became friends when we realized we could only survive if we joined forces. The other side of the street spent most of their day advancing, attacking, and then retreating back to their water base. We, of course, followed suit.
Many things were shouted during those few hours. “You look entirely too dry.” “Did you really think you’d walk through unscathed?” “The only thing that upsets me is that every town in America doesn’t do this!” “It’s no fun if you can’t fight back.” (In response to “Can we fill up with water?”) But the one thing everyone agreed on was that once the parade started, all of our efforts needed to be focused on the floats. Some flew down the street, I think because they realized they were no match for our artillery. However, some camped out and soaked (what little there was left to soak) us with freezing cold water.
We all had a blast and were completely drenched from head to toe. In the end, the battle was won… by everyone.
-Thanks Lynn for the great post! Let's hope Tybee can find the funding to keep this fun tradition alive (and so I can go next year since I missed out on the fun this year!)!
Today's Ehow article: The Differences in Information on Reports and Research Papers