'Wild and fun and fantastic': The Krewe prepares for Savannah Slithering

'I was a little bit surprised that it has happened as quickly as it has because, you know, Savannah’s slow, but you can tell that the city was ripe for something cool and community-oriented and creative.'

WITH THE swift arrival of March, St. Patrick’s Day is on the horizon. Natives of Savannah know that this means downtown is going to be filled with partiers who ignore their livers for a day.

The week before the holiday, however, the krewe of the Humble Hedonists will have their annual Savannah Slithering parade. This is their third year of having their quirky and unique celebration and they are looking forward to this year’s parade.

I had the pleasure of speaking with krewe members Brent Buice, Mike Kuenlen, Alan Robinson, and Kellie McTyre to learn more about the upcoming festivities.

The Savannah Slithering is a fun-filled event where attendees can create snake lanterns and stroll with the Humble Hedonists. They can also dress up in their most creative and unique snake wear. However, attendees are allowed to be as surprising and unexpected with their attire as they see fit. 

Buice said that the purpose of the parade is to have fun. The snake lanterns and serpents are to poke fun at the legend of St. Patrick, as he drove the snakes out of Ireland. Snakes and serpents are the points of the parade. 

Being that this is the third year of the Savannah Slithering, Buice said that after the first two years, attendees would delight and surprise the krewe with unexpected things that they made. 

Last year, an anonymous attendee was covered head to toe with Barbie heads.

“It was just this very bizarre totemic thing they created. And they looked amazing. We just love any kind of creativity. And the whole slithering aspect is just, if people are drawing a total blank about what to bring to a parade, there's a starting point. And if you can come up with it, you can go all kinds of directions with snakes, there's so many patterns of snakeskin. There's the sounds, the fangs, the movement. It's a lot, you can have a lot of fun with it,” Buice said. 

Reflecting on last year’s parade, Buice said that the Savannah Derby Devils provided crowd control assistance. They wore matching black and green outfits and they had illuminated kites that looked like a snake.

For the first two years, the parade did not have a permit from the city. Due to this, the attendees had to move through their route in a guerilla-style manner. Everyone stuck to the sidewalk and pushed the crosswalk buttons to cross the streets safely.

Traffic was stopped for three to five minutes so all of the parade goers could cross. The Derby Devils were instrumental in this process. It also helped that they had illuminated snakes held over their heads. Almost like a Chinese New Year dragon is held. 

This particular snake could be spotted from five blocks away with its brightness.

Kuenlen said that the first year of the Savannah Slithering Parade impacted him. The krewe had done a lot of planning but were unaware of what would happen. They had planned workshops where 30 to 40 people would show up.

At these workshops, the attendees would be able to make their snake lanterns. Kuenlen said that people would bring their friends with them, and the numbers increased from 50 to 100 people. 

He went further by saying that the costumes he saw had nothing to do with what they were thinking at their parades. One guy had built a birdcage around himself. It was covered in gold foil and looked wild, but was cool and impressive. The idea was he was a snake charmer inside of a cage. 

There was even a woman who had a golden-colored boa constrictor around her neck.

“Then I realized we had sort of created something that we didn't have full control over, which was kind of the purpose. And that folks were going to run with this. And it was going to be wild and fun and fantastic,” he said.  

A lot of children were in attendance and for that the krewe was thankful. They wanted the parade to be a joyful and family-friendly event itself. 

McTyre said that the biggest thing for her has been the response from the community. They have received a warm welcome from businesses, but also from Savannah as a whole. 

“We are expecting even more growth this year. More involvement has been wonderful to see, as well. I was a little bit surprised that it has happened as quickly as it has because, you know, Savannah’s slow, but you can tell that the city was ripe for something cool and community-oriented and creative to sort of bring everybody together,” she said. 

Robinson said that he would see things from a different angle with this year’s parade. He is assisting with the organizational side of things. In his first two years, he attended with his family.

They had just recently moved to Savannah and were looking for their tribe and feeling their way through the city. Robinson saw the Savannah Slithering parade and thought it was eccentric. However, he took his family and had a blast. 

“We just loved how DIY it was.  And definitely, a bit felt like a lot more than that because we were all stretched out on the sidewalk. It felt like a lot more than like 300 people. And then we went the second year and had a great time again. So this is already on my calendar, right? It's something that we're going to do every year because we get bigger and bigger. We go to the workshops, meet some of the folks, and make some new friends. We started to get people in that didn't know about it either,” Robinson said. 

All four believe that the Savannah Slithering Parade serves as a means for new people to meet others. They aren’t natives of Savannah and shared that being a part of their krewe has helped them find a sense of belonging. Robinson mentioned how easy it has been to promote their parade. Local businesses have been receptive, and he said that Savannah has been wanting something that’s more DIY doing their own thing. Tourists have even participated. 

The locals don’t have to just see the parade, they can also be the parade. 

“People are inspired to make something weird. And just bring it you know, just show up with it. And that nobody knows it's common except them. And we will all be amazed. And everyone will stand around taking pictures of that thing, that somebody just threw raw, the purest kind of inspiration to just make something, you know, for this event, it's just people bringing something cool. It gives people the opportunity to fly their freak flag. And you can be whatever you want,” Buice said.

He also mentioned that musicians who will play in the parade will be compensated this year. Thanks to investments from the city and generous sponsorships from local businesses. The musicians have played in the parade out of the love that they have for it.

This year, Samba Savannah will perform in the parade. They are the nucleus of the parade and will bring 10 people with them. Their music will inspire people to dance down the streets. In addition to this, there will be a bagpipe player from Savannah Pipes & Drums at the front and a motley jug band towards the back. When the parade ends, Samba Savannah will play songs while everybody is gathered around. This will serve as a big ecstatic conclusion that everyone is excited about. 

McTyre said that community engagement is encouraged by hosting workshops, having a social media presence, and having enthusiasm as a krewe. Talking about the parade peaks someone’s interest and gets them excited to learn more and join. 

The krewe is an important piece of encouraging the community. Robinson said that they are 25 different people. Many hands are involved in doing different things for the group. Everyone comes together and does something cool for the community. This has served as a big piece for Robinson and his family. 

The plans and aspirations for the parade are splendid. Kuenlen said that he wants to see huge Mardi Gras-like floats as part of their parade. Perhaps local businesses could create their own floats and participate with everyone. 

“You know, we’re all volunteers. Everybody's got day jobs. But some of us have kids too. And we're kind of beat from that. But maybe an additional event in the fall? I mean, summer is tough, for obvious reasons here. But we've batted around the idea of something, maybe at Forsyth Park, maybe on River Street. But no details yet. It's all kinds of ideas we’re chopping up, but that's what we're all excited about. It's just like, this one takes a lot of work, to do in our free time, so to speak. So, while we all have interest and enthusiasm, it's just a matter of; do we have the bandwidth to actually put on a second event, even though we all really want to?” Buice said