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Home My Public Portal AboutCOTI_PR20160610_Jul4Celebration.docxPRESS RELEASE: Contact: Tybee Island City Hall For immediate release (912) 786-4573 Tybee Island Fireworks to Take Place July 4th Tybee Island, Ga. – (June 10 2016) Tybee’s annual Independence Day Celebration fireworks will take place the evening of Monday, July 4th, starting at about 9:15 PM. While the last few years have seen the celebration take place on July 3rd, the proximity of the weekend to this Monday holiday have worried city and public safety officials that the added traffic might lead to unacceptable risks if the event were staged on Sunday evening. The fireworks are set off from the Parker Pier on Tybee’s south beach and are visible from any of the island’s eastern beaches, as well as from many homes and cottages elsewhere on the island. If you head out earlier in the day, be sure to set up your place on the sand well away from the water’s edge. High tide reaching 8.5’ will occur at 8:07 PM, so to avoid having to move to a less desirable location just before the fireworks begin, make sure to park your belongings above the high water mark and wrack on the beach. Watching half your belongings floating away while you move will detract from your fun! Many thousands of vehicles come to Tybee Island to take part in the festivities for Independence Day, and since the amount of parking space on the island is limited, traffic and parking can be difficult. Due to the growing popularity of this event, public safety personnel take special steps each year to keep emergency access available for this event. Traffic controls, along Highway 80/Butler Avenue from Jones Avenue to Tybrisa, will make an emergency lane for police, fire and medical vehicles, leaving one lane in each direction for normal traffic. Space is reserved in Memorial Park for Life Star emergency transport if required. The area connecting the two parking lots on the south end will be closed off for staging of emergency vehicles. These closures make sure that emergency services are able to reach needed areas; unfortunately, this action further restricts traffic and tests drivers’ patience. Come early to avoid some of these frustrations. Personnel with barricades will be stationed at the island’s south end to redirect traffic as parking lots fill up. To ease the pain of finding parking, the City’s new web site, at www.cityoftybee.org , has a mobile friendly format, and if you click the “Know Your Beach” link mid-page, you’ll find both beach conditions and current parking vacancy estimates for the island Remember, you must pay for parking every day on Tybee between 8am and 8pm. Vehicles can be towed and ticketed when presenting a safety violation, such as blocking driveways, fire hydrants, intersections, or traffic flow. Safety-related parking issues are enough of a problem that towing vehicles are stationed on the island during Independence Day for the express purpose of removing vehicles found in violation. Park only in designated spaces; parking in unmarked spaces is not allowed. Parking nearest the Pier tends to fill first, and early. You can park instead in the metered areas along Butler Avenue or at the north beach near the Tybee Lighthouse and consider walking or calling one of the several shuttle services serving Tybee. (See box.) The Coastal Regional Coaches’ Tybee Shuttle has changed to a Friday through Sunday schedule, so there will be no shuttle service for the July 4th holiday on Monday. In previous years, personal fireworks set off on the beach have resulted in a family home that was destroyed, and fires have caused damage to the dune grasses that protect Tybee from potential storm surge, so the City requests that you not use fireworks on the beaches. Debris from unauthorized fireworks can be considered beach litter, which could result in a fine up to $1000. We encourage everyone instead to enjoy our public fireworks display safely as put on by pyrotechnic professionals. Frequently declared one of the top beach and vacation destinations in the country, Tybee Island welcomes visitors from far and wide. We ask that our guests please be considerate and dispose of waste responsibly - trash left on the sands hurts our wildlife, damages the environment, and can hurt your wallet as well. Uncontained trash can result in a whopping fine. Again for safety reasons, glass containers are forbidden on the beach at all times. Our Department of Public Works crews spend up to six hours picking up more than 30 tons of trash off the beach the morning after the fireworks event. State law requires vehicles to stop for pedestrians in any marked crosswalk and forbids passing cars that are stopped at any such crosswalk. Even though Tybee has recently added flashing walk lights at crosswalks on Highway 80, it does not matter whether the lights are flashing; drivers must stop for pedestrians. There will be many people of all ages walking to and from the beaches for this event, so please drive cautiously and give pedestrians the right of way as required. The Tybee Island Police Department will have additional officers on duty to make sure traffic and safety needs are well met. There will be at least one intoxication check point in operation on the island. Besides monitoring the roads and beaches, they will also post Tweets to inform every one of conditions from their Twitter account, @Tybee_PD. Endangered loggerhead sea turtle nests have been found this year on Tybee’s beaches. While on the beach, please do not disturb any marked nests. They hold fragile and precious cargo, and your extra care would be appreciated by the many volunteers who put in thousands of hours of personal time to find and preserve them. These nests are protected by Federal law, and significant fines can be levied for any disruptions to turtles or their eggs. Please exercise patience, drive safely and courteously, and leave plenty of time both to arrive on the Island and to return home. Departures off the Island after the fireworks can take several hours, so visitors are encouraged to think about staying at one of the hotels or overnight rentals on the Island, staying the night with friends, or, at the very least, car-pooling with a designated driver who gets plenty of rest to stay alert on the roads for the drive home. Please, don’t drink and drive! Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July Holiday, wherever you choose to celebrate! About Tybee Island, GA.: The City of Tybee Island, Georgia is on the outermost barrier island off the Savannah area coast. With a wild bird sanctuary, over three miles of ocean beaches, and salt marshes on the back river, outdoor recreation activities abound for visitors to the island. As a key defense point to the important Savannah port, Tybee’s Fort Screven, Tybee Post Theater, Fort Pulaski, and the Tybee Island and Cockspur Lighthouses combine with the unique architectures of the island’s raised cottages to form a rich backdrop for history buffs. Attracting a strong artistic community, there are several local supporting art galleries. Keeping the island interesting year round are several arts festivals, the Annual Pirate Fest, the Beach Bum Parade, St Patrick’s Day celebrations, the Hot Rod Run, the Beach Bash, and the Christmas Parade, as well as fireworks displays on Independence and New Year’s Days off the Walter W. Parker Pier and Pavilion. The Marine Science Center cooperates with Georgia’s DNR to protect threatened sea turtle species by searching for nests, protecting their eggs, and making sure hatchlings make it to sea. For visitor information, stop by http://www.tybeevisit.com/, and to find more about the City of Tybee Island, visit our web site at http://www.cityoftybee. org/. # # #