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Home My Public Portal AboutCOTI_PR20140627_Jul3Celebration.docPRESS RELEASE: Contact: Tybee Island City Hall For immediate release (912) 786-4573 Tybee Island’s July 3rd Fireworks Tybee Island, Ga. – (June 27, 2014) Tybee’s annual Independence Day Celebration’s spectacular fireworks will again take place the evening of July 3rd, starting at about 9:30 PM. 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. Many thousands of vehicles come to Tybee Island to take part in the festivities for July 4th, and since the amount of space on any island is limited, traffic and parking can be difficult. Due to the growing popularity of this event, public safety personnel are taking special steps this year to make sure emergency access remains available before, during, and after the event. One lane of traffic will be closed from Jones Avenue to Tybrisa, to make an emergency lane for police, fire and medical vehicles, which will leave 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 will help make sure that emergency services are able to get where they are needed; unfortunately, this action will further restrict traffic and test drivers’ patience! Come early to avoid some of these frustrations! Personnel with barricades will be standing by on the island’s south end to redirect traffic as the parking lots fill up. To ease the pain of finding a parking space, the City has published a smart app for Android phones, called “Tybee Updates” on Google Play, which will give an indication of which areas still have parking, or you can visit the City’s web site at http://www.cityoftybee .org and click the big “P” or “Parking and Beach Conditions” link near the top of the page. 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. Parking in unmarked spaces is not allowed! Because the event is hosted at the Pier, parking there tends to fill first, and early! You can park instead in the metered parking areas along Butler Avenue or park at the north beach near the Tybee Lighthouse and consider walking or calling one of the several shuttle services now serving Tybee. (See box.) To make use of parking in downtown Savannah, the Coastal Regional Commission’s Tybee Shuttle will have additional runs to allow people to come to Tybee without bringing their own vehicle, and considering cost of parking and traffic hassles, riding a taxi or shuttle from off-island is a reasonable, safe, and convenient method of travel. On Wednesday, July 3 and Thursday, July 4 the Savannah – Tybee Beach Shuttle will offer additional shuttle service for area firework celebrations. Operated by the Coastal Regional Coaches, the Savannah – Tybee Beach Shuttle offers public transportation from the Savannah Visitors Center (applicable fees apply for parking at the Center) to two locations on Tybee Island. The first stop on Tybee is Downtown at the Tybrisa / Strand Roundabout. The second stop is on Meddin Drive across from the Tybee Lighthouse near the Tybee Lite Shrine Club and the North Beach area. The regular Beach Shuttle schedule of departing from the Savannah Visitors Center at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, and 5pm will be in effect July 3 and July 4. Additional busses will operate to accommodate riders at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 5pm. Additional departure times from the Savannah Visitors Center will be at 6pm and 8:30pm. After 6:00pm on July 3 the pickup and drop-off locations will be at the Tybee Lighthouse location and in front of Ocean Plaza Resort on Butler Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets in the designated bus parking area. Shuttle service returning to the Savannah Visitors Center on July 3 will be at 10:30pm. On July 4, for the fireworks in Savannah, the pickup and drop off locations will be at the regular locations. Passengers will have the opportunity to purchase a roundtrip wristband ($6 per passenger) at the shuttle’s Savannah Visitor Center location for efficiency. Riders wishing to ride one-way will need to pay as they climb aboard the shuttle ($3 per passenger) and will not be issued a wristbands. One bus will be designated to accept debit/credit cards with an additional convenience charge. Refunds will not be issued for those passengers with wristbands not taking the return shuttle back to Savannah. Due to anticipated heavy traffic volume on and off of Tybee Island, it is estimated that a one-way shuttle trip could take up to 1½ hours each way. The shuttles will be equipped with push to talk radios for communication should there be an emergency during transport. Although last year’s event passed without serious incidents, homes have been destroyed in past years by fireworks set off on the beach. The City of Tybee Island reminds residents and visitors that setting off personal fireworks is dangerous and in violation of state law. It is extremely important that people abide by state law and abstain from the use of fireworks. We encourage everyone to enjoy our public fireworks display, put on by pyrotechnic professionals, safely on July 3rd. Frequently declared one of the top beach and vacation destinations in the country, Tybee Island welcomes our visitors from far and wide. However, we ask that our guests please be considerate and dispose of waste and discards 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 $100 fine. Again for safety reasons, glass containers are forbidden on the beach at all times. DPW gets help the morning after the event from hundreds of Tybee Beautification Association volunteers, spending up to six hours and picking up more than 30 tons of trash off the beach! Early volunteers for the TBA event can leave with a TBA t-shirt. Volunteers should meet at the Pavilion at 6:30AM on July 4th! State law requires vehicles to stop for pedestrians in any marked crosswalk and forbids passing cars that are stopped at any such crosswalk. 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 for this event to make sure traffic and safety needs are well met. Besides monitoring the roads and beaches, they will also post Tweets to inform every one of events and conditions from their Twitter account @Tybee_PD at http://www.twitter.com/. As of this writing, eleven endangered loggerhead sea turtle nests have been found 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 protect 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! Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July Holiday, wherever you choose to celebrate! Useful Tybee Island links can be found on-line at http://www.cityoftybee.org/Links.aspx Useful Telephone Numbers Tybee Island Police Dispatch 912-786-5600 Report emergencies only 911 Tybee Visitors Center 912-786-5444 Overnight Stay Information http://tybeevisit.com/where-to-stay Island Transportation Breezy Rider 912-665-9988 Crab Cab 912-786-2722 Island Express Shuttle 912-695-0160 Island Hoppers 912-656-0805 Islands Taxi (Wilmington Island) 912-786-8688 MC Taxi 912-786-9191 Savannah-Chatham Shuttle (SAV - Tybee) 866-543-6744, or 912-388-3380 Tybee Turtle Taxi 361-887-8537 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/. For more information about the Tybee Beautification Association, visit http://www.tybeebeautification.org/. # # #