Hilton Head St. Patrick’s Day Parade, WingFest canceled amid coronavirus fears
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Hilton Head Island canceled Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade Thursday afternoon amid increasing fears of a coronavirus outbreak — just hours after parade organizers had announced it would still be on.
Also on Thursday, town manager Steve Riley said Saturday’s 25th annual Hilton Head WingFest has been canceled.
Town officials were concerned that the cancellation of Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day events would result in an influx of visitors to Hilton Head’s events.
“We can’t provide extra support if we have an incident,” Riley said. “If we have an incident and we have to then isolate employees we start losing our ability to provide day to day services to our residents.”
It is not yet known if the Hilton Head parade, previously planned for Sunday, will be rescheduled.
Organizer Alan Perry said the decision came after meeting with town and county officials.
The city of Savannah announced Wednesday evening it would postpone its weekend St. Patrick’s Day festival and its March 17 parade — the second-largest in the country.
The city’s decision followed cancellations of other big St. Patrick’s Day fetes around the world: Chicago, New York City, Boston, New Orleans and even Dublin.
Savannah has not announced a new date for the events.
The third annual Beaufort St. Patrick’s Day festival is still planned for Saturday at Beaufort Town Center.
There are 10 cases of presumed and confirmed coronavirus in South Carolina as of Thursday afternoon.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 9:45 AM.
