Tybee Island City Council voted on Thursday to go forward with the island’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade set for Saturday.

The 3-2 vote split the council.

Monty Parks made the motion to postpone the parade, with a second from Nancy Devetter.

That motion was denied, with John Branigin, Michael Hosti and Barry Brown voicing their support of the motion.

"I’m not asking to cancel anything," Parks said. "I’m asking that we coordinate with our partners in Savannah as we have done for decades in the past."

The decision is in opposition to a local trend of canceling St. Patrick’s Day festivities in the area and around the country. The city of Savannah decided to postpone their parade at a meeting on Wednesday. Hilton Head Island’s parade was postponed Thursday afternoon.

Residents were allowed to voice their opinion, some more emphatically than others.

"Who wants to die?" Tybee resident Diana Scarwid asked the crowd of about 50 attending the city council meeting Thursday night.

"I don’t see any hands going up," Scarwid said as she looked out over the crowd.

"I beseech you, I beg you to postpone this parade," Scarwid said. "It could have devastating consequences to our population and wipe us out. Complacency is the scourge of our world."

"OK Diana, thank you," Tybee Mayor Shirley Sessions said.

The parade is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday along Butler Avenue.

Tybee officials initially declared their intention to go forward with the event Wednesday night.

Council member Jay Burke recused himself from the discussion and the vote. Burke is the organizer of the Tybee parade as well as the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee’s chief adjutant.

A discussion about the Tybee event was added to the island’s city council agenda for Thursday’s meeting. Sessions requested an Irish Heritage Parade discussion be added to the council meeting agenda after reviewing the city charter and consulting with the city attorney.

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Tybee Island City Council votes to keep the Tybee Island Heritage parade in the face of the coronavirus on Thursday. [Will Peebles/Savannahnow.com]