The 2010 Tybee Island Beach Bum Weekend is right around the corner, May 21-22. This year’s festivities include the much anticipated Beach Bum Parade, and new this year is the EVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

The Extreme Volleyball Tour (EVP) and the Greater Savannah Sports Council have partnered to host the EVP Savannah Open at Tybee Island. The Beach Bum Parade will take place May 21 at 6:30 p.m. with the EVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour/EVP Savannah Open at Tybee’s South Beach on May 22 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and is free to the public. The EVP Savannah Open at Tybee Island will be featured on the Beach Sports Network (BSN) in a 30-minute show format highlighting the competition and location. The show will air throughout the summer on regional sports networks across the country. For more information visit www.EVPTour.com or www.TybeeVisit.com.

What is the Beach Bum Parade? It is a water fight parade each year on Tybee Island that celebrates the beginning of the tourist season. The parade includes up to one hundred parade entries and their “water warriors” vs. the hundreds of locals and visitors lined up along Butler Avenue. The parade attracts beach bums of all ages.

If you aren’t the type that enjoys getting wet, it is a good idea on the night of the parade to stay indoors until the parade is over. Do not drive around Tybee that day with your windows rolled down or without locking your car doors. Also make sure to head out to the island early as parking is limited on the island. Wrap anything you do not want to get wet in a plastic bag.

Water balloons, buckets, and pressure washers are not to be used and are considered dangerous. No ice water. Restrict your targets to parade participants and on-lookers only.

Do not attempt to aim your hose or water gun at a police officer, unless you want to be heavily fined or possibly go to jail. Residents and visitors are asked to use common sense in choosing and soaking your targets. It is illegal to open car doors or homes to spray inside. Open windows may be fair game, but people close up for a reason. Please do not abuse them! By following these few guidelines everyone can have a great time.

It all started approximately 23 years ago when a softball team called the “Beach Bums” was challenged to a game by “Pier 1,” another Tybee softball team. It was the North End playing the South End. Lo and behold, it was the first game the Bums ever won (and it wasn’t even a league game). After the game, the Bums and Pier 1 drove up and down Butler Avenue with police escorts as the teams bombed each other with water balloons. Before they knew it there was a mini water fight in the making. Since then, it has become the annual Tybee Island Beach Bum Parade.

Because softball was taken so seriously back then, the Beach Bums softball team was created to lighten things up. You had to be at least 40 years of age and have a good sense of humor to be a Bum. At the games they would sometimes dress up as women, wear funny costumes, throw stink bombs on the field, and were known for indulging and playing at the same time.