I come bearing good news. Google has officially approved the SAV Guide app. Thank you to everyone for testing the Android app—we met all of Google’s requirements and they gave the app the thumbs up.

Introducing Sort by Distance

Have you ever wondered what is happening nearby? Say you’re in Pooler, Tybee Island or Richmond Hill and you’re curious what is happening in your town. Now you can focus in on what is happening and what businesses are on the Guide by specific location.

Distances range from 10–100miles. One more way the Guide is making it that much easier to find what you’re looking for.

Both updates of the apps have this feature.

Thank you everyone for all of your help in making SAV Guide one amazing tool to use.

Thanks,
Haydn

Happy Friday everyone. I figured we should address my biggest elephant in the room. The Android app is on its way. Thank you for everyone volunteering to test the app. I’m happy to say that I cleared the 14 day waiting testing period and officially submitted the app yesterday.

And now we wait. Google officially says it can take 7 days or less—or more for an app to be approved or be “rejected”. Apparently they adopted the cable company’s window of opportunity. But alas we are at stage two and I’m hoping everything will proceed as normal.

We’re nearing 100 businesses / organizations on SAV Guide

We are slowly nearing the 100 mark for organizations and companies that have signed up for SAV Guide and I’m blown away. Thank you to everyone who registered—regardless if it was yesterday or on day one.

You Now Can Be Notified of Upcoming Events

Have you ever wondered what is happening in town and want to be notified when a new event is setup by your favorite organization or business? Now you can.

Businesses & organizations that have opted in for notifications can send you a message when they publish a new event. From there, you can buy a ticket, set additional reminders & save the event to your phone’s calendar.

All you have to do is head to savguide.com or onto the app. After that, search for the business in the directory & click the + icon to follow them. That's it. Notifications are automatically generated through the business / organization.

Coming Soon: Weekly Events

Soon you’ll be able to see weekly events on the Guide. A few businesses have asked for this feature and it’s in production. Like the happy hour section, you’ll see a weekly list of ongoing events in the area. Stay tuned.

Have an awesome Friday,
Haydn

Subscribe now

The Android app for SAV Guide is on its way. But I need your help in the final push to make it live. If you have an Android phone (and I haven’t already reached out to you), I’m looking for volunteers to try the yet-to-be-released app.

The good news is it’s stable and it’s working great. The bad news is Google wants more info on the app before it goes live.

How to be a Beta Tester

If you have an Android phone and want to try the app, email me at haydn@nautilusdesigns.com and let me know what email you use for your Google Play Store account.

After that I’ll add your email to the approved list and send you an email to download the app. There’s a short survey to go along with the app to ensure all of the tools are working.

Follow businesses and non-profits, receive reminders and save events; all from your phone. The app is one powerful tool to keep updated with what is happening in and around Savannah.

Thank you everyone!

Haydn

P.S. iPhone users, welcome to download the app here. Both apps have the exact same functionality.

Some big news happened this week. Apple officially approved the SAV Guide App!

Download SAV Guide on iPhone

It’s been a multi-month journey of hiccups but I can finally announce that you can now have SAV Guide on your phone. And to all the Android users, you’re next. Apple just has a more rigid system for approving apps, so it’s generally best to start with Apple and then move on to Android. Stay tuned for part 2.

Receive Personalized Notifications

With the SAV Guide app, you can now receive notifications of upcoming events. Simply find the event you want a reminder on and the app does the rest. Find the event you would like notifications for, and click on the bell. From there, you choose how many times the app should notify you. You’re in control.

Your saved events; right up front

Have you ever searched for an event just to find the address? Or wondered again what time it started? With your saved events, they are easily listed on the home page of the app. Pull the app up and your personalized list of events appear right away. Clicking on the event will also allow you to get directions easily from your phone.

Easily purchase tickets right inside the app

The app also makes it easy to buy tickets. Each event that has a tickets button right up front. After clicking the button, a web page appears of that ticketing page, allowing you to easily buy tickets right through the app. Then afterwards, you can set a reminder and save the event so you won’t forget.

If you want a further reminder, click the “Save to Calendar” to add the event to your phone’s calendar.

Follow a Business / Non-profit for future events

If you love what a business / non-profit is doing and you want to know when upcoming events are released, you can now start following that business. And coming soon, that business can send you a notification every time they publish an event; keeping you up to date, effortlessly.

Clicking on the plus sign next to any business or non-profit allows you to follow them, keeping you updated.

Find Local Art

Now you can easily scroll through local artists’ work with the App. In the directory, look for the artists column and there you can see all the artwork. If you see something you like, contact them through the app or follow them on social media, as well as following them to hear about upcoming art openings.

I hope that you’ll use SAV Guide as much as I already have; from finding new events, to easily getting directions, buying tickets and staying updated and informed easily.

For iPhone users, download the app with this link. Android users, I promise it’s coming soon.

Also a huge thank you for every business and non-profit who has taken the time to add their events to SAV Guide. And to all of the artists, musicians and podcasters who have added their gifts to the site. I’m beyond grateful.

Thank you,
Haydn

Vote for SAV Guide

We’d love to be the little website that could, this year, by winning the Connect Savannah’s best website award. We’ve got so much more coming up and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Thank you!
Haydn

In October of 2025, I decided to launch this little website. It was an effort to find live music and other events that I might have missed in Savannah. Over the weeks, I began to create more categories, as more individuals expressed interest. Week by week the list began to grow.

From museums to professional organizations, from artists & musicians to the local podcasts, SAV Guide has grown. I’m excited and beyond thankful to everyone who has said, “Yes! I’m in,” and entered in their information and their relevant events & happy hours. And to the businesses who have continued to add events, thank you.

If this is how much the guide has grown in the past two months, I can’t wait to see what the Guide will look like in two years.

Here’s to everyone who is helping to make SAV Guide a valuable tool for locals and tourists alike.

Thank you,
Haydn
Founder, SAV Guide

It was only a matter of time. In building any website that has or takes in information, it’s a constant battle between making it easy for the people who want to submit information and the spammers who want to gum up the works.

I thought I had a good system in place, with the email confirmation link to prevent anyone from just entering information. But it’s always great until you put it out there and you find the shortcomings. This time it was in the spammers themselves.

The system does work as intended. The email confirmation confirms or doesn’t confirm. But the database still records their information. While it’s not a big hindrance, it’s a matter of not wanting the information in the first place. Alas the CAPTCHA we all know and loathe has been implemented.

I’m with you. We all can’t stand these CAPTCHAs, making every effort to click the right boxes. But it’s my quest to ensure that only the right people, not the bots, have access to SAV Guide.

A few more SAV Guide Updates

I’ve expanded the list of categories to include Vacation Rental companies. I’d love to slowly start moving the needle whereby tourists book directly with the rental companies, providing a direct, and often times, less expensive rental price, having the ability to go around the large companies that take excessive fees.

In addition, the directory has grown to include home / local services; please welcome Hidden Squares Concierge to SAV Guide.

Each week the Guide is has to provide more and more local services, exciting events to Savannah and so much more. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, posted and promoted SAV Guide. Y’all rock.

Thank you,
Haydn
Founder, SAV Guide

Also a huge thank you to the Midway Museum for posting their upcoming events, including their Annual Midway Museum Christmas Tea event. I’m constantly using the guide myself to find what is happening in, and around Savannah. If you haven’t made it out to the Midway Museum, it’s worth the drive.

Ok. Onto the new parts of the website.

A Musicians’ Directory

Starting this week, we have officially opened up the site to include musicians on SAV Guide. A searchable directory is now available with Austin Williams officially becoming our first musician.

Artists & Art Galleries

Along with musicians, SAV Guide officially has started to list both artists & art galleries.

Directions, website links and social media profiles are available to easily follow and support local artists and their studios.

Linking Music & Art to Events

Art & Music are intertwined into events. Be it an art opening or live music, it’s crucial that you know who is performing. With SAV Guide, any musician or artist that is on the platform can easily be tagged to an event, so you’ll know easily when they are performing or showcasing their work.

All a business or non-profit has to do is start typing in their name with their associated event and that’s it.

It’s that easy. After the event is published, a list of upcoming events also appear on their profile as well.

Welcome All Artists & Musicians

I’m excited to see SAV Guide full of Savannah’s (and surrounding areas) artists, musicians and art galleries. If you know of a business or artist, please let them know about SAV Guide. Registration for the arts is always 100% free. Let’s make SAV Guide be that much more vibrant.

Cheers,
Haydn

Are you an Apple Maps fan or a Google Maps loyalist? I get it, there’s still a battle over which maps platform is at the tops. I initially only had a link to Google Maps and someone asked if there could also be an Apple Maps link.

In lieu of having to choose only one, I figured there should be both.

The copy address might be made in part for myself. I admit that I somehow managed to mess my Google Maps app up and while it does work, my phone doesn’t automatically swap over to the app. There could be others out there where while it should work, it still hiccups.

Often times I find myself having to simply copy an address. And while that seems easy enough, selecting the right text can be a struggle. And if it is before coffee, all bets are off.

The third option might be used more by me, as I can simply tap the address, copy it to my clipboard and paste it into Google Maps (sorry Apple Maps).

It’s my goal to make SAV Guide the easiest guide to (re) Discover Savannah—whether that be through Apple or Google Maps.

I’ve spent a good portion of the last few weeks, thinking how someone would use the events page. While certain websites want you to stay on their site, I ultimately want you to go somewhere. That’s the ultimately goal for that page. But as the pages grows, how will you easily find events you “liked”? Introducing the favorites heart.

If there’s an event that you want to remember or easily find, give it a heart. All events have the icon on that page. When you do click on the heart, that event is stored in your profile, making it that much easier to find and recall.

After an event ends, you’ll be able to find it in the past events section, if you want to grab any details about it (also professional accounts have the directory; personal account, don’t worry about that tab).

But I wanted to make it even more personal

The profile tab is fantastic. But what if I could figure out a way to bring the events to the forefront. There’s only one page more prominent and that’s the home page.

Starting today, when you are logged into SAV Guide and have a few favorite events, they will now appear on the home page of the guide. As the events end, the list will shift, showing you the most upcoming event, first.

On the desktop & tablet, there are helpful scroll buttons and on the mobile framework, you can easily swipe through.

All the events are clickable, taking you back to the specific event page to read more about it, buy a ticket, or get directions (if you’re like me, you’re constantly looking for directions).

Registration & Favorites are Open

If you already have an account on SAV Guide, the favorites heart is all setup to go. If you’re new, simply register and start favoriting (I gotta think of a better word, but alas) events you’d like saved to your profile.

I was sitting in a meeting at the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce a few days ago when a member of Dee Daniels Media mentioned that they produce over a dozen podcasts, and that a majority of them are Savannah-focused. It got me thinking.

SAV Guide’s focus is to help locals & travelers to the hostess city (re)Discover Savannah. If SAV Guide makes it that much easier for information surrounding Savannah to be found, then the site did its job. I admit that if I didn’t have a business connection with the director of the Savannah Irish Podcast, I wouldn’t have heard about the podcast (no pun intended, I promise).

I thought, 1) who else hasn’t heard about the Savannah Irish Podcast and 2) there’s got to be more out there that I haven’t discovered yet.

Welcome Local Listens, a new part of the website that showcases the six most recent podcasts that have been added to SAV Guide. In addition, you can discover all the locally made Savannah Podcasts (and surrounding areas; haven’t forgot about you Tybee) through the directory.

San Francisco wasn’t the first city to get a WNBA team. In fact they were late to the game. In fact it took nearly 30 years for it to happen. But it happened and the city leaned in.

In 2025, in the first year the San Francisco Valkyries managed to smash records, selling out every single home game.

https://valkyries.wnba.com/news/valkyries-set-all-time-wnba-attendance-record-20250906

They even managed to unofficially rename the arena, dubbing it Ballhalla, to which the fans and the team have aggressively leaned on.

This wasn’t by happenstance. This was due to the city fully embracing a new team. The only other sport in San Francisco’s metropolitan area is baseball, with the San Francisco 49ers playing some 60 miles south of the actual city. The arena was ready for a new league, and the city was apparently ready as well.

Change and new things are either embraced or shunned. When the Bananas adopted Banana ball, it was viewed as a chastising of the old ways of baseball. But watching baseball now in lieu of the new rules (yes, bunting still sucks), you can see how the new era needed the change.

In the court (no pun intended) of public opinion, the crowds have said they like the new rules, so much to the tune of selling out ballparks and football stadiums coast to coast.

Let’s lean in and embrace our new team, the same way we adorn our Ghost Pirate and Bananas gear. We can create our own Ballhalla.