By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
The newly installed fencing along the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park got a lot of attention last week. But locals should get used to it because it’s probably going to be there for quite a while.
City officials announced they were closing a 1,200-foot portion the waterfront promenade Sunday, June 30, after receiving an updated engineering report on the status of the 46-year-old seawall (technically a relieving platform). The closing included the popular day dock and initially, the playground, but a portion of that has been reopened.
They actually received the report on Friday, the eve of the 12th annual Beaufort DragonBoat races, an event that drew more than 700 participants, residents and guests to the waterfront park, raising more than $90,000 for the cancer research fundraiser.
But without advance notice, the officials, aka City Manager Scott Marshall and his team, opted to wait until Sunday to close the area. Yes, less than two weeks prior to the start of the Beaufort Water Festival.
The festival hierarchy, used to dealing with weather emergencies, swung into action and began planning alternatives. But the Festival, when the opening ceremony is held, Friday night, July 11, will be taking place in a reduced space.
Those watching the city’s comings and goings should not have been quite as surprised since a similar scenario played out almost one year ago, when the City Council heard from engineering consultants that the underwater shelf of the park was impaired and something needed to be done, sooner than later. While the grim (and expensive) news was described as a “shock” to those who heard the report at that time, others who’ve watched that seven-acre public man-made park evolve have known concrete pilings, even fortified with steel, would only last so long in our salt-water environment.
And though the park was NOT closed to the Water Festival crowd last year, the downtown business community kicked into gear assuring the general public they were still open, just as they have done this past week. (For a reference, tourism guru Rob Wells, head of the Beaufort-Port Royal Convention and Visitors Bureau, has said the Water Festival has an $7 million economic impact on the area’s pocketbook.)
To their credit, city officials have not been sitting on their hands and waiting for the park infrastructure to heal itself. Starting last fall, American Cruise Line boats which had been tying up to the seawall for years were redirected down the Beaufort River to Port Royal where passengers were off-loaded onto busses for tours of Beaufort’s historic district.
A contract with McSweeney Engineering, which was already doing routine maintenance surveillance, was issued in December 2024 for the first phase of a multi-phase process, collecting specific data on the underwater conditions. A five-member Waterfront Advisory Committee including Beaufort County Councilman David Bartholmew, City Councilman Josh Scallate and local contractor Mike Sutton, was appointed in the spring to work with the city and consultants to consider a repair plan.
At the advisory committee’s second meeting on June 23 – a meeting you can go back and watch on the city’s website if you’re so inclined – they heard a presentation from their consultants about the worsening infrastructure problems. Some ideas about alternative repairs were tossed around but the consultants stressed this Phase 1 was designed to “see what we’ve got.”
At that meeting, the consultants warned the next assessment, which the city received Friday before the Dragonboat races, probably wouldn’t bring good news. At this point, there have been no estimates on time or cost to repair the “jewel” of the city’s crown but everyone knows it’s not going to be quick or cheap.
So, get used to the fences and remember, shop local … support your local businesses.
Happy Birthday to Lowcountry Weekly
BEAUFORT – As a point of personal privilege (you can do that when you write your own column), kudos to Margaret and Jeff Evans who last week celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Island News’ sister publication, Lowcountry Weekly.
The Evanses didn’t birth the bi-weekly entertainment publication, but they’ve certainly shepherded it through its toddler and teenage years.
It’s not easy to keep a business going for 25 years. Many folks can’t maintain a marriage that long.
The Evanses can certainly testify to the ups and downs of a business enterprise, especially in the publishing arena where everyone walks around plugged into iPhones or ear buds.
We recently saw the closure of The Chocolate Tree, a major Beaufort retail institution, for 45 years. Businesses come and go, that’s life.
No one knows what the future holds but we can hope for the best and spit on the rest.
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. Her goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
