By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
Once upon a time this community had the annual Water Festival to look forward to, breaking up the long, hot Lowcountry summer. And there was the Lions Club Christmas parade in December.
But like so many things — my, my, have times changed.
The Water Festival, begun in 1956, has grown to a full two-week schedule requiring almost 500 volunteers and a team that plans for the event all year long.
We have the Beaufort Gullah Festival, begun in the 1980’s by the late Rosalie Pazant, her friends and family, including singer Marlena McGhee, as a tribute to “Decoration Day.” Held in May on Memorial Day weekend, the weekend event includes crafts, music and dance activities plus a heavy dose of Gullah culture history.
There’s the Taste of Beaufort in early May which is going to be expanded in 2026 to include an arts festival.
We have the weekend Shrimp Festival in October, timed for the local shrimp season, the relatively new Oyster Festival in January and the Beaufort International Film Festival which celebrated its 19th anniversary this year.
There’s the monthly “First Friday” events that began in 2017 as expansion of the early-December “Night on the Town” activities, a creative schedule that has been sponsored by the Downtown Merchants Association. Because of the success of those events, the merchants association, again, made up of volunteers, has asked the City’s Downtown Management to take over the events.
Just this past weekend, Beaufort hosted the second annual Chalk-It Up! festival, sponsored by the three-year-old, nonprofit Freedman Arts District, which is certainly doing its work to bring different cultural events … and people … into the area.
(And as a topping on the cultural cake, FAD, working with USC Beaufort, sponsored the one-night-only, sold-out performance of “Off the Wall Onto the Stage,” a ballet tribute to the art of native artist Jonathan Green.)
And next weekend, we have the Blue Angels coming to town for the Air Show. While not a “festival,” the two-day event hosted by MCAS Beaufort will be bringing hundreds of visitors to the area’s hotels and restaurants.
The town of Port Royal has its increasing share of crowd attractions with the two-day Soft Shell Crab Festival sponsored by the Old Village Association, coming up in April for its 20th year, and the Bands, Brews & BBQ event sponsored by the local Zonta Club in February. Not to mention the Lowcountry Foodtruck Festival this Saturday.
All this being said, these events, while bringing opportunities for the locals to volunteer, are bringing tons of visitors, which is why the city’s tourism budget, based on a percentage of the business revenues generated by hotels and restaurants, is supported by almost $11 million in annual revenues.
One of the key elements in all this festival business is location, location, location. For the City of Beaufort festivals, that means the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, the city’s “crown jewel,” which is currently under study for a major renovation effort once the cost of replacing the underpinning in the 46-year-old park is determined.
Port Royal’s events, on the other hand, are all on Paris Avenue where the biggest inconvenience is closing the town’s main street for several hours.
Beaufort Mayor Phil Cromer made an interesting comment about the situation at the last City Council workshop, where the council was asked to expand membership of the city’s Cultural Arts District board. Board members and city staff, who oversee the board, were asking for two more members to help support the group’s growing project workload.
Cromer noted on what’s been said for the past several years: “People used to look forward to the festivals but now some say maybe there’s too many of them.”
Interestingly enough, the St. Augustine, Fla., City council earlier this month voted to reduce the number of days for their internationally famous Nights of Lights Christmas holiday event.
Citing concerns about traffic safety and citizens’ complaints about quality of life issues, the council, by a 3-2 vote, agreed to shorten the festival by five days, from the Saturday before Thanksgiving to the last weekend in January. The festival schedule had been shrinking over the past two years, when council reduced the schedule to 78 days and then 62 days for 2024-25.
The vote, as expected, drew opposition from downtown business owners and support from residents. The vote also came as recent Florida tourism reports showed an overall 2.7 percent reduction in visitors, a greater drop than during Covid.
With a large percentage of Florida visitors coming from Canada, tourism leaders have also expressed some anxiety about the impact of national relations.
Guess they’re all watching carefully so the “golden goose” of tourism won’t get killed.
Good news: More downtown parking spaces
BEAUFORT – Speaking of downtown events besides tourism, it was good news to learn that week from the city that 303 Associates’ vacant lot on the corner of Port Republic and Scott streets has been open for public parking.
The development firm had plans for a multi-story hotel on the site and cleared the property several years ago in anticipation of construction. But because of ongoing litigation, the hotel, like a proposed parking lot on Charles Street planned by 303 are on hold even though both projects have received city planning approval.
The lot, per an easement agreement with the city, has 27 public parking spaces, which is no parking garage, but it’s something.
Apartment units replace hotel rooms on Boundary
BEAUFORT – And one more development in the local tourism world with a 303 Associates connection is the reduction of 120 motel rooms, to be replaced by apartments.
The former Quality Inn at Boundary Street, part of 303’s Town Center property, closed last month and is being renovated by the development company for long-term rental units.
The reduction of rooms leaves approximately 1,600 units in the area, according to tourism officials. But there’s still a plethora of short-term rentals to be had.
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.
