Folly Gras brought big fun, big headaches
By Lorne Chambers | Editor
The weather could not have been more perfect for a street festival in late winter. The temperature hovered around 80 degrees and the sun was shining for the 10th annual Folly Gras, which was held Saturday, Feb. 25. Of course, the perfect weather can sometimes create the perfect storm.
Thousands of revelers poured on to the island to enjoy the first really nice Saturday of 2017 and to be a part of what Coastal Living magazine dubbed one of the “Top 10 Mardi Gras Celebrations on the Coast.”
Number one, of course, being New Orleans where their mantra is “Laissez les bon temps rouler,” which translates into “Let the good times roll.” But Folly Beach is hardly the Big Easy, and while Folly Gras brought plenty of good times, it also rolled in a massive headache for Folly Beach’s the Public Safety Department and many residents who complained about the large number of attendees, trash, and traffic.
The crowds came early and often and the streets were packed by the time the parade began, officially kicking off the festivities. This year’s parade was as colorful and fun as ever, with the pirates of Loggerhead’s Beach Grill winning Best Float, The Ugly Mermaids winning Best Group, and Best Costume going to Michael Norton. Best Cajun or Creole cuisine went to Blu for its Creole Mac and Cheese, Rita’s Seaside Grill came in second place, and Jack of Cups’ Creole Corn Chowder took third.
In the end it was a record day for many of the businesses on Folly and thousands of dollars were raised for local charities. But for many, the positives still did not outweigh the negatives. Many took to social media following the event, saying that this year’s festivities got out of hand with too many people drinking too much, not enough bathrooms, and no way to keep the large crowd in check.
Despite the backlash from some residents, festival organizer Ben Bounds of Follywood Productions, felt that things went relatively smoothly, considering the large crowd. “Obviously, an 80-degree day in February with a parade, live music, kids activities, 50 art and food vendors, and more, in everyone’s favorite beach town, is going to lead to a large crowd.”
It was possibly the largest crowd the island had ever seen for a festival. Folly Beach Public Safety Chief Andrew Gilreath says 10,869 cars crossed the bridge that day. He described the festival as “hands down” the worst of Folly’s popular and sometimes controversial street festivals, which continue to be a point of ongoing debate on local social media sites.
In 2015, a city-sponsored survey suggested that 83.3 percent of residents supported the street festivals. But following Folly Gras this year, Mayor Tim Goodwin announced that City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, March 8 to discuss the event further. City Councilmember and local realtor Laurie Hull took to the Facebook page Follitics and asked residents: “Is Folly Gras a good festival? Or not so good?” As usual, the 100 or so responses online were mixed.
Lewis Dodson, president of Folly Association of Business (FAB), the group that took over organizing the festival from the City of Folly Beach two years ago, says that Folly Gras is always the busiest day of the year for his business and that this year’s was the busiest he’s ever had and it was also the biggest day Planet Follywood, Loggerhead’s, Jack Of Cups, Rita’s, and others have ever had.
Dodson estimated that the economic impact is probably somewhere around $1 million for the island, with the City directly getting 3 percent of that in tax revenue. He contends that the festivals, particularly Folly Gras, are essential to help sustain local businesses during the chilly winter months.
But there was nothing chilly about the warm temperatures during this year’s Folly Gras, which helped fuel 21 arrests, 29 citations, two auto accidents, and six medical calls. This was a steep increase from last year when there were no arrests, only three citations, zero accidents, and four medical calls. In fact, according to Gilreath, there were more citations and more arrests this year than the previous three years combined.
“This year, due to the perfect storm of weather, etc., it was an extremely difficult event,” said Gilreath. “We could have arrested a hundred people and not made a dent, and that was just within the confines of Center Street. That doesn’t include the rest of the island.” It also did not include more than 150 parking citations that were issued and the litter and over-flowing trash bins that many people noted on popular Folly-centric Facebook pages, such as Follitics and I Love Folly Beach.
“We do not have the resources to be able to adequately control an event that seems to lead to the behavior with the size that it has become,” said Gilreath, who requested assistance from a number of outside agencies for the event. And while many did provide assistance, he says it was not nearly enough.
“It was the perfect storm,” agreed Dodson. “A gorgeous, 85 degree day in February is always going to cause crowds and traffic backup on the beach, but when that is combined with a big, popular event it becomes overwhelming.”
Knowing that the weather was forecasted to be sunny and warm, the event’s planners started preparing for a larger than usual crowd. “On Wednesday of last week, we increased event staff and reached out to the police chief to talk through security issues,” explained Dodson. “We contacted the Charleston County Police to hire more off-duty officers, but we could not get a reply.”
This did not surprise Gilreath. “We need to understand, outside agencies are not required to help, and thus why would they want to expose their staff and agency to the liability and mess that Folly Beach created?” he said. “It is unfortunate that folks feel the need to come to Folly Beach and treat it with such disrespect, it is absolutely shameful.”
According to Dodson, there are plans to work closely with the City to map out a plan to control negative instances for festivals moving forward. He said the committee will also be working to institute some changes to Folly Gras in the future.
“We love our citizens, we love our locals, we are all locals ourselves. Which is why we are listening to all feedback and are going to work closely with the city of Folly and police to come to a great compromise and keep Folly Beach the fun, funky place it has always been,” said Dodson.
