First-ever Mermaids & Mateys festival is shelved until next year over public health concerns
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
After more than a year of not having festivals or any large public gatherings, many around the Lowcountry and beyond were looking forward to a chance to get together, hear some live music, and celebrate on Folly Beach. The first-ever Mermaids & Mateys festival was slated to be held Oct. 1-3. But then the COVID-19 Delta variant began ravaging many areas of the country, including South Carolina.
Last month, representatives for the City of Folly Beach sent an email to the Folly Association of Business (FAB), the festival’s organizers, letting the organization know that it had just had a dispiriting call with the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC). The city was informed that the outlook was looking dire as positive cases and hospitalizations were on the rise.
“They asked us if we had considered modifying or rescheduling the event,” says Kelly Travers, FAB’s special events coordinator. “They said they were going to share the DHEC information with council and they anticipated the City would begin to take a more aggressive stance on COVID-related issues, which could include rescinding city support of a mass gathering.”
With festival planning and marketing well underway, FAB board held an emergency meeting and made the tough decision, in the sake of public health, to go ahead and cancel the festival. Instead they decided to have a much smaller Fall “market hop” on private property that would still offer local businesses and vendors a chance to make some money once tourist season has ended. Luckily, for Travers and FAB, they already had a template in place to pull this off in a short period of time.
“During the first peak of COVID, we were able to successfully hold a few socially-distanced market hops on private properties across the island. Because these were successful in the past during the pandemic we decided to pivot the event back to this model instead of having all of the vendors along center street,” says Travers. “We want to honor our commitments to our musicians and to our performers so we are offering them the opportunity to come out on Saturday of the market hop and play music and offer photo opportunities for families.”
Local band Well Charged will play on the outdoor stage at The Washout starting at 11 a.m., with Ashes of Old Ways taking the stage at 2 p.m.
According to Travers, FAB also want to honor its fundraising commitment to the Alzheimer’s Association — South Carolina Chapter by offering them a vendor spot and the ability to hold a raffle/auction. “We still plan to turn Folly purple that day and work to raise money and awareness for this very special organization,” she says
The inaugural Mermaids & Mateys festival may be on hold for 2021, but Travers says look for it to be bigger and better in 2022. There is already a “save the date” in place for the festival for Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022
“The great news is that we were able to lay a lot of great groundwork for the event this year by identifying some great performers in our area and researching some unique concepts that will make that event really special in 2022.”
The Fall Market Hop will be held Saturday, Oct. 2, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at various shops, restaurants, and bars on the island.
