LAKE CITY, SC (WBTW) – The Greater Lake City Chamber of Commerce kicked off its annual South Carolina Tobacco Festival Thursday.
The Tobacco Festival began more than 60 years ago. This year the city is celebrating the festival’s 61st anniversary.
“Last year we had 20,000 across the four days. We expect a 10-20% increase,” Lake City Chamber of Commerce President, Greg Moore said.
“We work all year long to prepare for this, but about the month before it’s really a lot of work but all worth it,” said Lake City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ava Baker said.
While many of the favorite festival activities will remain the same, there will be some changes that organizers expect will bring more people to the event.
“We have something to offer everyone, so if there is a particular event that might not involve one group of people, there’s always something else that will attract,” explained Baker.
The festival is expanding its venues this year from a portable stage on the Village Green to carnival rides for kids and adults.
These changes are part of the board’s efforts to address any concerns and improve the festival from the previous year.
“One thing that we actively do at the conclusion of each event is we go out and look for suggestions or for lack of a better term of complaints. That’s the only way that we can get better is to hear what we have done wrong,” mentioned Moore.
The event no longer encourages smoking tobacco. But city officials say the festival still celebrate the industry that put Lake City on the map.
“It’s a living part of this community. It has been evolving for 61 years,” said Moore.
“I would come with my dad and my granddad to the tobacco markets because they were both tobacco farmers, and this was an event that everybody looked forward to,” Baker added.
The South Carolina Tobacco Festival will run from Thursday September 17th through September 20th.
http://www.lakecitysc.org/sc-tobacco-festival
