SUMMERVILLE — It’s time for the Flowertown in the Pines to show off its sweet tea heritage.
The 14th annual Sweet Tea Festival taking place Sept. 20 is one of several events that attracts thousands of locals and visitors alike to downtown Summerville.
What once drew 3,000 attendees in its first year, now brings in upwards of 18,000, according to Steven Doniger, executive director for Summerville DREAM, which organizes the event. He said the gathering has a sizable impact on local businesses in and around the downtown area.
“It’s great to draw a large crowd, but it’s the hearing the constant ding of the little chime bell when people go in and out of stores all day that matters,” Doniger said. “Several of our small businesses do so well that they can make a month’s rent in five hours just from foot traffic. That, to me, is one of the reasons this festival is so worthwhile to continue.”
Cassie Ford is the director of tourism for VisitSummerville.com, the town’s website for the Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce. She said events like The Sweet Tea and the springtime Flowertown festivals provide an economic boost for the town.
“People don’t just walk around the festival and leave. They eat in our restaurants, shop in our boutiques and stay at our hotels,” Ford said.
The festival puts Summerville on display for residents and visitors, but can also pique the interest of potential newcomers, Ford added. The town’s population now exceeds 50,000, according to U.S. Census data. It may not have made the Top 10 list of fastest-growing towns in South Carolina this year but it’s not far behind.
After last year’s Sweet Tea Festival, 5,500 people went to the visitor’s center to get more information on things to do, Ford said. More than 7,600 asked for visitor guides and 450 relocation packets were requested and mailed out.
“A lot of times, someone’s decision to move here stems from their experience on a previous visit,” she said.
It’s been nearly 10 years since the town set the Guinness World Records for the largest container of Sweet Tea. Known as “Mason,” the 15-foot jar beside town hall held 2,524 gallons of the beverage in 2016.
“Being known as the birthplace of sweet tea has added another element to our sense of pride of place and gives us a tangible way to celebrate history,” Ford said.
The ties between the beverage and the Summerville go back to the late 1700s when botanist Andre Michaux planted tea at Middleton Place, according to VisitSummerville. The federal government then opened a 200-acre experimental farm on part of the former Newington Plantation in 1880, followed by other ventures that led to the establishment of the Charleston Tea Garden that’s still growing leaves on Wadmalaw Island.
Doniger, the Summerville DREAM director, said the town has leaned more into its historic roots with the festival but it’s “not something that solely defines the community.”
Uplifting local small businesses is at the core of each event, he noted. The tea festival itself may only be a few hours long but there are events and business specials lined up the week before across the community.
“We don’t try to compete for tourism dollars with Charleston or other places designed for it, but as a town, we embrace tourism,” Doniger said. “We see a lot of visitors who choose Summerville to be near family that lives here, or are looking for something outside of Charleston. The time they spend in Summerville makes a difference.”