This gives us - the brick-and-mortar downtown business - a chance to swing open our doors and let all the smells in and to welcome the thousands of festival goers in with them.” Good news to anyone concerned, the sidewalks are open, accessible and widely used during the event. “Yes, the streets are blocked and filled with tents, but these tents bring a buzz of excitement and the delicious aroma of food from all over the Upstate. “Greenville is a fun, exciting, welcoming and growing community, for reasons like Fall for Greenville,” said Patrick Johnson, store manager of Savannah Bee Company Greenville. Even businesses without tents, such as Savannah Bee Company Greenville, are grateful for the business the annual event brings to Main Street and the city. For me, it’s more about having a unique brand and product and getting more people to be able to experience it.”ĭowntown businesses like Sully’s will be open for full business in their shops while also having a tent for the event. We are located in the thick of the festival, and we want to put our best foot forward. “Since we are franchising, it’s a way to get our reach out to regional customers. “I choose to see it as a way to reach new customers,” he said. Robert Sullivan, owner of Sully’s Steamers, said overall the event is good for business. Other downtown Greenville businesses also enjoy the extra business and hospitality the event brings to the city every year. “Going into the holiday season, retailers will see the impact of this event and the exposure it gave a lot of our businesses,” Campbell said. For visitors, they are walking the event site and experiencing all of Main Street, getting a taste of a restaurant they haven’t experienced before, and it becomes a place they keep coming back to.įall for Greenville will host 11 national food writers this year, and so far, online tickets sales have reached a record high, with visitors from 31 states. “From an economic standpoint, any time you can have a festival in your city with more than 200,000 visitors that enjoy your downtown, it’s a remarkable thing for the city and its businesses.”īecause the event has gone from a local festival to a nationally and internationally recognized festival, said Campbell, it allows for that footprint to expand. “It allows people to choose Greenville as a destination in the month of October,” she added. This provides an amazing marketing opportunity to us, as we can usually just point to the restaurant from the tent when they try our food and ask where we are located.”Ĭity of Greenville Downtown Project Manager Cameron Campbell said Fall for Greenville is a catalyst for encouraging visitors to keep coming back to the city. Many of the restaurants are downtown with their brick-and-mortar locations only yards away from their Fall for Greenville tents. “The food represents the great offerings that are available in the locations. “What’s best is that most of the restaurants represented are locally owned or small-company operated,” he added. With 45 curated restaurant experiences and several food trucks along with great music and beverages, it makes for one of the best festivals in the country, in Freidank’s opinion. Greenville has become a true culinary and hospitality destination, which is exemplified through events such as Fall for Greenville, he said. Fall for Greenville is wonderful for Greenville, because even though we grow so fast and so much, we still cherish our downtown like it’s a small town.” Over the years, we have not only grown in numbers, but we have exploded with restaurants and hotels. It was on a visit that I decided to move here - a story which I’ve heard retold many times by many transplants. “When I moved to Greenville, I had never even heard of it until my dad was transferred here. “As small cities grow, there are always challenges in keeping the character of those cities intact,” Freidank added. Greenville has grown astronomically since he moved here, downtown in particular, which he feels is a “model for many other downtowns across the country,” he said. Rodney Freidank, corporate chef of Table 301 Restaurant Group and Fall for Greenville board member, said he has participated in the event nearly every year since he moved to Greenville in 1994 - on Fall for Greenville weekend. “My family loves strolling up and down Main Street, sampling tasty bites and enjoying the sights and sounds of the festival,” said Greenville resident Cat Oliver. After 41 years, the annual Fall for Greenville is now the biggest event of the year in the city.Įvery year, thousands of people flood Main Street in downtown Greenville for the ‘tastes, tunes and taps’ around the festival.
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