MYRTLE BEACH, SC – The Carolina Country Music Festival is expected to bring almost twenty thousand people to the Grand Strand.
With all of those people coming to the area, it’s an important time for business owners, and many seem to have mixed feelings on the timing of the event.
Victor Shamah is the owner of The Bowery on Ocean Boulevard, and he says there’s no better time to bring the festival to Myrtle Beach.
Shamah says his bar is known as the home of country music in the area, and they’ve been preparing for the event for months.
“We are excited that they are putting the country music fest right in our front door. We are the home of country music. We’ve been doing it for over seventy one years. We’re the home of Alabama, and we’re really excited,” said Shamah.
That excitement doesn’t go far down the boulevard. A few stores down, the owner of the Gay Dolphin, Justin Plyler, says it’s just not the right time for the festival.
“The country music fest would be tremendously more beneficial to us traffic wise if it came in the shoulder season like October or March,” said Plyler.
Plyler says this time of year is prime time for his business and he’s worried the festival may actually hurt sales.
“This actually could draw away from our regular crowd that may go there when they would be spending the money that they spend on those expensive tickets on our food and merchandise,” said Plyler.
Plyler says he recognizes the mission for the Carolina Country Music Fest is to bring people to the area, and hopes his business will reap positive impacts this weekend instead.
