Country fans will get up-close-and-personal with some of music’s biggest names at the Carolina Country Music Festival in June, but the City of Myrtle Beach is giving more thought to whether it will help fund the event.
Acts including Rascal Flatts, Eric Church, Lady Antebellum and Hunter Hayes will headline the three-day music festival, scheduled for June 3-5 on the site of the former Pavilion Amusement Park in Myrtle Beach.
In October, Full House Productions and Palmetto Event Productions submitted a request for $35,000 in accommodations tax funding from the City of Myrtle Beach. Amie Lee, of Palmetto Event Productions, told News13 on Wednesday the committee decided against funding the festival.
City of Myrtle Beach Spokesman Mark Kruea says the committee had too little information at the time on the event to grant the funding.
“They didn’t have any names. There wasn’t enough detail to seriously consider that request,” Kruea explained. “They’ve now provided more details, but we’re past the accommodations tax window.”
Lee told News13 the lack of information was due to contract negotiations with the musical acts.
“It’s a new event,” Kruea said. “We want to certainly make sure we have confidence in the event – that everything is as it appears to be, and we don’t have any reason to believe so far that it’s not.”
Lee says organizers have since requested $35,000 in direct funding from the City of Myrtle Beach. Discussion on the request was continued at Tuesday’s Myrtle Beach City Council meeting. Kruea says should the city fund the event, the money would likely come from its general fund.
Organizers also hope the city will consider a co-sponsorship with the Carolina Country Music Festival. While original applications submitted to the City of Myrtle Beach estimate 15,000 to 20,000 people will attend the event, Lee told News13 on Wednesday that number could go as high as 25,000.
“To date, the city is not a co-sponsor and has not committed any money towards the event,” Kruea explained. “Council approved the special event permit, but has not granted city sponsorship or co-sponsorship at this point. It will be the subject of a future discussion, perhaps at the next [Myrtle Beach City] Council meeting.”
While the city hashes out logistics and funding, Myrtle Beach Police Lt. Joey Crosby tells News13 his department is already in the preliminary stages of planning for the event. Crosby says officers are preparing an organizational plan to welcome upwards of 25,000 country fans to downtown Myrtle Beach.
“In the first week of June, we historically are very busy that weekend, in addition now with the Country Music Fest,” Crosby said. “Traffic will be one of our top priorities and top concerns. Also the security plan for the site itself, that will be one of our major concerns.”
Crosby says Myrtle Beach Police are closely working with the Myrtle Beach Fire Department on emergency plans, traffic patterns and parking.
“We take in to consideration of things such as medical plans to make sure our fire [and] EMS personnel are joined on the operational plan with us,” Crosby added.
Full House Productions and Palmetto Event Productions expect to make another round of artist announcements within the next few weeks. Pre-Sale Early Bird General Admission tickets and 3-day passes for Early Bird General Admission are both sold out.
