NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The City of North Charleston has been working with High Water Music Festival organizers for months to make sure this year’s event is a great one for everyone.
The festival is happening April 20-21 at Riverfront Park in North Charleston along the Cooper River.
This year is expected to be bigger than ever, but officials say parking could be an issue. They say 15,000 tickets to the two-day festival have been sold, which is thousands more than last year. But because of the construction in that area, there will be limited parking available — about half of that number to be exact.
“Every day we are losing parking with all the development that is happening out here,” Amy Heath, North Charleston’s Director of Tourism, says. “We have approximately about 7,500 parking spaces.”
Heath says one thing that will be different this year, to help things move a little smoother, is there will be two ride-share lots for drop-off and pickup.
“This year with High Water we are going to have two ride-share lots,” Heath says. “One is going to be down at the Water Mission side on the north side of the bridge. It will be very much labeled so people can get in and out. And then also on the north side, where McMillan was at Hobson Avenue and Bainbridge Avenue.”
Heath says her biggest suggestion is to ride-share or carpool, plan to come early and stay late, and prepare to be patient.
But even with the challenges, Heath says they’re especially excited for this year.
“Each event that we do out here is very different. It doesn’t have like an exact roadmap, but we have been working with the folks from C3 Presents all year long in preparation for this. So, we have done stuff here out on the park, like trimming trees, working on flooding issues, and also signage just to make the guest experience better.”
Normally, there are two ways into Riverfront Park, however, the Pedestrian Bridge is going to be blocked off specifically for the artists to use. The only way in and out for attendees is going to by the Momo restaurant.
This festival has a huge economic impact on the area. Heath says the 2023 High Water Music Festival contributed $45.4 million to the Charleston area economy.
The festival is responsible for 363 full-time job equivalents hired or sustained. More than $14.9 million in labor incomes were paid to Charleston area employees as a result of the High Water Music Festival.
All of these numbers are based on festival operations and festival attendee expenditures, and with 2,000 more people attending this year, Heath expects there will be a slight uptick.
For more information on this year’s High Water Festival, click here.
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