Full calendar of festivals bringing visitors to downtown Aiken
AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Friday’s Hops & Hogs Festival in Aiken is the first of many events coming downtown.
At Hops & Hogs from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m., there will be barbecue food vendors, beer stations showcasing more than 20 regional craft breweries, a kids’ zone and live music.
ission is free.
Lately, Aiken County’s calendar has been full of events like these.
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We spoke with the Aiken Downtown Development Association, which is hosting Hops & Hogs about the economic impact of events like these.
The Aiken Downtown Development Association is a non-profit organization that focuses on downtown growth and economic vitality.
Molly Jones with the association says one of their main ways of promoting the area is by hosting more events like these.
“You bring people in and they see what a great thriving downtown that we have and they want to be a part of it, and so it does help economic development not just from that standpoint, but also helping to continue to grow our retail stores, which continue to provide jobs and opportunities right here in our local community,” said Jones.
Jones says these events are also able to bring the community together.
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“We have volunteers that come together for all of our events, and we could not do that without them, and I feel like that’s just the brink of bringing together community because we have volunteers from all over our community,” she said.
And the alley will be home to many more events, and growth.
The events will run through the end of the year – gatherings like Juneteenth at the Center for African American History Art and Culture, plus sip ‘n’ shops, sidewalk sales, Oktoberfest and the Christmas parade.
“We have so much coming up. This summer, we’ll have a sip n’ shop where you can walk around and shop, and each store will have different things you can sip on. We’ll have several sidewalk sales over the summer. Then once the weather cools off, we’ll bring back Oktoberfest, and then we have our scarecrow competition that is always a favorite,” said Jones.
The full schedule comes after the South Carolina Arts Commission’s recent designation of Aiken as a cultural district.
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