City to run Taste of Beaufort, shrimp festival. What does that mean for its marquee events?
The Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce has transferred the rights to produce the Beaufort Shrimp Festival and A Taste of Beaufort to the City of Beaufort.
The transfer of the popular festivals to the city’s hands was announced at a City Council meeting last week.
The move is the final chapter in a three-year legal dispute between the chamber and the city over ownership of the two signature festivals in Beaufort.
Along with the Beaufort Water Festival and Gullah Festival, the Shrimp Festival and Taste of Beaufort are long-running events in the city known as “Heritage Festivals” that bring thousands of visitors downtown each year for food, music and road races in Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park.
The Shrimp Festival spans two days in October. Taste of Beaufort is a foodie event in May.
In a June 10 letter to City Manager Bill Prokop, the Chamber said it has decided the festivals will no longer be part of its strategic plan. Therefore, it will transfer the rights to run them to the city for $1 each.
“The Chamber believes the collaborative model we are developing together is the optimal way to produce these beloved community festivals,” Chamber President Ian Scott said.
It remains committed to working with the city to produce a high-quality Beaufort Shrimp Festival this fall, Scott said.
Mayor Stephen Murray said the average festival goer will not notice much of a difference in the Shrimp Festival and Taste of Beaufort with the city producing them.
“Communities and organizations and priorities change,” Murray said. “The chamber has a new president and new board chair, and their organization has decided to take a different strategic direction.”
What’s important is that the festivals continue in Beaufort, at a high level, regardless of who produces them, he said.
A plan will be rolled out within the next month on the upcoming Shrimp Festival, Murray said.
The Chamber of Commerce sued the city in September 2018 over ownership of the festivals, alleging in federal court the city had infringed on the organization’s constitutional rights in denying a request to operate the Shrimp Festival the previous October.
The Chamber sought the return of the trademarked names, as well as damages and legal fees. The organization had also objected to the city asking for 10% of the festival profits.
At the time, City Manager Bill Prokop said the city had trademarked the names to protect them from being registered and sold by a private company and to ensure the festivals remain in Beaufort.
The case was dismissed in 2019 after the city of Beaufort paid the Chamber $150,000 in a settlement, in which it was agreed that the Chamber would operate the Beaufort Shrimp Festival and Taste of Beaufort. The city also agreed it would return the event’s trademarked names to the nonprofit business organization.
Chamber: Festivals not part of its plan
The settlement also gave the city the option of buying the rights to the events for $1 if the Chamber decided not to plan and organize the festivals.
The city will manage the two festivals, but the Chamber, along with other groups, is expected to cooperate with the city in producing both events, Prokop said.
Net proceeds from the festival will go to the City of Beaufort’s Pride of Place Fund to be invested in community infrastructure projects.
