Free fun for all: Bank of America Fall for Greenville Festival
Trinity Adams, Staff Writer
Fall is among us, which means apple picking, bonfires and most importantly, Bank of America’s Fall for Greenville Festival in downtown Greenville.
The festival is an annual event that floods the streets of downtown Greenville. It started back in 1982. Each year has brought new things to the event.
Anna Catherine Miller, sales and marketing manager for the city of Greenville’s parks and recreation department, shared what festival-goers can look forward to this year. Miller has been working with the festival for nine years.
She said this is the largest programming year in the history of the festival. This year the festival had over 60 different food vendors and over 85 different acts scheduled for the weekend.
“There is so much to see and do. I really don’t even think it can be captured in three days . . . There was a really incredible line-up and a lot of really incredible food vendors and being able to experience all the amazing things. I just think that there is something for everybody,” Miller said. “It is also definitely worth noting that our headline act is Johnny Swim. Being able to offer that as a free show in the heart of our city is something that is really exciting.”
One of the new things that has been added to this year’s programming is a section of the festival called “Beat on the Street.” On this part of Coffee Street, festival goers will find life-sized yard games, a jumbotron with football and two DJs.
Miller said, “Each year we are able to book all of these incredible acts, but we are always looking for new genres and new ways to get different performers involved. So we are excited to tap into the DJ genre.”
This event is volunteer based. Miller explained that a lot of hard work goes into this, and it wouldn’t be possible without them. The festival is always looking for volunteers. They will rely on 2000 volunteers over the course of the weekend.
“You spend an entire year planning this event, and being able to see people laughing and having fun, no matter the hard work that is put in and the hours behind it, make it all worth it at the end of the day,” Miller said.
This year the festival will be Friday, October 13 through Sunday, October 15.
The tickets allowed festival-goers to purchase tickets to use at different vendor booths. Miller explained that during last year’s presale, 33 different states were represented along with Germany–the event’s first international sale.
“To feature the local culinary scene of Greenville, while also being able to bring national acts as well as highlight local and regional performers, so really kind of get a preview of the taste, tunes and taps that are represented across the upstate” is the heart of the event in Miller’s opinion.
This was a free event that hoped to highlight the new and best parts of Greenville.
Miller said what makes Greenville so special is “being able to provide a free admissions event for not only our residents to come out and enjoy their city but also bring people into Greenville to experience the growth that we have had.”
