Tega Cay keeps July 4 fireworks plan. Now they’re bracing for crowd. What to know.
There’s no guarantee Tega Cay will draw a record crowd for July 4 fireworks at a time when crowds are discouraged. There’s also no guarantee it won’t. Coronavirus hasn’t allowed much when it comes to guarantees.
“As of today we are still preparing to move forward with the parade on Tega Cay Drive and the firework show,” Tega Cay city manager Charlie Funderburk said Monday.
Fort Mill, Rock Hill, Lake Wylie, York and other areas have largely canceled mass, annual July 4 gatherings or made them virtual because of COVID-19. A rise in coronvirus cases across South Carolina has social distancing at the forefront of many people’s minds.
In this region, Tega Cay is the largest municipality that plans a fireworks show.
Without options and annual traditions available elsewhere, there’s question as to just how big the crowd in Tega Cay might get.
“There is a potential for additional or larger crowds for the fireworks this year,” Funderburk said.
Police and safety
Tega Cay Police Chief Steve Parker sent a letter to city management and council members on June 11 about concerns over traffic and safety during the coronavirus pandemic because the Tega Cay event is the only large-scale public event still scheduled.
Parker said he has concerns that the event could draw an even larger crowd than in past years when it is annually the largest event in the city.
Parker said it is part of his job to provide council and leaders in the city with facts and concerns so the council can make a decision on the event.
Parker said his department has come up with a safety plan for the July 4 event.
“We have worked on this and have a plan to make this event as safe as possible,” Parker said.
On its city website, Tega Cay officials announced that traffic control prior to and during the show will be different from past years. York County Sheriff’s Office deputies will assist Tega Cay police.
Parking at the Tega Cay Golf & Conference Center will be first come, first served. Once it’s full, only residents on, or off, Molokai Drive will be allowed through an ID checkpoint to access that area. Anyone else will be redirected to the Runde Park or Tega Cay Elementary School parking lots.
The parking lot that serves the golf course, tennis facility, conference center, croquet club and city council chambers has about 300 parking spaces. Runde Park has about 60 spaces. Tega Cay Elementary has about 165 marked spaces, plus lengthy drop off lanes.
Once Runde is full, an ID checkpoint will set up at Tega Cay Elementary. Police officers will direct anyone who doesn’t live on the city peninsula to park at the school until it’s full. Once those school lots are full, anyone who doesn’t live on the peninsula won’t be allowed until after the fireworks show, when typical traffic patterns resume.
There won’t be any parking allowed on Tega Cay Drive, including the shoulders or median.
“The ID check points are necessary to prohibit traffic safety issues with road blockages, and to ensure emergency personnel are able to respond to any calls for service,” reads the online city notice.
The city advises anyone who lives on the peninsula to have any invited guests arrive by 6 p.m.. Walkers, golf carts and bicycles will be allowed to travel to the show.
Large or small crowd
Tega Cay Mayor David O’Neal said there wasn’t a unanimous decision on his council whether to keep events on schedule but he favored the fireworks.
“We were all thinking about canceling it too,” O’Neal said. “But just looking up at the fireworks, looking up at the sky, you can just look up and watch it.”
Tega Cay will celebrate its city birthday July 4.
Each year the city hosts a range of events from boat parades to a ski show, city birthday party, fireworks and other activities. Several of those events this year were canceled either due to concern from volunteers or lack of preparation from months of social distancing.
O’Neal said the fireworks and parade down Tega Cay Drive still made sense.
“People can come out and watch it or not,” the mayor said. “They don’t have to stand on top of each other to watch a parade.”
The parade begins at 9 a.m. The fireworks are set for 9:30 p.m.
Buy your own fireworks
Firework sales are a staple along the South Carolina side of the state line near Carowinds and elsewhere — sales are illegal in North Carolina — and locals could choose to buy their own and hold more socially distant parties.
The ID checkpoints planned could discourage some from attendance too.
“For that reason, and possibly other reasons, there also is potential we will have fewer people coming in to see them,” Funderburk said.
As with annual fireworks shows in Lake Wylie and elsewhere, Tega Cay doesn’t keep an exact count of how many people view the show.
“Attendance isn’t something we’ve really tracked in the past given how many people watch from the lake or in various other places in town, not just up at the clubhouse,” Funderburk said. “I would estimate we have 600-plus vehicles that travel in to watch. Whether they are coming from other parts of the city or outside of the city, I do not know.”
