Thursday, Apr. 21, 2011

Tim Williams: Events, Tents and Bridezillas

Tim Williams, 31, was born on the Grand Strand and grew up in Socastee before heading off to college in Columbia, a private school called Columbia International University [CIU], where he majored in music and minored in biblical languages. His love of music was apparent in high school when he attained first and second chair trumpet in all-state band and attended the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville for a time.

The biblical languages - Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew - are the big three for scholars. "It was something I always wanted to study," he says. "Every once in a while when I am talking to someone about the Bible, I give them a little background - what it actually says in Hebrew or Greek - it makes a world of difference."

Flash forward: In 2004, Williams took the helm of Conway Rental Center (www.conwaypartyrentals.com), a business he inherited from his father, who originally opened the operation in 1986. "We started out as a tool rental company and kind of merged into party rentals about five years later," he says. "We're here to make your event happen and make sure that it is pleasing, comfortable and stress-free - whether it be a wedding, St. Patrick's Day on the oceanfront in Myrtle Beach, or Oktoberfest."

But specifically, his business involves a mixture of tents, bandstands, audiovisual equipment and more. "We can do fencing and generator power. If it's a wedding, we make sure the caterer has the equipment they need. Last weekend, we had to come up with a rain plan for an event we were doing at Atalaya Castle." And no event is too big or too small. "We can do events with ten chairs or 1,000 chairs," he says. He cites clients such as Festival Promotions in Myrtle Beach and the Oceanfront Merchants Association. "We're also putting up 50 tents at Market Common on April 30 for the Dragon Boat Festival."

Williams wears many hats as far as daily operations are concerned. "I do the accounting and administrative work," he says. "I have a sales guy that does most of the sales, but I do sales for some of the bigger work - and I might have to go set up a tent. I kind of coast pretty easily during the week, but on the weekends, I work a lot, filling in. Maybe doing a Bounce-A-Round (those inflatable jumping contraptions) - but it could be anything." Williams says he does this not to cut labor costs, but rather because he enjoys rolling up his sleeves.

Large-scale events aside, Williams contends that weddings have the potential to be fraught with challenges. "We love dealing with bridezillas. Sometimes nothing seems to be good enough, even when they pick the terrain. They might choose the beach and they want a dance floor to be flat. We can't alter the ground surface out there." But when all is said and done, the bridezillas wind up happy.

Williams, a Conway resident, says he used to have a boat and spent plenty of time on the ocean. Now, he enjoys tooling around downtown Conway on his mountain bike. He and friends enjoy riding dirt bikes as well - enduro riding. "There are a couple of tracks around here or we'll travel into Georgia or North Carolina. A lot of the national parks will have ride days, or what they call 'hairscrambles'."

Williams and wife Lindy Williams might be spotted enjoying a meal at Crady's Restaurant or the Rivertown Bistro in Conway. He is the proud father of two daughters, Ross (8) and Reese (7).

Know of a local with an interesting job or career that should be given the Working 4 A Living treatment? Contact Roger Yale at rgyale@gmail.com.