Wear a mask at this Myrtle Beach Christmas fest or ‘you’re going to be out that door’
Not even a pandemic can stop the Dickens Christmas Show & Festivals in Myrtle Beach from happening.
The show may even serve as a leading example of how to put on a large, indoor event while keeping attendees safe from COVID-19.
Much of the event will look the same. Small businesses will fill dozens of booths, hawking holiday decorations and food samples. Hundreds of holiday stockings, trees, tables and wreaths will fill the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, decorations reminiscent of a wintry wonderland not typically found in beach towns this far south.
Some things will be a little different, however.
Masks will be mandatory, food vendors will be handing out individual samples, every entrance will have walk-through temperature check machines and Christmas-themed floor signs encouraging social distancing. The venue itself also comes specially equipped to handle the event having installed a new state-of-the-art air conditioning system a few years back.
To make things more welcoming, Myra Starnes, who runs the festival with her company Leisure Time Unlimited, said she has worked with her employees and vendors extensively to make sure that people not only are encouraged to wear a mask, but that they are thanked for doing so all throughout the festival.
“Can you imagine going someplace and getting thanked fifty times? You’re gonna feel good about yourself, even if you hate a mask,” she said. “They’re going to leave there saying, ‘You know, Myrtle Beach really cares.’”
Thank yous won’t just be verbal. Starnes also plans to give all attendees a $2 coupon with every ticket that can be spent anywhere in the festival.
And when Starnes says masks are mandatory, she’s not joking — at all.
“Everybody knows if you don’t behave, you’re going to be out that door,” Starnes said.
Even her vendors and charities can attest to that.
“If Myra is doing it, I know it’s going to be done right,” said Cheryl Morgan, who runs a program at Coastal Carolina University helping young adults with developmental disorders live independently and find gainful employment. “When she told me about the safety measures she had in place, I felt much more comfortable putting the students and the families out there.”
Just breaking even
Starnes said putting it on this year wasn’t about making money. She just wants to do everything she can to support the vendors and charities that rely on the Dickens each year to stay afloat.
Some of her vendors, existing as part-time or seasonal businesses, haven’t yet experienced the effects of the pandemic, but she said they will soon without festivals like hers. Small businesses, especially, have struggled to gain government funding.
But Starnes wasn’t always sure Dickens could happen. She and her team teetered in June as cases in the Grand Strand skyrocketed as tourists flooded in, many not wearing masks, and COVID-19 spread like wildfire.
Her company decided to plow through, investing thousands of dollars in masks, hand sanitizer and safety equipment. They made dozens of calls to vendors telling them the new rules and convincing them that the event would be as safe as it could under the circumstances.
“Dickens is not just us. Dickens is our vendors and our attendees. We started Dickens years ago to bring in people in the off season so we would have something to do,” Starnes said.
If Starnes can break even, that’ll be enough to make her happy, knowing she could give a chance to the dozens of vendors and charities that rely on the Dickens Christmas Festival each year for a large portion of their annual revenue.
“What my goal is — I don’t think I’m making money this year — is for my vendors to make money,” she said. “I’ve got vendors crying because they’re scared they can lose their houses. All these systems that are put in place are not necessarily put in place for everybody on the spectrum.”
‘This is most of our income’
Seasonal businesses can be some of the most difficult to run, as many in the Grand Strand know.
This could not be truer for a business like Jane Parker Fruit Cakes. Owners Chris and Alex Ronacher bought the formerly-infamous brand after A&P supermarket chain went bankrupt in 2014. While business has been on the up since the brand relaunched in 2017, Christmas festivals still serve as an important way to improve consumer recognition and boost sales throughout the holidays.
“The whole idea is to get the word out there that it’s available again because people thought it was gone forever,” Chris Ronacher said. These festivals are “important to get brand awareness back out there for people so that they know the product is available again.”
Getting the call about Dickens couldn’t have come at a better time for Chris Ronacher, either. Almost all of the other festivals he planned to sell at this year were canceled. He usually exhibits at least four across the East Coast.
“It’s a shame that that happened and they couldn’t conform to the procedures that needed to be taken, the precautions that needed to be taken,” Chris Ronacher said. “This company actually did it. It’s really commendable and super excited and happy that they did that so that everyone can come and enjoy the day and be safe and have a great time and, you know, to still be together and be normal again.”
The festival also helps fledgling businesses like Mollie’s Morsels build up a consumer base. This will be owner Tara Ewalt’s second time at Dickens, and she said the festival is a “major revenue generator” for her small business, which sells fresh dog food and treats.
Without the Dickens Christmas Show, Ewalt said she isn’t sure how she would be able to stay in touch with her customers and connect to new ones. Much of her marketing operates through face-to-face contact at festivals such as this and farmers markets. She said she felt “elated” hearing Dickens was still happening
“For a lot of us, this is most of our income,” Ewalt said. “We get people that we haven’t seen before and they’ve never heard of us and then they wind up loving it, becoming customers.”
For Morgan’s CCU Life Program, without the festival, some students simply wouldn’t be able to afford housing. Each year, they raise close to $15,000 through the festival. And while participating in a big event like this might be difficult with the pandemic, Morgan said it’ll be worth it, especially considering all of the safety measures in place.
“I was apprehensive. But I also know if we don’t do it, that we have students that — it will be a detriment to them,” Morgan said. “We think the benefit in this situation outweighs the risk. And we’re really looking forward to the excitement of the festival and hope that folks will come out and support all of the people there.”
Setting an example
Starnes said she understands that many people are tired of wearing masks. But she said she wants to help instill in attendees that it’s not about any one person, it’s about protecting the person next to them, or their families and friends.
And she knows that Myrtle Beach isn’t an easy place to get people to wear masks, which is why she is doing everything she can to reward people for “doing the right thing.”
“Thank you for thinking about other people,” Starnes said. “I’m not going to argue with them whether they work or don’t. But thank you for thinking about other people, for making other people feel good.”
No plan is perfect, though. Any event that brings people together who don’t normally spend time around one another creates risk for the spread of COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If everything aligns, if all of her plans work, Starnes said she hopes the Dickens Christmas Show & Festivals will serve as an example for other large events around the country.
“Do I wake up at two in the morning and say, ‘oh, (expletive) what did I do?’” she said.”Yeah, but can you imagine if we can change the tide, and if we can incentivize doing the right thing?
“It’s going to take an army to do it,” she said. “It takes all of us working together to do the right thing.”
The Dickens Christmas Show & Festivals runs this Thursday through Sunday. Attendees who can’t make it to town can shop with many of the exhibitors online at DickensChristmasShow.com.
For those who can attend, Starnes says, “Thank you for wearing a mask.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 10:35 AM.
