Squealin’ on the Square draws big crowds, new vendors for 26th year in downtown Laurens

Squealin’ on the Square returned to downtown Laurens Oct. 16-17 for its 26th year, and organizers believe the two-day festival drew more visitors than last year.

Brad Abercrombie, director of Main Street Laurens, said last year’s event averaged about 17,000 people a day. Official attendance figures from location data analytics are expected by the end of the week, but Abercrombie said his own read of the crowd points to growth.

“After 26 years of watching this festival, I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how we’ve done,” Abercrombie said. “You look at how crowded it is, the times of day and how long it stays crowded. This year we topped it.”

Friday crowds stand out

The lunch crowd on Friday stood out. Last year was the first time the festival opened at noon on Friday to serve lunch, and this year the plaza filled even earlier.

“By 11 o’clock, every table on the plaza was taken with people eating,” Abercrombie said. “I was very impressed with our Friday lunch crowd.”

Friday night was his biggest highlight of the weekend. Laurens and Clinton high schools both had home football games that night, yet the square remained packed.

“I’ve been here a long time and I know a lot of people, and there were a lot of faces in that Friday night crowd I did not know,” he said. “That tells me we’re reaching out and attracting more people than just our own community.”

Music for every taste

All nine scheduled bands performed with no changes to the lineup, which ranged from bluegrass to beach music to country. Saturday’s highlight was Xperience Soul, which drew a large crowd for its 2-3:30 p.m. set.

“I try to pick something for everyone,” Abercrombie said. “It was a real good balance, and everybody was well pleased with it.”

Cheerology Cheer Academy brought two teams to the stage, its competition team and its community team, and the Laurens County line dance team also performed.

Vendors and car show

More than 100 vendors took part, including seven barbecue teams, 20 other food vendors and 98 craft, retail and nonprofit vendors. The car show drew 84 entries, filling both the upper and lower lots provided by United Community.

Barbecue competition adds outside judges

Barbecue teams typically bring 300 to 400 pounds of pulled pork apiece, not counting brisket, ribs and turkey legs. Tavern Towne sold out on Friday of everything it brought for both days and cooked through Friday night to keep serving on Saturday.

This year, the festival added a new layer to its barbecue competition. Alongside the People’s Choice award, seven barbecue judges from outside the area sampled entries anonymously, buying tickets like any other festivalgoer, to decide the cash prizes. United Community helped sponsor the competition.

“If you’ve got a hometown team and all their family and friends come out, that can be a little biased,” Abercrombie said. “I wanted the cash prizes to be judged straight up, and I wanted to make it worth the teams’ while.”

Cash prize winners were:
First place, $1,000: Tavern Towne
Second place, $500: Wilson’s BBQ
Third place, $250: Whiteford’s of Laurens
Fourth place, $200: Pig on Fire
Fifth place, $150: Carolina Rib King

The People’s Choice award also went to Tavern Towne.

New faces and downtown merchants

Several first-time vendors made their debut, including Utopia, a startup embroidery and laser engraving business; Rolls From the Soul, which made egg rolls on site; DCones Zone, which served pizza cones and sweet dessert cones; and Sharing Hope. Abercrombie said several have already asked to return next year.

Downtown merchants also benefited. More than 14 businesses on the square set up booths, giving shoppers an easy reason to step inside. Cotton and Clay, a new store on the square, saw high traffic and strong sales over the weekend. Essence, a new flower shop that has not yet opened, introduced itself by handing out long-stem roses with its business cards attached.

“If you have a booth in front of your store, you can tell people, ‘That’s our store right there, there’s more inside,'” Abercrombie said. “It gives them exposure to people who don’t usually come to Laurens.”

Supporting Main Street Laurens

The festival is a key fundraiser for Main Street Laurens, netting about $20,000 last year. Abercrombie expects this year’s total to come in close to that or higher once final numbers are in. The proceeds support downtown revitalization, including facade grants for merchants, and help fund other Main Street events throughout the year, which matters more as the program’s budget has been cut.

More than 100 volunteers helped make the weekend happen, along with city and county staff, including streets and sanitation crews, fire, EMS and police.

“This is not a one-person show. This is a community coming together,” Abercrombie said. He thanked the Main Street Laurens board, the city, the county, public safety agencies, sponsors and volunteers.

Sponsors of this year’s festival were PRTC, Self Regional, the city of Laurens, Laurens CPW, United Community, Founders Credit Union, Laurens County Water and Sewer, Laurens County and Riverside Garage & Tire.

Looking ahead to 2027

Planning for next year starts next month. Squealin’ on the Square will return the third weekend of October, Oct. 15-16, 2027, and some bands have already booked. Abercrombie said the kid zone was popular this year, and he plans to expand it.

“You’ve got to have something for the kids,” he said. “That way families can make a day of it. They can eat, let the kids play, shop and look at the cars.”

Asked whether he would change anything, Abercrombie said no.

“My goal has always been to keep this festival growing and evolving every year, because that’s how a festival lasts as long as ours has,” he said. “We met that goal this year, and now we go for next year.”