Five Points Foundation wraps up 37th annual St. Pat’s in Five Points
March 20, 2019
On Saturday, March 16, 2019, Five Points welcomed approximately 37,000 people to their perennial St. Pat’s in Five Points celebration. An event breakdown is below:
An event breakdown is below:
Attendee Demographics: From online pre-sale and day of credit card purchased tickets, the festival was able to track attendee demographics. From those tickets purchased, 57% were from outside of South Carolina, including 38 states (plus Washington D.C.) and 11 different countries.
Get to the Green Road Race: 10K, 5K and 1-mile Family Fun Run had 2,152 participants. The race started and ended at Shandon College Ministries on Devine Street. The race ceremonies were hosted at Shandon College Ministries on Devine Street, where over 300 awards were given.
St. Pat’s Parade: The annual musical mile had 65 entries and had thousands of spectators lining Devine Street to watch. The grand marshal of this year’s parade was University of South Carolina’s 28th President: Harris Pastides. 2019 winners included:
- Best Irish Theme: Ancient Order of the Hibernians
- Best Music: Freeway Music
- Most Creative: Trenholm Little League
- Most Interactive: Basset Rescue Crew of SC
- Best Overall: Kudzu Queens
Pot O’ Gold Playland: The festival’s free children’s area welcomed families throughout the day in its new location on Saluda Avenue. Over 1,000 children got to enjoy children’s entertainment, carnival rides, balloon twisting, face painting, a magician and more.
Stages: 25 bands played on five stages from noon – 7pm. This year’s stage entertainment included a video screen at the Naturdays / Free Times stage on Greene & Harden so the bands could be seen by the entire crowd.
Silent Disco: Back for the fourth year, the Silent Disco had four local DJs playing from2pm – 6pm. This area of the festival saw over 2,000 people throughout the afternoon.
Food Courts: The festival’s two food courts and Food Truck Rodeo were home to 15 mostly local food vendors, providing patrons a wide variety of eats.
Vendors: 13 arts & crafts and civic vendors lined Devine Street and Saluda Avenue.
VIP: St. Pat’s Saluda’s VIP Experience offered patrons an elevated festival experience, with an open bar and food and premiere stage viewing. These exclusive 200 tickets sold out weeks before the festival.
The Cube: Our version of the rocket serviced hundreds of people all day long, handing out programs, charging people’s cell phones, providing first aid and complimentary water, and answering festival questions.
Transportation: The festival offered complimentary transportation services to and from the festival through a partnership with The Comet. These services include shuttles and the Checker Yellow free cab ride home program.
Clean Up: On Sunday, March 17, festival staff, dozens of volunteers, and the Five Points Clean & Safe Team, worked hard to clean up Five Points, Devine Street, satellite parking shuttle locations, and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Volunteers: 211 general festival volunteers, 40 Veteran volunteers, 200 race volunteers, 38 recycling volunteers over 20 local non-profits and charitable organizations from across the Midlands came to help execute another successful year for the festival. General festival volunteers contributed 533 hours with recycling volunteers contributed 236.75 hours. A press conference will be held in the coming weeks to recognize and make donations to these groups for their dedication.
Columbia Police Department: The St. Pat’s Planning Committee works closely each year with the Columbia Police Department for months leading up to the event to ensure that public safety is on the forefront. The festival had no major incidents and an overall tame crowd.
Meet & Greet: In conjunction with WCOS, the festival hosted a meet & greet with country music stars, Mitchell Tenpenny and Walker Hayes, allowing approximately 35 festival attendees the opportunity to get up close and personal with these artists.
Sponsors: St. Pat’s in Five Points wouldn’t be possible without generous support from: KW Beverage, Budweiser, Naturdays, Free Times, The Comet, Checker Yellow Cabs, Green’s Beverages, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Firefly Spirits, Wells Fargo, Party Reflections, Rent Haven, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Gregory Electric, Lowes Food, Bath Fitter, TD Bank, Office Depot, Woodforest National Bank, Richland County, Hotel Trundle, The Mobile Attic, ATT&T, McDonald’s, the Five Points Association, Experience Columbia SC and the City of Columbia.
