Daniel Prince
Lonestar to headline Butts & Boogie Festival this spring
At Tuesday’s Union City Council meeting, the city was asked to participate in USC Union’s annual Spring Fling event. This year’s event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 20, from 11-2 at Patron’s Park, which is the grassy area on campus that includes the gazebo. The event will feature games, crafts, music, fun, and food. Food trucks by Fuddruckers and Mac Attack, which specializes in different types of macaroni and cheese, will be hand, along with Pelican’s Snoballs. The city was asked to do as it has in the past and buy meal tickets for city employees. The price for Fuddruckers is expected to be $14.50, Mac Attack is $15.50, and Pelican’s is $3. The total cost to the city would be however many white tickets its employees turn in at the trucks. Students and other attendees would have different colored tickets to distinguish from the city’s allotment of tickets. Council voted unanimously to participate.
Union County Tourism Director Curtiss Hunter and Union County Fair Director Paul Winters appeared before council to ask the city to sponsor the upcoming Butts & Boogie BBQ and music festival. Lonestar will be the featured performer in concert Saturday night, with up-and-coming musician Jess Kellie Adams opening for them. Adams will be featured on her own Friday night, as well. Tickets for Lonestar are $30 for general admission and $50 for VIP. They are available online at www.freshtix.com. They are also being sold at WBCU, Buffalo Pawn Shop, Clemson Extension, Dairio, Embroidery by Karen, and Fat Sam’s. The BBQ competition, sponsored by the Union County Coon Hunters Association and the SC BBQ Association. There will be carnival rides, local and traveling food vendors, an exotic petting zoo, and a comedy pig show titled, “Porkchop Revue”. The Junior Charity League will have its Spring Market set up at the event, as well.
Paul Winters told City Council several reasons why the Tourism Commission and Union County Fair Association are putting on this event:
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Council was asked to sponsor the event with $20,000 in hospitality funds, the same amount as the county. Council voted unanimously to sponsor the event. Winters said they are marketing the event locally through radio, newspaper, digital billboard, and social media, but they are also advertising in Greenville and Spartanburg, by placing radio ads in the Greenville market, digital billboards in Greenville and Spartanburg, TV commercials in the Greenville market, and social media targeted to Upstate residents. He said with all the money that has been put into the stadium, it’s a shame it is only used a few times a year, and he said with enough support, good concerts might be able to come to Union 2-3 times a year or so. Find out more about the event at buttsandboogie.com. Again, concert tickets and ride tickets are available here at WBCU.