GEORGETOWN S.C.— A dispute about the date and location of the annual Harborwalk Festival has caused the organizer to cancel the event.

Peggy Wayne, who has organized the festival most of its 23 years, said Tuesday she is tired of the haggling over when and where it is held.

It came to a head Tuesday during a meeting she had with Mayor Jack Scoville — who has publicly stated his displeasure of the festival — and City Administrator Chris Eldridge.

“The mayor said if it is not moved from Front Street to East Bay Park and was not scheduled for May instead of June it could not be held,” Wayne — a member of City Council — said.

Last year — for the first time — the festival was held in May rather than the final Saturday in June.

Wayne said because of the Harley Davidson Bike Festival and the Atlantic Beach Bike Festival — both taking place in late May — she was unable to get as many vendors last year. She also said because of those events and other things taking place that weekend, attendance at the Harborwalk Festival was down.

Because of that Wayne announced during the December council meeting the 2012 festival would return to late June. When she made the announcement, no one — including Scoville — voiced an objection or made any comments.

Taking that as a sign of approval, Wayne began sending out notices and applications to vendors letting them know the festival would be held in June once again.

She found out there was a problem this week when she stopped by City Hall to pick up the application for the festival. She was told at that time an application could not be accepted. That is when she requested the meeting with Scoville.

“He told me we had to move it or we cannot have it,” Wayne said.

She said she did not know Scoville has the authority to make such decisions without input from the rest of council.

“I am not moving it to May again and East Bay Park is too small. So, we will not have it,” Wayne said.

Scoville responds

The decision to move the 2011 festival to May was made by a vote of council. However, there was nothing in the motion stipulating it was a permanent move.

Scoville said the intent was to make the move permanent.

“I think everyone on council felt the vote was to make it a permanent change,” Scoville said.

When asked why he did not say anything when Wayne announced the change back to June, Scoville said “It was the December meeting and it was late in the meeting. I guess because of that and because it was Christmas, at that time I did not feel like making an issue out of it,” Scoville said, adding he was caught off guard by Wayne’s announcement.

He said he also suggested the festival be moved to earlier in May, or even April, to get it away from the biker weeks.

He also said Wayne waited too late to submit an application to try to obtain the business licenses for the vendors. Wayne said in prior years she was allowed to wait until 15 days before the festival to submit an application.

Scoville said he has the right as mayor to make decisions about when events will be held. He said those decisions are made by staff and he is in charge of the staff.

“For the past 15 years, the festival has steadily gone downhill,” Scoville said.

By Scott Harper

sharper@gtowntimes.com