SC Venue Crisis

“South Carolina’s economy depends on live music, special events, and alcohol and food sales. Without it, we’re going broke.”

That’s what Ben Bounds had to say at Fan Fest, in West Columbia. The event, held at Steel Hands Brewing, was a perfect representation of what we’re trying to save.

Listen Up!

Ben’s small business, Follywood Productions, hosts events in the greater Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville areas, most often at locations that sell and serve alcohol. He also books musical entertainment for Charleston Tours and Events. Oh, and look up a band called Gritty Flyright. He’s the booking agent for them, too.

As you can see, Ben Bounds knows what he’s talking about, y’all. So, listen up!

“Let me give you a quick example. If you owned a whiskey bar in 2018 and you played, you paid $6,000 a year in insurance to sell alcohol. You’re paying $40,000 a year now. You do the math in your head on that. That’s outrageous. That’s unsustainable. And that’s what this is all about. The rising rates of insurance for small businesses that sell alcohol and host live music is unsustainable.

So like Sheila said, if you’ve got a buddy in the state legislature, if you’ve got a buddy on the city council or your county council or in your state capitol or anywhere like that, that has a voice and any kind of influence, reach out to them on Monday when you get back to work and you get back home and say, “Hey, man, we got to fix this.” Because our state’s economy depends on live music, special events, and alcohol and food sales. Without them, we’re going broke…”

Ben Bounds, Follywood Productions