St. Pats Five Points event will look different this year. Here’s what organizers say

For what would be the 39th annual St. Pats in Five Points event, there will be no in-person festival, Five Points will not be shut down for crowds of 40,000 people and the morning races around the city may not happen for the second year in a row.

The association is in the final stages of deciding what the event will look like in March 2021 because of the pandemic, according to Five Points Association President Steve Cook.

Cook said the association is toying with virtual ideas for a concert and the 5K, 10K and 1-mile races. Organizers are also considering allowing a small number of people to attend a concert, while the whole event is streamed online to try to still raise money for coronavirus efforts in Columbia.

Reduced capacity for a possible outdoor concert will be only a fraction of the normal attendance, with much less than 10,000 people allowed in if it happens, said Cook.

“We’re going to have to do something very quickly. I would say by the end of the month if we’re going to have anything viable,” Cook said about the deadline for announcing concrete plans for St. Pats.

Last year, after urging from Mayor Steve Benjamin, the festival was postponed and then canceled. The pandemic took hold in S.C. just 10 days before the festival was scheduled to happen.

On March 12, 2020, South Carolina had 10 cases of coronavirus. Since then, at least 326,588 people in S.C. have tested positive for the virus, according to state health officials.

The event funds most of the association’s annual budget. That includes its safety team, executive director and other staff, as well as capital projects like fountains, statues and art installations.