Gervais Street Bridge Dinner, other Columbia events get key nod from City Council
A popular dinner on the Gervais Street bridge, along with several other spring Columbia happenings, narrowly got a key approval Tuesday from Columbia City Council, signaling a cautious return to big public events and gatherings as pandemic numbers continue to improve.
Council approved beer and wine consumption for the May 2 Gervais Street Bridge Dinner, which which will welcome up to 1,000 people to have dinner and socialize above the Congaree River. The dinner had previously gotten a similar approval from West Columbia for that city’s portion of the bridge.
The measure to approve beer and wine for the bridge event passed by a 4-3 vote, with Councilmen Howard Duvall, Ed McDowell and Sam Davis each voting “no.” Third-term Mayor Steve Benjamin cast the tie-breaking “yes” vote.
Duvall told his colleagues Tuesday that he simply didn’t believe the time had yet arrived for the city to issue beer and wine permissions for large public events, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing.
“It’s normally held in October, and I think that by October I would be perfectly comfortable authorizing this dinner,” Duvall said. “But at the present time, I can’t support having a dinner of 1,000 people on the Gervais Street Bridge, with (a number) of people supporting them.”
District 4 Councilman Daniel Rickenmann disagreed with Duvall, and noted at least one other popular, outdoor gathering that has long gotten approval from the city.
“I just want to duly note that I appreciate everybody’s opinion, but we have allowed Soda City (Market) to have thousands of people throughout the summer and the fall of this pandemic,” Rickenmann said, referring to the longstanding Saturday morning market that takes over Main Street each weekend. “The bridge dinner is a limited seating event.”
Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine said she was “a little torn” about voting in favor of granting the beer and wine permit for the event, but acknowledged that a segue back into public events in Columbia is inevitable.
“As people start getting vaccinated and we start coming out of this thing, we are going to have to continue with smart precautions,” Devine said. “Social distancing, masks, things like that.”
Devine said that as events continue to come back, people should become accustomed to the venues having COVID safety measures in place.
“I do think that, if we are going to start moving forward with events, this is one where people can start getting used to having events and getting used to additional precautions,” Devine said.
According to city paperwork, Carolina Together, the organization that puts on the bridge dinner, has a number of safety precautions in place, including temperature checks upon entry, masks required except in instances where people are actively eating, drinking or performing, sanitizer stations throughout the event, and staggered departure and arrival times.
Benjamin said even with events starting to creep back onto the calendar, the city has to be careful because of the coronavirus. Confirmed new cases, deaths and hospitalizations have been trending downward in South Carolina over the last month, and vaccine distribution has been picking up speed.
But the mayor warned the pandemic is not over yet.
“We are this close to being out of the weeds on the pandemic,” Benjamin said. “We need to keep moving hard and fast, while at the same time trusting people to be responsible adults and to do their part.”
Other spring events that received beer and wine permissions from the city on Tuesday include: the Artista Vista Crafty Feast (April 18), various events on Boyd Plaza connected to the Art Blossoms opening at Columbia Museum of Art (April 14-18), the Live on Lincoln fundraiser for the arts (April 18), The Labyrinth on Boyd Plaza (April 29) and the Columbia Design League’s Derby By Design on Boyd Plaza (May 1).
Votes on all of the permits were split. The bridge dinner and Live on Lincoln votes were 4-3, with Duvall, McDowell and Davis voting “no.” The votes on the rest of the events were 5-2, with Davis and McDowell voting “no.”
