As it has been since the event began, the Sweet Tea Festival promises to be the sweetest yet in downtown Summerville on Saturday, September 21. Whether it’s live music from the 2nd Annual Southern Songwriter Festival, the Sweet Tea Contest, local artisans, specialty foods, the Kids Zone, souvenir mugs and t-shirts, the golf tournament, the Sweetest Third Thursday, the Sweetest Farmers Market, the Hold My Tea Bar Crawl or other related events and activities leading up to the 2024 Sweet Tea Festival, this year is expected to be the biggest yet.

Steve Doniger, executive director of Summerville DREAM, said the continued and growing success of the annual Sweet Tea Festival is the result of many factors, with two of the most important being collaboration and partnerships with the community. DREAM has grown from 100 to 400 partners in the last five years.

Doniger said the festival brings in significant revenue for local vendors, some bringing in enough to cover rent for nearly two months.

“Every event we do is designed to promote small businesses,” Doniger said. “We’re not DREAM; all of the small businesses and merchants downtown and throughout Summerville are DREAM. We’re focused on putting on the best festival possible when we do something. But we know from our surveys and conversations that half a dozen of our small businesses pay rent for one and a half to two months, from one day to five hours. Everything we do is very downtown-focused.”

Another factor that contributed to the festival’s success was the great acceptance of downtown businesses, said Doniger.

“Many businesses also offer gifts and things related to sweet tea,” he said. “Each of our events is geared toward small businesses, so there are always opportunities. Whether they want to keep their lights on a little longer, set up a vendor booth or do a special activity, many of these businesses offer sweet tea for sale.”