WINNSBORO, S.C. — After a year of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, some towns and cities are finally seeing a boost in tourism.
"We’re starting to get back to some normalcy, especially since the town dropping off the face mask ordinance," said Gene Stephens, president of the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce.
Stephens said downtown Winnsboro is regaining the amount of traffic it had before the pandemic.
"Winnsboro has been down for a little while, as far as a few years," Stephens said. "We actually did, during the pandemic, we did three ribbon cuttings on Main Street right here in Winnsboro. Some new businesses opening up during the pandemic."
He said Fairfield County had six ribbon cuttings for new businesses during the pandemic.
The owner of Pauling's Barbering Services in Winnsboro, Clarence Pauling, said business is slowly returning but their numbers aren't close to where they were pre-pandemic.
"Business was relatively good before the pandemic came on," Pauling said. "It’s not bad now, but it’s not as good as it was."
Pauling told News 19 they were able to stay in business thanks to proper budgeting.
"It comes from budgeting, you know," Pauling said. "At a certain time, you put money back, just in case hard times do hit. It isn’t so much as the money, it isn't so much as people. It's because people are scared to spend the money. They know they have to put it back because you don't know what's coming next."
Stephens said boutiques have bounced back to pre-pandemic sales, but service businesses like insurance companies and restaurants have been a slower recovery.
"Employment is the biggest issue we are facing," Stephens said. "Restaurants are having troubles getting the employees that they need."
Stephens said Winnsboro has been gaining more traffic and hoping to have a more consistent flow of visitors. To gain more traffic in town, he said they held an event in April that brought over 500 people to Winnsboro.
"We’re starting to see more traffic," Stephens said. "It’s starting to pick back up but having consistent traffic down here, especially in our downtown area and even our bypass, all that comes from promotion, doing different things to let people know, ‘OK, these businesses are still here.'"
He said Fairfield County has been hosting and planning more events to bring more traction into the Winnsboro community. Some of the events include a farmer's market, food truck events, setting up bounce houses for kids, and more.
On July 17, the county plans to have a Christmas in July event to bring more visitors into the town. Pauling said the town of Winnsboro will continue to grow stronger and get back to the way it was before the pandemic.
"Winnsboro has had a lot of ups and downs, losing Mack truck, losing Walmart, and a couple of small businesses that were here," Pauling said. "But Winnsboro isn't going anywhere. It's the people, it's our resolve that keeps us going."