KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — Memorial Day is known as the unofficial start to the summer season, which means boaters are back out on the water. While many people head to Lake Murray, a lot of people also head to Lake Wateree.
With the return of boaters, small businesses on Lake Wateree are seeing the return of customers.
Clearwater Cove Marina is one of those stores that is excited to welcome people back. Christine Walters is the manager there and says they spent a few months with their doors shut. "It's about two and a half months that we're closed."
Walters said this is their first year with business being back to normal since the pandemic started, and being a seasonal business hasn't made it easier. "It does get hard, you know, just being seasonal, it does sometimes. Other than that, most of us are family, so we do this for fun during the summertime and then we do our normal jobs."
As workers like her have returned from their off-season, so have the customers, adding this past weekend has been good for business.
"We have been awesome, we've had some record numbers. We've had this place packed for the last four days, it has been awesome," Walters said. "I think after covid, we're doing it getting back into everybody coming back."
Since re-opening, Walters said there has been one item that has been a hot commodity and continues to sell well -- ice cream! "Ice cream is a huge thing around here."
But, Clearwater Cove Marina is not the only small business in the area seeing sales tick up over the holiday weekend. Owners of Riverdeck Store & Grill, John and Danielle Warnock, say business has been booming as well, and they are hopeful that will remain the case through the summer. "It's been absolutely crazy this Memorial Day, it's definitely a great thing to see as things are getting back to normal finally."