ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The Downtown Orangeburg Revitalization Association (DORA) says they are postponing what would have been the third year of the Orangeburg Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival.
"The Orangeburg Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival is deemed pretty much a food-based event," explained Candice Roberson, DORA's executive director. "Currently, our COVID case numbers are going up, our hospital is seeing more cases being admitted in the hospital, our city has a face mask ordinance that we are in favor of, and we don't see in the public health aspect that having a food-based event is the best thing to have in our downtown."
Roberson says one of the reasons for the decision is because patrons would take their masks off to eat or drink, which could cause the spread of the virus.
"We don't want to make our community worse than what it is," expressed Roberson. "We want to help our community; that is our mission and vision for D.O.R.A. We want to help downtown grow, whether that's in economics, community, or health."
The executive director says how D.O.R.A. is basing their food-based events now depends on the county's positive COVID cases and the city's mask mandate.
"If the numbers come down, then we will see the face mask ordinance come down also," explained Roberson. "It's in place, and the city feels like it's the safest thing for our community with our numbers are so high."
Roberson says DORA is working on a retail-based event in the fall, which she believes could have a lesser risk of spreading the virus since people would be required to wear a face covering.