GEORGETOWN, SOUTH CAROLINA, GETS SOME STEEP COMPETITION FROM its bigger neighbors to the south and north. Both Charleston and Myrtle Beach have long-standing reputations that attract visitors to the South Carolina coast year-round. Enter the Georgetown Art & Wine Walk—a fledgling festival that has grown in size, scope and popularity each year since its establishment in 2023. The event celebrates all the creative arts and makes them accessible to both visitors and locals, young and old.
Loaded with small-town charm, Georgetown has typically attracted visitors with its cultural heritage, historic sites and oak-lined streets. Yet it’s also gained attention across the region for supporting a robust arts community that’s garnered it a designation as one of 13 key Cultural Districts by the South Carolina Arts Commission.
Cultural districts are geographic areas of South Carolina cities or towns that have a concentration of artistic assets, cultural facilities, creative businesses and place-making activities. Cultural districts may also contain businesses or locations like restaurants, banks or parks whose primary purpose is not creative but which regularly make their spaces available to artists or create opportunities for the public to encounter the arts.
“The city’s arts and cultural commission satisfied the strict criteria of the state commission, and we want people to know about it,” says Deborah Smith, who co-owns Art Harbor Gallery with her husband, photographer Alan Sherlock. “We have a robust arts community that continues to grow. So, we proposed creating this event to raise awareness of Georgetown as an arts center. The Georgetown Business Association (GBA) board members are supporters of the arts and agreed it was a great idea. When we launched the first Georgetown Art & Wine Walk four years ago, it was a much bigger success than we thought it would be. Now, we have generous local sponsors, like Coastal Carolina University, who help us make the festival better each year.”
The festival, which is held over a weekend in September, is centered around a juried art competition that, last year, attracted over 100 entries from emerging and established artists. As arts events coordinator for the Georgetown Business Association, Smith has helped to shape the character of the art walk. “We modeled our show somewhat after Lake City’s ArtFields,” says Smith, a Georgetown native. “I attend ArtFields every year because it’s such a multifaceted show. They’re much bigger than we are, but when we decided to create an event here, we thought their approach—allowing downtown businesses to collaborate and participate as venues—would be perfect. The concept is that the art is displayed in the Downtown Historic District, in our galleries, in businesses, on the sidewalks. So, most of the installations are walkable and good for business.”
The Georgetown Art & Wine Walk also offers ancillary events in the mix: The Art Market is in Maritime Park, next to the South Carolina Maritime Museum on Front Street and overlooking the Sampit River. The 2026 event will spill over into two parks thanks to the burgeoning interest of artists and craftspeople.
“We showcase children’s arts projects, chalk artists, interactive art on the street, theater and musical performances, outdoor painting contests and, of course, the guided Saturday evening Wine Walk,” Smith says. “It’s an immersion in the arts. You’re going to see color everywhere, wherever you step. The art walk’s mission is to celebrate all the arts. There’s something for everybody. We want to engage people, to draw in young folks—art isn’t something you can only see in the Louvre; it’s all around you.”
Smith observes that Charleston’s well-respected Piccolo Spoleto is highly competitive, curating submissions with difficult-to-meet criteria. Smaller and more accessible, the Georgetown Art & Wine Walk attracts all levels of participating artists from all over the Southeast—from Alabama to Virginia. A committee reviews the work and determines who is accepted.
Competition categories include painting/drawing, photography, 3-D sculpture and mixed media. “The juried competition is open to all artists, whether they’ve been painting for decades or have just gotten into their first gallery last week; they all have an equal chance of competing in the show,” notes Smith, who has shown her own work at the Piccolo Spoleto Juried Art Exhibition. “We award cash prizes for the judges’ choices, and we also hold a peoples’ choice vote. The art fair is open to artists and craftspeople as well. They apply for a space and set up a tent with their wares for people to stroll and shop. If we identify an empty commercial space, we may use it for a pop-up gallery for that week.”
Proceeds from the art walk go to other programs the GBA supports, with a significant portion donated to The Village Group, a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that offers after-school programs for children living in Georgetown County.
“They provide out of school time, after-school art and other cultural and STEM programs for rural kids countywide. Some of those children will come and paint with us during the show. It’s a fun arrangement—and their choir of elementary and middle school kids sings for us during the awards ceremony,” explains Smith, who served as a director within the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice before retiring. She says she misses working with those kids, whom she believes wouldn’t be where they were if they had more consistency and resources in their lives. The festival’s activities are free for kids in kindergarten through grade 12.
“The city’s going through a transition right now with the mills shutting down,” says Smith, referring to the recent closures of the two major industrial sites—Liberty Steel and International Paper mills—that have dominated the Georgetown waterfront for decades. “A plan is unfolding to transform those sites into multiuse properties, providing a welcoming gateway to the city. The developer who’s taken on these properties has a track record of developing industrial sites and integrating them into the town, making them something all our residents and visitors can use.”
With the Georgetown Art & Wine Walk celebrating its fifth anniversary and largest turnout this fall, the city is well positioned to enhance its place as another must-visit destination on the South Carolina coast. *
Wendy Swat Snyder is a Charleston-based freelance writer (sweetgrassandgrits.com).
