May First Wednesday at Fish

Randall Goldman discussed the Charleston County Council's vote on a Rental Car fee to subsidize attracting a low-fare airline to Charleston. He cited lower wedding guest numbers due to high airline fares, and the willingness of travelers to have events in their second and third choice locations because airfares are cheaper. Click here to download excerpts from a letter from Helen Hill, Executive Director of the Charleston Convention and Visitor Center. It includes names and email addresses of the County Council. Please express your support by contacting the Council members soon and often. Susan will circulate a letter you can sign as well. Angela Green, our "Friendly Code Enforcement Officer" with the City of Charleston, reminded everyone that it is their responsibility to keep sidewalks clean in front of their businesses. She presented awards to Patrick Properties, Seeking Indigo, Halls Chophouse, the CVB, College of Charleston and others. We appreciate Angela's warmth and humor about a serious topic, our clean and beautiful City. We talked about the new Let's Do Lunch events which to showcase King Street and Charleston Peninsula shops, showrooms, spas and restaurants each month, and benefit local nonprofits. All KSMG Members are invited to participate in Let's Do Lunch as sponsors by 1) supplying a goodie bag or raffle item, 2)  attending the luncheon and 3) speaking a few words about their business if they choose to. In most cases, winners must visit the shop, showroom, spa or restaurant within 30 days. We're looking for immediate, measurable results as well as a fun event. We thanked our friends Evie Nadel, College of Charleston, for sponsoring our latest VIP Passport to King Street for 2500 parents at orientation, and Byron Miller at the State Ports Authority for their AAPA and Greenport America group. Coming up, another round of VIP Passports for the Francis Marion Hotel. Caroline Maas, Paula Edwards and Chelsea Peabody told us about the Spoleto Window Contest's easy rules, great prizes and awards party at Halls Chophouse. They also unveiled the 2010 Spoleto Poster by National Vietnam Memorial Artist Maya Lin. There was a lot of head scratching, but Spoleto wouldn't be Spoleto without pushing the limits of art. Here are links to Window Contest information: Voting Poster, Entry Form, Invitation to Participate. Speaking of Spoleto, The Spoleto Stroll is June 4, 5-8:00 pm in shops and showrooms, 8:00-closing in restaurants and bars. Gallery Row and Broad Street businesses, KSMG and King Street Businesses, Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto will all participate in The Spoleto Stroll and publicize the event, so be sure to let me know if you want your business to be part of the evening. Everyone is invited. Artists and musicians will be available to help entertain and attract visitors. See The Twelve Important Elements of a Successful Event. They work! Tommy Dew of City Slicker told us about their success as an Apple Featured App with 20,000 downloads in a single week, making it the 4th most popular travel-related app after Google Earth, Urbanspoon (our www.charlestondiningdistrict.com is an official Urbanspoon blog) and Yelp. If you haven't registered with City Slicker, do it today. City Slicker is featured in the iPhone App Store as New & Noteworthy, getting attention and downloads from 80 countries worldwide. Here's the link to register. It's free! Last but definitely not least, Jamie Price and Kristin Walker talked about Do the Charleston, the event May 16 which will close King Street from Calhoun south to Clifford for a day of festivities. Go to www.dothecharleston.com for more information, and remember the Twelve Elements! Big thanks to Jamie, Kristin and their crew for this amazing accomplishment and what we hope will be the first of many wonderful events for our City. Thanks everyone for participating in First Wednesday at Fish. We hope you'll join us June 2 for another interesting, entertaining and informative hour. Susan