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Freedom Weekend Aloft Returning to Greenville (County)

RestedTraveler

By RestedTraveler
in Greenville

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gs3 Metropolitan Area

gs3

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Posted

Went to FWA this evening and WOW!!!! Really nice event! :thumbsup: I went to the event the first year I lived in Greenville, when the event was held in Anderson and remember leaving the event not very excited. Never went back until tonight, now that it's here in the Greenville burbs. Congrats to Simpsonville.....they did VERY well on opening night. Such a difference having it in a park with trees (my partner commented it felt like we were in Busch Gardens) vs. the big field it was in while in Anderson. Seemed like a great crowd of people tonight. I'd encourage any and all to go, one of the next three days...evenings seem a little more special as they have the balloon glow.

Here are my opinions on this years event:

Pros:

Excellent location.....much larger park than I realized and the TREES......very nice.

Easy to get to.....exit Harrison Bridge off 385 and you're basically there.

A lot of different and unique vendors this year.

Great layout and set-up.

My partner and I were definitely not the only alternative couple there.....diverse crowd.

The amphitheater area is HUGE!

Balloon area has the large hill to sit on.....everybody gets an excellent view.

Lots of beer and wine booths from multiple brands....if that's your pleasure.

5 dollars to park and that was it. No admission. The only money we spent was on beer and food. 5 dollars gets you a sheet of eight tickets. A beer was 4 tickets.

Cons:

The volunteer staff seemed a little green.

Parking was easy. In and out was easy. Once parked, there is somewhat of a walk into the park. On the plus side, they had shuttle buses running if you wanted to take them.

It really was a great event and for the first time I got off the beaten path in Heritage Park. HINT....walk off toward the baseball fields and explore this park.....great park....large trees....stone everywhere.....1st rate quality. Very nice park. Never new. Have some photos for a thread. I would encourage all to go. Heading back Sunday myself.

A few photos:

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gvillenative Whistle-Stop

gvillenative

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I went last night and I must say other than waiting forever to get to the parking area, IT WAS AWSOME! Shuttle buses to get from the parking area to the event, the ampitheater is huge. What I thought was the coolest was having the baloons flying over during the Trent Tomlinson concert. Josh Gracin needs a little more practice on how to use the microphone. Gary Alan's entrance was off the hook. He started singing " A feeling like that" he got almost all the way through the first line before I realized where he was. He started the song while he was coming up on like an elevator thing in the middle of the stage. It rocked. Its funny how the balloons where taking off from a field right next to us. It looked like they were going to hit the trees. Work on the parking thing next year and there would be nothing wrong with this event in my mind. We parked near the back of the field, when we left they had sprayed the first 1/4 of the lot down with water to settle the dust, lit up half the field and the back half need I was say was dusty and dark. Fix that and everything will be fine in my mind, add another entrance from the back maybe have more than one entrance to the field. That was my only gripe.

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breed Hamlet

breed

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Planning on making a day of it tomorrow... any tips on traffic/parking issues for those who have been?

If you had nasty traffic issues, where were they? Fairview? Laurens/Main St? Would it be a good idea to go via backroads?

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gs3 Metropolitan Area

gs3

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Great to see most feedback on FWA was positive in the media. Traffic seemed to be the only concern. Must say, when I went, traffic wasn't that much of an issue. I exited on Harrison Bridge from 385 as it's now four lane the short distance over to Main in Simpsonville. No problems. Will be interesting to see what solutions they come up with next year for the traffic/parking/shuttle of attendees.

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breed Hamlet

breed

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Went yesterday and had a good time. The amphitheatre is huge and I would expect more concerts in the future.

Stuff seemed a bit pricey... $7.50 to take my daughter on the carousel for one ride. I guess that's just a sign of the times though.

One of the best parts... Heritage Park could accomodate the event even if it doubled or tripled in size, and that's before including planned areas for park expansion.

Downside... parking lot flow. Getting to the parking lot was fine, as was parking. It took at least 30 minutes to leave. Entrances could have been used as exits during the big rush to leave at closing time, but weren't, at least not in the parking lot we were in. Overall a minor glitch though.

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lbs5015 Unincorporated Area

lbs5015

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I went twice once on Saturday got there around 12:30 from the north took exit 31. Very smooth getting into the "blue" parking lot but we were very early only about 20 cars where parked in the lot at the time so we were about 50ft from the shuttle. No line for the shuttle got in smoothly. we left around 3:00 no problems with lines for the shuttle and leaving the parking lot was a breeze. when we were leaving we noticed the crowds were picking up though.

Second time we wanted to see the Balloons! so we went Sunday evening. Totally different story traffic was alittle backed up(almost to fairview) but it wasn't horrible I mean it is a huge event so you would expect some traffic. but it was moving along into the parking lot. this time we had to park way in back of the field. so far back that people didn't want to walk to the shuttle but instead walk through the fields and woods and over some barbed wire, and through a new neighborhood. we followed the crowd of people going this way. oh by the way the shuttle line was pretty backed up. we left around 8:30pm looked like pretty bad lines at the shuttle to go to the parking areas. so we back tracked through the neighborhood to get to the parking field. had no problem with traffic leaving the lot.

I'm sure with everyone leaving after the concerts traffic was chaos in the parking lots. But this seems to be an issue at any concert venue that has "field parking" or even asphalt parking in some cases.

I think for the first time handling an event like this everything was handled very well. and I think the crowds were more then expected.

I recall hearing that the "park" does not own the field parking areas, did I hear correctly? What happens when the owners of the field sell it off? Having a shuttle from say Haywood mall or some other large parking lot might be a good idea next year.

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GvilleSC Megalopolis

GvilleSC

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Agreed about possibly using Haywood or something. I also thought that GTA could tap into some of this revenue. Why not use GTA buses (a heck of a lot easier to get in and out with two doors and has standing room) and create some income for the ailing system?

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