City of Chester waives last minute fee for MLK Day Parade

CHESTER, S.C. – For the last 33 years, the City of Chester has hosted the Martin Luther King Day Parade.

“It brings out a lot of families, friends, people you hadn’t seen in a while and it’s a fun time and people really enjoy it,” Chester City Councilwoman Antrea Hughes said.

Councilwoman Hughes sounded the alarm on Facebook when she learned the longstanding tradition was in limbo. The city administrator sent a letter dated January 8th asking the MLK Parade committee to pay the city $6,825 before January 19th to have a parade. The cost included the price of 14 police officers, 11 public works personnel plus an additional $350 dollars for a major event fee. The committee previously paid a $30 application fee, but had never paid anything more for three decades.

Councilwoman Hughes also noted the Christmas parade the city hosted less than 30 days prior was not required to pay the same fee.

The MLK committee sent a letter back to the city administrator asking for council members to waive the $6,825 fee.

“This wasn’t an attempt to hinder the MLK parade,” Chester Mayor Carlos Williams said. “For years this city has been in dire financial Troubles and we need to be more financially secure.”

In a zoom meeting with more than 75 people on the line the council voted to waive the fee. In the meeting, the mayor says the fee wasn’t out of malice.

“I have been hearing the black and white stuff but I don’t want to hear that, because money, those numbers aren’t black and white it’s green,” Mayor Williams said.

Councilwoman Hughes agrees that the city needs to boost revenue but she says a surprise bill to one of the city’s most attended parades isn’t the way.

“The city has been in a financial crisis and just asking for that type of money at that late time is my concern,” Councilwoman Hughes said.

Hughes wants the city to take a closer look at the process so all events are treated the same.

“Moving forward, I would like for us to let all special events that’s happening in the city be made aware 60-90 days prior to the event what our fees are and moving forward that would be better for all special events,” Councilwoman Hughes said.

The Chester MLK Parade is scheduled for 3pm Sunday January 19th. It starts on Caldwell & Loomis and ends on York and Forest.