The Sweet Tea Festival in Summerville

Explore free-to-attend events all week long.

CHS_Summerville_SEP2022.png

Explore the home of the World’s Largest Iced Tea.

Photo by @visitsummerville

Welcome to the sweetest weekend ever. Celebrate the birthplace of sweet tea in Summerville and its history at the Sweet Tea Festival this Saturday, Sept. 21.

It’s kind of a big deal and was even mentioned on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Keep reading because we’re spilling the tea on all the sweet deets.

🍋 Sweet Tea Cocktail Contest + Hold My Tea Bar Crawl

Now through Sunday, get in the game by sipping on local sweet tea cocktails from these seven participating bars and restaurants.

Don’t forget: Cast your vote using the QR code on your Bingo card which will help decide the winner of the People’s Choice Award. Like what you’re sipping? Recipes will be posted on the town’s Instagram.

Pro tip: Once you complete the card, you can trade it in for a free bar crawl shirt at the Summerville Visitor Center.

worlds-largest-sweet-tea

Visit The World’s Largest Sweet Tea — Mason, which stands 15-ft-tall and can hold up to 2,524 gallons of Sweet Tea.

Photo by CHStoday team

🍋 Sweetest Farmers Market

Shop from 70+ vendors from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. There will be farmers + artisans on site.

🍋 Sweet Tea Festival

After getting your local goods from the farmers market, head to Hutchinson Square on Saturday for this annual festival celebrating Summerville as the birthplace of sweet tea. Downtown will be transformed into an open house + street fair with food trucks, local musicians, and unique vendors.

Of course, there will be plenty of sweet tea. You can help select the best tea at the festival by sampling + voting for your favorite.

The background of this mural is white and yellow and there is a mason jar of sweet tea, ice, lemon

We love this sweet tea mural in Summerville.

Photo by the CHStoday team

Fun fact: The Town of Summerville set the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Sweet Iced Tea on June 10, 2016. To brew the record-setting 2,524 gallons of sweet tea, 210 pounds of tea + 1,700 pounds of sugar were used.

Street closures

  • Doty from 100 S. Main to Main Street
  • Little Main
  • W. Richardson from Main to Central
  • Short Central

Pro tip: Be ready to park several blocks away; parking around the event zone is limited.

Events
It’s Restaurant Week in the Upstate, so get your keys, we’re checking out eateries offering special dishes, menus, and deals for a limited time.
Make plans to hop on the Daniel Island Ferry for the next BBQ & Boats Sunset Cruise, featuring Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ.
Use this guide to spot a variety of birds along the Charleston shore, in the sky, and on land.
Grab a blanket and your lawn chairs and check out these must-see Fourth of July events taking place in and around Charleston.
Check out these family-friendly Carolina Day events that focus on SC’s role in a defining event of the American Revolutionary War.
Charleston has educational and celebratory events to commemorate Juneteenth that kick off this weekend.