Billy Idol, Spring Fling: What to know about traffic, parking in downtown Spartanburg.
Downtown Spartanburg will be playing host to two crowd-drawing events Saturday evening as thousands of residents and visitors alike flock to the city center for Spring Fling and the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium to see Billy Idol.
According to Lindsay Drakulic, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, tickets for are selling fast for Billy Idol.
The venue posted a low ticket alert on its social media pages Wednesday.
"We anticipate a sold-out show," Drakulic said.
The growth that downtown Spartanburg has seen in recent years makes busy weekends like this one possible.
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City Communications Manager Christopher George noted that, not so long ago, having two major events happening downtown at the same time would have raised concerns about the city's ability to draw enough attendees.
"It’s a great example of the sustained growth we’ve seen downtown that organizations feel comfortable scheduling multiple headlining events on the same day. Just a few years ago, there would’ve been concerns about the ability to draw that many folks to Downtown Spartanburg for multiple events, but we’ve grown beyond those kinds of worries to a large degree," George said.
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Spring Fling road closures
Aundi Hunter, special events manager for the city of Spartanburg, said the city is expecting about 115,000 people to attend Spring Fling this weekend.
Road closures started Thursday for the Criterion bike races, scheduled for Friday. East Broad Street from Church Street to Converse Street, Liberty Street from the Kennedy parking garage to Dunbar Street, and East Main Street from Church Street to Converse Street will be closed Thursday-Sunday.
Additional streets will be closed Thursday night and Friday morning and will be closed through Sunday:
Church Street from St. John Street to Kennedy Street
Main Street from Daniel Morgan Avenue to Converse Street
Broad Street from Daniel Morgan to Converse Street
Dunbar Street from Magnolia Street to the Dunbar Parking Garage
Converse Street from Broad Street to Dunbar Street
How to get to Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium
George encouraged concertgoers to be aware of the downtown street closures. Detour signs will be posted to direct drivers around the festival footprint.
"That’s especially important for anyone who would normally travel north through downtown along Church Street. The best route for those folks will be to take Pine Street to St. John Street or N. Daniel Morgan Avenue and to connect with N. Church Street that way," George said of drivers heading to the concert through downtown.
Those heading to Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium should also check the venue's webpage for the concert and allow themselves time to find parking and walk to the venue since the auditorium's rear parking lot is reserved for attendees of the Dorman High School prom, also taking place Saturday evening.
Parking is available nearby at Spartanburg County Offices and Howard Street Law Offices and a shuttle will be running from the parking lot at Wofford College's Gibbs football stadium to the auditorium.
"I would recommend that out-of-towners coming to the Billy Idol show carpool whenever possible and give themselves plenty of time to a lot for traffic. We also encourage all Idol concertgoers to check out the map of designated parking areas that we have posted to our website," Drakulic said.
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Downtown Spartanburg: Billy Idol, Spring Fling set to take over city
