Since May 2007 PRESORT STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID CHARLESTON, SC PERMIT NO. 137 POSTAL PATRON
Volume 22 • Issue 14
FREE
July 24, 2026
July 4th: Going Off Like a Bang on Kiawah Island BY THERESA STRATFORD | For The Island Connection
I
t’s only natural that, at the first town council meeting after the busiest weekend of the year, there would be reflection on how it went and whether things could have gone better. That’s what the town officials reflected on at the July 7 Kiawah Island Town Council meeting after what they reported was probably a record number of visitors on July 4th weekend. Mayor Bradley Belt started out thanking the town staff and everyone on the island who assisted with the busy July 4th weekend. “I really especially want to thank the folks that were on the front lines on behalf of the town over the course of the weekend,” he said. He specifically recognized the beach patrol, the county park staff, the KICA staff at the gates and the Town staff who helped in many aspects, but especially with traffic. Fireworks Of course, it isn’t July 4th without fireworks, and Kiawah Island had a few different fireworks displays that evening. Belt noted that the Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s fireworks display had to be delayed for about 40 minutes. “I was down on the beach, but did not Photo Credit Valerie Doane stick around for the delay. That is well past my bedtime, but I think a lot of people did,” he added. Belt noted that in the future, the town will need to take a closer look at the permitting process for the fireworks vendors. For example, the fireworks show at Cassique on July 3 only lasted about eight minutes because fire marshals shut it down. “It turns out there were multiple violations discovered concerning how they maintained the equipment, the pressurization of the extinguishers
and other issues. Some of the fireworks started several small brush fires and it took about an hour and a half for St. John’s Fire District to put out the fires,” he said. That same fireworks vendor provided the fireworks for the resort and at Night Heron Park. Kiawah Island’s Public Safety department spent time with the vendor before the fireworks shows on July 4 to be sure everything was aligned with code. “There are lessons to be learned,” Belt added. “I think we will approach this differently next year.” Traffic Another issue that the Town of Kiawah Island wants to get a better handle on in the future is how they deal with the traffic backup at the gate. “This is the second holiday in a row that we had traffic backed up all the way to the circle,” Belt reported. “This is not just a quality-of-life issue, but it is also a safety issue.” The Town does not control the gate access – KICA does that. Belt mentioned that the Town wants to engage in conversations with KICA and the resort about how they can utilize technology to better manage the volume of cars coming in through the main gate. One potential solution being discussed is an off-site visitor center for people to check in. “We cannot continue to have these periods where it’s literally impossible to get on the island,” Belt said. Council Member Lance Spencer recounted his experience with gate access on a military base. “I spent most of my adult life going to work on military bases every day,” he said. “And they can get 15,000 people to work pretty quickly through the base, plus city buses and visitors. That’s a lot of people. There are ways to do this.”
Turtle Update on the Hatchlings For The Island Connection
L Photo Credit by Joe Ficarra.
oggerhead turtles began laying their nests on Kiawah on May 10 (over 400 nests), so when doing the math, we may begin to see hatchlings in mid-July. Let’s give these guys a fighting chance to make it to shore by filling holes and flattening sandcastles before leaving the beach each day.