Overview The SC Pecan Music and Food Festival is South Carolina's official state pecan festival, so named by Act No. 9 of 2011, and on the first Saturday of November it fills the blocks of Historic Downtown Florence with nine stages, more than 250 vendors, a classic car show and a half marathon, all free to get into. It runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. A volunteer committee plans it over ten months and more than 1,000 volunteer hours, as a charitable program of the Florence Downtown Development Corporation, a 501(c)(3). The 2025 edition was the 21st. On site The Main Stage carries regional and tribute acts and the national headliner, and the Gold Stage faces it with regional names. Six smaller stages split the rest: Gospel, Jazz, Pecan-Palooza, Blues, Kids Fun Zone and Dance. Food, craft and retail vendors line the closed streets, amusement rides sit near the Main Stage, and the Kids Fun Zone and a STE(A)M Zone run hands-on activities on the lawn at the FMU Performing Arts Center. Arts on Evans holds the Chalk It Up chalk art contest and live muralists. The Pecan Pub pours pecan-brewed and craft beers beside cornhole and football on big screens, the car show brings more than 100 vehicles, and park-and-ride shuttles run from satellite lots. Run Like a Nut, the 5K, 10K and USATF-certified half marathon, runs a flat course through the historic neighborhoods and draws runners from along the East Coast. Audience People stay: Placer AI data in the festival's deck puts average dwell time at two hours and downtown foot traffic on festival day up 567%. In 2024, 25.45% of attendees came from 30 to 50 miles away and 18.32% from more than 50, and the festival's online following sits mainly in the Florence, Columbia and Myrtle Beach markets. Talent and Influencers For 2026 the festival booked Jason Scheff, longtime lead singer of Chicago, into the Main Stage closing slot, on a bill with Simply the Best, a Tina Turner tribute, Double Vision: The Foreigner Experience on the Gold Stage and gospel groups including the Sensational Brown Brothers and The Smith Brothers on the Gospel Stage. Track record The first SC Pecan Festival ran in 2003, set downtown to show off the city's revitalizing historic core. Travel + Leisure Online named it the best fall festival in South Carolina in 2017, and it won Best Community Festival in the Best of the Pee Dee awards in 2014, 2019 and 2022. The committee used the pandemic pause to rename it the SC Pecan Music and Food Festival in 2020. Brand presence Nearly every sponsorship names a piece of the day: the headline band, the Main Stage and Gold Stage, the Kids Fun Zone, the STEM Zone and STEM bus, Run Like a Nut, the car show, the Pecan Pub, the chalk contest, the rides and the park-and-ride shuttles. Booths grow with the level, from a 10-by-10 tent with table and chairs to a 15-by-15 tent in a prime spot at the top. Logos ride on the festival T-shirt, the website, radio and regional TV spots, and a water bill insert mailed to 30,000 Florence-area customers before the festival, which doubles as the day-of guide.