Beaufort Academy’s
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APRIL 16–22, 2026
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Saturday, May 2 5:30pm10:30pm Kate Gleason Park
COVERING BEAUFORT COUNTY
Soft Shell Crab Festival returns to Port Royal this weekend
Reaqwon Cohen holds a crab platter freshly fried from Bellyfull By Tyger during the Soft Shell Crab Festival in Port Royal on Saturday, April 19, 2025. The event was hosted by the Old Village Association of Port Royal. Amber Hewitt/File/The Island News
By Delayna Earley The Island News Soft shell crab season along the South Carolina coast is brief and closely watched. In Port Royal, its arrival is marked each spring with a one-day festival that has become a fixture along Paris Avenue. The 21st annual Soft Shell Crab Festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is organized by the Old Village Association and is free and open to the public. At its core, the festival centers on a product that is only available for a limited time. Soft shell crabs are blue crabs that have recently molted, leaving their shells soft
enough to be eaten whole. That process is driven by seasonal conditions, which typically make the crabs available for only a few weeks each year. Paris Avenue will be closed to traffic as vendors line the street and extend toward the waterfront, where the smell of seafood and the sound of live music tend to carry from one end of the festival to the other. Seafood vendors will anchor the event, with soft shell crab dishes featured alongside other food options, as well as arts and craft booths. Live music will run throughout the day, with David Laughin scheduled to perform from 11 a.m.
WATERFRONT PARK
to 1:30 p.m., followed by Killin Quaid from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Additional activities include a classic car show and a motorcycle display hosted by Bikers Against Bullies. Family-oriented attractions such as bounce houses and face painting will also be available. Organizers note that pets are not permitted within the festival footprint. Parking in and around Port Royal will be limited, and attendees should expect congestion throughout the day. Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
Beaufort to seek public input on waterfront rebuild Public event set for April 22; City addressing day dock access
Workers from Graybar Fence Company install a new, more attractive fence in the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in downtown Beaufort. Mike McCombs/The Island News
Fence gets a face lift
Crews install new barrier along Beaufort River while long-term repairs to damaged structure could take years By Delayna Earley The Island News The fence blocking one of Beaufort’s most recognizable waterfront views is getting a face lift, but the walkway behind it is still off limits at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Crews are now replacing the chain link fence that has closed off a large portion of the park’s promenade since last summer, installing a more visually appealing black aluminum barrier in its place, city officials said.
The original fencing went up just ahead of the Fourth of July holiday in 2025, when the city abruptly closed the promenade after determining the structure beneath it had become unsafe. The closure took effect June 30, 2025, after engineers identified significant deterioration and overstressed support piles beneath the promenade’s relieving platform, prompting the city to act quickly on safety concerns. What was initially understood to
be aging infrastructure, concrete pilings weakened by years of saltwater exposure, was later confirmed to be more serious. Since then, the fenced off stretch, a roughly 40-foot-wide walkway along the Beaufort River, has remained off limits, cutting off one of the park’s most popular features for both residents and visitors. Other portions of the park remain open and have been deemed safe
SEE FENCE PAGE A4
By Delayna Earley The Island News The City of Beaufort is still trying to determine the best way to replace the deteriorating Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park promenade. City officials are now in Phase 2 of that process, narrowing design options and preparing to gather public input. The next phase of the process will bring those options directly to the public. City officials will host a public event from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 22, at the pavilion at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, where residents will be able to review renderings and provide feedback. In the event of inclement weather, the meeting will be held inside Beaufort City Hall. Early discussions included eight possible approaches. Those have since been reduced to three primary options: rebuilding a raised platform similar to what exists today, constructing a seawall and filling the area, or pursuing a hybrid design that combines elements of both. Engineers have already indicated that some options may be less feasible than others.
SEE INPUT PAGE A6
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