It's no secret that one of the first cutbacks many are making during the recession involves entertainment and travel. The good news is that a variety of upcoming spring festivals are not only easy to access -- in most cases, within an hour's drive of Orangeburg -- but they can also be enjoyed without breaking the bank.

One national firm, Forrester Research Inc., recently reported that 39 percent of U.S. online consumers believe their economic situation will remain the same, and one-third actually think it will improve in the next 12 months. Even so, many respondents still said they would be taking a cautious approach to entertainment spending.

Although annual community festivals from Columbia to Hampton have always catered to local visitors, a number of festival organizers are beginning to aggressively market their events toward visitors within a 50-mile radius, according to South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism spokesman Marion Edmonds.

"Our mission at the state level is a bit different," Edmonds said. "The focus is more on promoting attracting out-of-state visitors, because those are fresh dollars being pumped into the South Carolina economy.

"There is a lot of attention to make these festivals popular this year, from what I've been hearing," he said. "I do think there is interest from local festivals in getting folks from nearby communities to attend. If they are bringing in people from outside the immediate community, these are dollars that can help stimulate the local economy. I would encourage people who are interested in taking advantage of great local recreation to go to our Web site, discoversouthcarolina.com, and they can track the most up-to-date information on these events."

The northwestern Orangeburg County town of Woodford will honor a migratory bird as it celebrates its inaugural Hummingbird Festival on March 20-21. It will replace the Purple Martin Festival, Calhoun County's signature event, which will be taking a hiatus in 2009 due to temporary problems with infrastructure and suitable alternate sites associated with construction of the new county library. Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jane Dyches says the festival will be back bigger and better in 2010.

Woodford Mayor Charlie Stoudemire, whose wife is the Hummingbird Festival coordinator, says the idea was born on a lazy spring evening.

"A number of our residents had approached me about having a festival in town," Stoudemire said. "My wife and I were sitting on the back porch one day when some hummingbirds started buzzing about. She said that was a good idea for a festival theme. We checked around and found out there was no festival honoring hummingbirds anywhere in the Southeast so we decided to use that as the basis for the event.

"We don't really know how it will go since this is the inauguration of the festival; however, we anticipate a big crowd," he said.

The bulk of spring festivals in The T&D Region will fill several March and April weekends, with the only exceptions being the annual Orangeburg Festival of Roses, May 1-3, and the Allendale County Cooter Festival, May 8-9.

Elloree Town Clerk Chasity Canaday says Elloree's two events, the Elloree Trials (March 21) and the Pork Festival (April 17-18), are fast positioning the eastern Orangeburg County town as a family entertainment oasis, especially during a soft economy.

"I think the Pork Festival will see a good turnout this year because we've seen that early ticket sales for the Trials are up, and it usually fell on the same weekend as the Purple Martin Festival," Canaday said. "Right now, people are trying to find inexpensive things they can do close to home."

The Trials, which draws, on average, 7,000 spectators, will feature the Budweiser Clydesdales, food vendors and games for the kids. The Pork Festival is family- and kid-friendly, with all the cooking and other events being held at Joe Miller Park.

A long-running festival that is a favorite among families is the Governor's Frog Jump Festival in Springfield. While the actual frog jump will take place on April 11, Springfield Town Clerk Tammy Lee says the kid's carnival actually begins April 9.

"We have the usual faithful that come every year," Lee said. "There are always a lot of families that haven't seen each other in a year that get together during the event. The organizing committee is trying to make the festival bigger and better to make it more enjoyable for our visitors."

Families that connect with Southern cuisine should consider the World Grits Festival in the northern Dorchester County seat of St. George. Entering its 24th year, the World Grits Festival (April 17-19) began when observations by two food distributors led original festival organizers to determine that local residents consumed more grits per capita than anywhere else in the world.

"Since then, we've averaged 25,000 to 35,000 visitors each year," said Roger Myers, festival chairman. "Ours is a family- and child-friendly festival with plenty of things to do with a lot of contests they can enter at no cost. There is no admission, and the only cost is for food from our vendors."

A water sports theme is the hallmark of the 30th annual Striped Bass Festival. According to Clarendon County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dawn Griffith, downtown Manning is the site for this Clarendon County event.

"We have a number of free events that will appeal to all ages," Griffith said. "For the first time last year, we had a Ferris wheel.

"It appears our food, craft and information vendors feel the festival will draw a good crowd during this tough economy because they are already coming out en masse."

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

Family festivals 

A sampling of family spring festivals and events from March through June. Each is approximately an hour or less away from Orangeburg. Find more information at www.discoversouthcarolina.com. 

MARCH

20-21 Woodford — Hummingbird Festival, 803-568-3550 or woodford-sc.com/f_festival.html

21 Elloree — Elloree Trials, 803-897-2616 or elloreesc.com/events.htm

APRIL

3-4 Denmark — Dogwood Festival, 803-792-3734

4 Columbia — South Carolina Tartan Fest, 803-898-4948 or museum.state.sc.us

4-5 Columbia — Columbia International Festival, 803-799-3452 or ifmusa.org/festival

11 Springfield — Governor’s Frog Jump And Egg Striking Contest, 803-258-3152 or springfieldsc.us/governor.htm

17-19 Elloree — Pork Festival, 803-897-2821 or elloreesc.com/events.htm

17-19 St. George — World Grits Festival, 843-563-7943 or worldgritsfestival.com

16-18 Turbeville — Puddin Swamp Festival, 843-659-2781 or townofturbeville.com/events.html

24-26 Manning — Clarendon County Striped Bass Festival, 803-435-4405 or clarendoncounty.com

24-25 Walterboro — Colleton County Rice Festival, 843-549-1079 or ricefestival.org

25 Columbia — Sparkleberry Country Fair, 803-788-2010 or sparkleberryfair.com

25 Aiken — Mead Hall Strawberry Festival, 803-644-1122 or woodsideplantation.com/community_calendar.html

MAY

1 Aiken — Aiken Lobster Race, 803-649-9500

1-3 Orangeburg — Orangeburg Festival Of Roses, 803-534-6821 or festivalofroses.com

7-9 Aiken — Aiken Bluegrass Festival — 803-278-4849

8-9 Allendale — Allendale County Cooter Festival — 803-584-4619 or cooterfest.com

15-16 Columbia — Carolina Children’s Home BBQ Cook-off Festival — 803-782-1421

16 Forest Acres — City Of Forest Acres Festival — 803-787-5065 or forestacres.net

JUNE

20-28 Hampton — Hampton County Watermelon Festival — 803-943-3478, 803-943-4978 or melonfest.org

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