COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland County Council has approved Hospitality Tax funding for various organizations in the community.
Hospitality tax is collected whenever you buy prepared food or drinks within the county.
Those collected taxes will help various events happen around Richland County including the Auntie Karen Foundation’s “Legends of… Concert” this year.
The Auntie Karen Foundation was awarded the most in funding from the hospitality tax funds at $31, 500.
Karen Alexander-Banks the founder of the organization says getting to host their annual concert event brings people from around the country to the area, and helps raise funding for the organization. This year’s concert is a “Legends of Gospel” show to help the foudnation celebrate 20 years of concerts with appearances form Marvin Sapp, Donnie McClurkin, and Hezekiah Walker.
“The funding that Richland County provides allows us to bring in these Grammy Award winning artists and to market that, so that people from outside of the county come and support the event. We have folks that make this an annual trip and they come as far as Washington state,” Alexander-Banks explained.
The Richland County Library got the second most amount of funding at $6,250, and this funding will help them host their 2024 Black History and Gullah GeeChee Celebration.
Other projects to receive funding included the Richland County Recreation Foundation’s Jazz Fest receiving $5,000 and Oliver Gospel receiving $3,000.
