First Feet Fest
A bridge-naming and dedication ceremony at the new Green Crescent Bridge on Berkeley Drive
You and your family are invited to join the City of Clemson, Clemson Elementary, and the Friends of the Green Crescent Trails for a bridge-naming and dedication ceremony and a first official walk across the Green Crescent Bridge, the brand new pedestrian and cyclist connector on Berkeley Drive.
Friday, November 10th, 2017
2pm to 4pm
Schedule of Events
2 pm: Ribbon cutting and dedication (at Berkeley Drive and Frontage Road)
2:30 pm: Community ribbon tying (Berkeley Drive at the Green Crescent Bridge, following Clemson Elementary dismissal)
​Grab some ribbon to tie onto the new bridge to commemorate your “First Feet” on the Green Crescent Bridge. Ribbons available at Clemson Elementary, Clemson Park, and at the bridge.
3-4 pm: Post-dedication fest (Clemson Park, 114 Clemson Park Road, behind Clemson United Methodist Church)
Click here for more details.
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CLEMSON, S.C. – On Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 at 2 p.m., the City of Clemson, in partnership with the Friends of the Green Crescent and Clemson Elementary School, will celebrate the opening of the city’s new pedestrian bridge, the Green Crescent Bridge, with an official ribbon cutting, followed by a communitywide “ribbon tying” and First-Feet event. Students, families, and community members will be given orange ribbons to tie onto the new bridge, an exercise designed to show usage of and support for this important facility, which is the first section of a larger network of pedestrian and cycling trails in and around the greater Clemson area.
Following the bridge dedication and ribbon tying, a First-Feet fest will be held at Clemson Park. All these events are free and open to the public.
Clemson City Council voted on Sept 18, 2017, to name the city’s new, $1.6 million pedestrian bridge on Clemson’s Berkeley Drive the Green Crescent Bridge, showing a continued partnership between City’s leadership and community advocates working to bring a cycling and pedestrian network to the greater Clemson area.
The Friends of the Green Crescent is a grassroots organization working to improve quality of life for residents, students, and visitors in the Clemson-Central-Pendleton area by building a multi-modal network of trails and pathways to connect its many assets. This trail system is envisioned to serve both as a year-round source of economic vitality and as an ongoing investment in quality of life by connecting the community’s downtowns, its parks, waterways, and landmarks through a well-marked and well-maintained system of pathways. Looking to other municipalities—such as Travelers Rest, Greenville, Pickens, and Easley—and modeling their multi-use trail networks—including the Swamp Rabbit and Doodle trails—the Friends of the Green Crescent and its government and corporate partners are working together to bring those same benefits to the greater Clemson area.
In 2016, the Friends of the Green Crescent enlisted the design firm Alta Planning + Design to conduct a feasibility study for a Green Crescent Trail network in and around Clemson. That study was funded with contributions from the City of Clemson, Pickens County, the City of Central, and Southern Wesleyan University. The plan outlined potential trail routes and provided cost estimates on a section-by-section basis for the network, although all routes and prices are subject to change as landowners and public entities provide feedback.
Since the study’s conclusion, the Friends of the Green Crescent group has held a series of Town Hall meetings to educate and inform the public, while working with city and county officials to begin planning, fundraising, and implementing those first, high-priority routes. In August, Clemson City Council also approved a reduction of parking requirement for mixed-use and multi-family projects, which allows developers who are building within one mile of Clemson University to pay an annual fee rather than build 1-to-1 bedroom-to-parking space parking decks. Those fees can then be used to fund alternative transportation and streetscape projects, including CAT bus, sidewalks, and alternative transportation trails such as the Green Crescent trail network.