BEAUFORT -- "Frustrating." "Disrespectful." "Dangerous."

St. Helena Island residents didn't mince words as they filled a recent County Council meeting to express concerns related to Penn Center's Heritage Days parade. The long-held tradition has for 40 years brought thousands of participants to the Lowcountry sea island in celebration of Gullah-Geechee history and culture.

This year, rather than close down U.S. Highway 21 to traffic, deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office on Nov. 9 escorted vehicles in one lane of traffic while the parade marched on in another.

Community members and Penn Center leaders have questioned that decision, calling the free flow of traffic dangerous and the lack of priority for the parade disrespectful.

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Sheriff PJ Tanner defended the move as both safe and a necessity for the high-traffic thoroughfare.

"This area has grown so much over the years," Tanner said. "It's not realistic to close the highway for hours. Even with the shorter route, it took an hour and a half for them to clear."

The parade route was a compromise between the sheriff's office and the parade committee. The parade committee wanted to stay on U.S. 21, but compromised that the route would start on Halifax Drive, turn onto U.S. 21 then onto Martin Lutheran King Jr. Drive, said Penn Center Executive Director Robert Adams.

"We all knew that it was going to be an experiment," Adams said. "I think everyone knows that we didn't get the recipe right yet. We have to go back to the drawing board to find a different way to get it done."

Deloris Pringle, chairwoman of the Penn Center's Board of Trustees, said the board will likely send a letter to Tanner outlining their concerns.

"The decision not to close the road to traffic threatened the safety of everyone in the parade," Pringle said. "This was unacceptable."

Located at 16 Penn Center Circle West, the Penn School was established in 1865, becoming the first school in the American South created to educate formerly enslaved people. Over the years, the campus grew both as an institution of learning and as a catalyst in the civil rights movement.

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The annual Heritage Days Celebration has been held since 1981. The event was a successor to "Harvest Days," held yearly from the early 1900s until 1948, when Penn School closed.

Since its inception, Penn Center's Heritage Days Celebration has grown from a single day of events to three days of song, food, performances, seminars and more. Attendance numbers in recent years have topped 10,000.

The parade happens only once a year, said Rev. Jack Ladson. The St. Helena Island native has served as pastor of Scottsville Baptist Church for more than 20 years.

"I witnessed something Saturday that I couldn't sleep over. Kids could have gotten run over," Ladson told council members on Nov. 12. He pointed out that other streets around Beaufort County are occasionally closed for parades or festivals, seemingly without incident or controversy. This includes Bay Street in downtown Beaufort, including for holiday and Water Festival parades.

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Despite the concerns, Tanner contends that the escorted traffic was able to flow without any risks to safety. He also said there are no good alternative routes for traffic on that area of St. Helena.

"I know there's a lot of people who don't like the change," Tanner said, "but we need to find middle ground on how they can have a parade on a U.S. highway and also allow traffic to keep moving."

Tanner said he will soon meet with Adams and other parade organizers to continue discussions.

Pringle said she hopes to see a different plan for next year's parade.

"I don't think some people understand how important this parade is," Pringle said. "It's an old fashioned way to celebrate and share the culture."