(Columbia-AP) Aug. 2, 2004 - Merchants and shoppers are gearing up for this year's sales-tax holiday weekend in South Carolina, which falls after man Midlands students return to class.

From Friday to Sunday people will get a break from the state's five percent sales tax on certain exempt items (.pdf), but state education officials say about 300 of the state's 1100 schools will start the school year before August 6th.

A number of school districts in the Midlands begin as early as Thursday. They are Clarendon One and Two, Kershaw County, Lexington One through Four and Orangeburg Three and Five. Clarendon Three, Newberry County and Saluda County all head back to class on Friday.

The tax-free weekend was first held in 2000. Since then, shopkeepers have learned to keep their stock up and shoppers have learned to expect larger-than-normal crowds.

Last year people purchased about $47 million in tax-exempt goods, way down from the first sales-tax holiday, which saw about $72 million spent on exempt goods.

Not everyone is waiting for the holiday, though, as some parents hit the Target on Harbison this weekend to gear up their kids for the new school year. Savannah Cowart, 8, who starts third grade on Thursday, is looking forward to one thing, "I like recess. We get to play."

For Savannah's dad, shopping is serious business. He took the day off to battle the crowd and stock up, "We had to wait five minutes for a buggy."

Whitney Fox will be a freshman at Clemson, and her best friend, Anya Sternenberg, is preparing to start at USC, "It's different. Rather than shopping for pencils, folders, we pick all this other stuff. Different, but exciting."

One more reminder: a chickenpox vaccine is required for all children up through fourth grade. The only way your child doesn't need one is if his medical record indicates a positive history of chickenpox. That history must be included on the South Carolina Certificate of Immunization.

Reporting by Nicole Bell

Posted 8:45pm by Eva Pilgrim