Eastside Celebration to feature Mayor Tecklenburg, Eastside community leaders and Piccolo Spoleto pop up performance Friday evening
June 9, 2022
Please join Mayor John Tecklenburg, City Councilmember Robert Mitchell, Police Chief Luther T. Reynolds, Philip Simmons Foundation Project Administrator Rossie Colter and Eastside Community Development Corporation President Shelia Fields at the Eastside Celebration at 5 p.m., Friday, June 10, 2022, at Philip Simmons Park in Hampstead Square at 3 Aiken Street.
The Eastside Celebration will include remarks from city officials and neighborhood leaders, a recognition of Philip Simmons’ 110th birthday—which took place June 9th—and a pop up Piccolo Spoleto performance by the band “Momentum.” This event is for the whole family and free to attend.
Food will be available to purchase from Briele’s Catering & Special Events and community groups such as Eastside Community Development Corporation, Eastside Garden Club, Charleston Parks Conservancy and Early College High School will be present, as well as the Charleston Police Department.
To mark Philip Simmons’ 110th birthday, there will be free birthday cake for those who attend.
The band “Momentum” will perform at 6 p.m.
“Momentum” creates an eclectic mix of Classic and Contemporary Fusion, R&B, Soul Jazz, and Gospel. Their music is inspired by Robert Glasper, Jon Batiste, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Jill Scott, and Snarky Puppy. Momentum features keyboardist Demetrius Doctor, drummer Calvin Baxter, bassist LaVonta Green, guitarists Lee Barbour and David Grimm, saxophonist Mark Sterbank and vocalists Corinthian Doctor and Stachia Simmons.
Road closure expected: Columbus Street between Hanover Street and East Hampstead Square will be closed from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday.
ABOUT PHILIP SIMMONS:
Philip Simmons was born on Daniel Island on June 9, 1912. He attended local schools and learned from local blacksmith Peter Simmons, who ran a shop at the foot of Calhoun Street. Philip Simmons moved into the specialized fields of ornamental iron in 1938, and fashioned more than 500 decorative pieces of ornamental wrought iron: gates, fences, balconies, and window grills.
In 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Philip Simmons its National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor that the United States can bestow on a traditional artist. This recognition was followed by a similar award by the South Carolina state legislature for “lifetime achievement” and commissions for public sculptures by the South Carolina State Museum and the city of Charleston.
Philip Simmons was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in Myrtle Beach on January 31, 1994. The “Order of the Palmetto” the highest award given in the state, was presented to him by Governor David Beasley in 1998. In May of 2001, Philip Simmons received the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for “Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.”
Pieces of his work have been acquired as well by the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Richland County Public Library, Columbia, the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Daniel Island Company on Daniel Island.
In 1989, the vestry and congregation of his church (St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church, 91 Anson Street in downtown Charleston), dedicated the grounds of the church to develop a commemorative landscaped garden as a tribute to his exceptional mastery of wrought iron and in recognition of his inspirational character and self-assurance.
WHO: Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg
Charleston Police Chief Luther T. Reynolds
City Councilman Robert Mitchell
Eastside Community Development Corporation President Shelia Fields
Philip Simmons Foundation Project Administrator Rossie Colter
WHAT: Eastside Celebration and Piccolo Spoleto neighborhood concert
WHEN: 5 p.m., Friday, June 10, 2022
WHERE: Philip Simmons Park in Hampstead Square, 3 Aiken Street
