Christmas card syndrome
December 7, 2023By Jeff Becraft This was actually first put out there in 2020… but I have come across several people who are really down, discouraged and lonely… so I would like…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc, laurenscountybuzz Category: life, non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts
Your Special Tree
December 6, 2023By Tom Poland The Work Behind It When I was a boy, come Thanksgiving, we observed a tradition that’s decidedly different today. Dad would mix some two-cycle gas, sharpen…
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My Father’s Razor
November 29, 2023By Tom Poland November 15 my father will have been gone twenty years. Twenty years. Seems like yesterday when he lay in a bed at MUSC in Charleston. Seems…
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S.C. Arts Commission debuts new brand, websites
November 28, 2023The South Carolina Arts Commission is excited to announce a striking new brand, along with a new website, that better represents the agency’s work and the South Carolina creatives it…
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South Carolina Children’s Theatre welcomes two new Board Members
November 14, 2023South Carolina Children’s Theatre (SCCT) announced the addition of two dynamic individuals, Karen Dudley-Culbreath and Andrew Shull, to its esteemed Board of Directors. Their extensive experience and commitment to community…
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Trans-Siberian Orchestra returns to Greenville with “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve – the Best of TSO & More” on Saturday November 18, 2023
November 5, 2023Bon Secours Wellness Arena Announces a Portion of Proceeds to Benefit Miracle Hill of Greenville and Leo Santa Toy Drive Prepare for a musical journey like no other this winter…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: music, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts
Alchemy Comedy to present 10th Annual New South Comedy Festival
November 2, 2023Alchemy Comedy Theater announced the return of the longest-running improv festival in the Southeast with the 10th Annual New South Comedy Festival. Slated to run for ten days, from 11/2…
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Upcountry History Museum showcases holiday classic with behind-the-scenes close-ups
October 31, 2023It’s a holiday classic that almost didn’t make it from book to screen but for a friendship forged during World War II. In its Southeastern debut, “A Very Grinchy Christmas,”…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: chamber, churches, day-care, education, entertainment, food, hospitality, life, marketing-and-communications, media, music, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts, veterans
Catching Up With Lou Miller
October 26, 2023By Tom Poland No. 87 lay on Buddy Bufford Field as still as a stone. Louis Miller, senior end, had broken ribs, but better days lay ahead. The undefeated…
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SCAC artist grant supports arts-based entrepreneurship
October 26, 2023The arts-based business initiatives of two South Carolina artists (#SCartists) are getting FY24 support from a South Carolina Arts Commission grant and program designed to develop artists’ knowledge and skills…
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Learning Along The Estuary
October 18, 2023By Tom Poland The children of Sandy Island board a school bus boat for an eight-minute journey across the Waccamaw River to the mainland. There, they ride a traditional bus…
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South Carolina Author Jamie Langston Turner Publishes Ninth Novel
October 15, 2023South Carolina author Jamie Langston Turner has published her ninth novel, Every Ocean Has A Shore, part of an extended series that begins in the fictional town of Derby, South…
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Waterfall Country
October 12, 2023By Tom Poland Several hikes proved easy. One proved tougher than nails. By the time we made it to the third waterfall of the day, an idea had firmly…
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New exhibit at Upcountry History Museum reveals a unique perspective of combat and veterans portraits
October 12, 2023In its newest exhibition, “Hard Earned: The Military Photographs of Stacy Pearsall,” opening Saturday, October 21, 2023, the Upcountry History Museum – Greenville County, a Smithsonian Affiliate, presents a rare…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: military, non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts, veterans
Matt Irwin appointed Vice Chair of the SC Children’s Theatre Board of Directors
October 12, 2023Matt Irwin, Senior Business Development Manager for Messer Construction Co., has been appointed as the Vice Chair of the SC Children’s Theatre Board (SCCT) of Directors. Irwin has been an…
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2024 Southeastern Wildlife Exposition general admission, special events and select VIP available now
October 9, 2023The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that celebrates wildlife and the great outdoors through fine art, live entertainment and special events, will return to host its 42nd…
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“Parting Lines” to open at GCCA’s Main Gallery
October 6, 2023Exhibition opens First Friday, October 6th, 2023 Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) is excited to announce the opening of their Main Gallery exhibition, Parting Lines. The exhibition features the…
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The Miraculous Green Lizard
October 5, 2023By Tom Poland We call it a lizard, except it’s not. It’s an anole, and it can re-grow its tail, “regenerate” in the words of scientists. Think about that.…
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FY23 S.C. Arts Commission grantmaking exceeded $11 million
October 3, 2023Grants for arts and arts learning impacted 43 counties The South Carolina Arts Commission is announcing that in FY23, for the second year in a row, its statewide grantmaking invested…
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The Air Collision Time Forgot
September 21, 2023By Tom Poland I visit forgotten churches more than the church I call my own. I feel a haunting at an unfrequented church, a poignant peaceful feeling. I see…
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Upcountry History Museum dives in with ‘Splash and Bubbles’
September 19, 2023Explorers of all ages will be able to dive into the incredible world of ocean exploration when “Splash and Bubbles: Dive In, Lend a Fin” makes its only South Carolina…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: churches, day-care, education, entertainment, environmental, hospitality, life, marketing-and-communications, media, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts
A Scrape In The Sand
September 7, 2023By Tom Poland Sand washes away. Memories last forever. The year was 1982. That would have been South Carolina Wildlife magazines 28th anniversary. I worked in film then and…
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The Beach That Was
August 30, 2023By Tom Poland From afar the skyline looks like that of a city, and it is. Myrtle Beach’s skyline of hotels seems to dwarf the skyline of all other…
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Lone Star, The Rambling Ghost
August 24, 2023By Tom Poland I’ve long felt that two of South Carolina’s prettier community names are Silverstreet and Lone Star. Silverstreet I’ve seen many times. Those names, evocative and atmospheric,…
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Upcountry History Museum presents stories stitched in the seams
August 23, 2023There’s an art to storytelling and in “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom – The Civil War Narrative Quilts of Vera P. Hall,” the stories are literally stitched in the seams…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: chamber, churches, education, entertainment, life, manufacturing, marketing-and-communications, media, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, the-arts, veterans
Greenville Theatre kicks off season 98 with Monty Python’s Spamalot
August 18, 2023Greenville Theatre is excited to open Season 98 with the 2005 Tony Award-Winning Best Musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot. This hilarious musical tells the story of King Arthur and his Knights of…
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You’ve Got to be a Friend to Have a Friend
August 16, 2023By Reba Hull Campbell Every year, I dust off this “first day of first grade” photo taken in front of then-Crayton Elementary School. It makes me thankful for these…
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Greenville youth learn ballet skills at Phillis Wheatley Community Center
August 8, 2023Eleven students had the opportunity to learn ballet at Phillis Wheatley Community Center over the summer. Instructors from International Ballet provided two free ballet classes per week at the center…
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Adam Schrimmer of Blank Canvas Mural Company to design three murals in Travelers Rest
August 7, 2023Adam Schrimmer, Lead Artist and Owner at Blank Canvas Mural Company, was selected by businesses in the city of Travelers Rest to design and paint three murals as part of…
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Chasing The Ivorybill
August 2, 2023By Tom Poland “Chasing the Swamp Ghost” caught my eye, and I read Garden & Gun’s feature about photographer Bobby Harrison’s quest to capture irrefutable evidence that the ivorybill…
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My SC Wildlife Dream Machine
July 27, 2023By Tom Poland I grew up in a large hardwood forest in Georgia, and I rambled in woods every chance I got. I saw deer, wild turkey, ducks, and…
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Robert Ariail’s “Lowcountry” panel wins national award for best cartoon
July 27, 2023Cartoonist Robert Ariail has been honored with a national award for best cartoon by the Association of Alternative News Media (AAN). Ariail’s “Lowcountry” panel stood out among the competition, impressing…
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PAWchitecture design-build pet furniture competition launches in Greenville to benefit Greenville County Animal Care
July 19, 2023Nichols Architects partners with AIA Greenville, brings creative community together to make a difference AIA Greenville, a local section of the South Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects,…
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The Day The Sky Fell
July 19, 2023By Tom Poland A beautiful blue-sky afternoon it was. As I walked back from my mailbox a freshly killed squirrel with half its head missing fell right in front…
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A Favorite Place
July 13, 2023By Tom Poland Each spring I write of three places, three beautiful places where colonies of rocky shoals spider lilies bloom. One is quite accessible; one is perhaps the…
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When A Church Dies
July 6, 2023By Tom Poland Some linger in woods. Some stand, for now, at the end or side of a dirt road. Some hide behind other buildings, and some haunt the…
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South Carolina State Fair now accepting submissions for 2023 competitive exhibits
July 6, 2023The South Carolina State Fair is now accepting entries for its annual competitive exhibits to be on display Oct. 11-22, 2023 during the S.C. State Fair. Exhibitors from across South…
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International African American Museum opens doors wide for visitors near and far
June 30, 2023Public opening follows a line-up of celebration and community events The International African American Museum (IAAM) officially opened to the public on Tuesday, June 27, after over 20 years of…
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Moody Spring
June 22, 2023By Tom Poland Rounding a curve on Highway 107, I saw water spurting from handsome stonework set in a mountain. Moody Spring, I knew we’d stop. I had no…
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Feel the Heat in newest exhibit at Upcountry History Museum
June 20, 2023We watch the news with a sense of disbelief yet can’t seem to pull ourselves away even as the screen fills with image after image of raging wildfires. In its…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: agriculture, chamber, churches, education, entertainment, environmental, government, marketing-and-communications, media, non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts, veterans
Pacolet Milliken invests in South Carolina’s young visual artists
June 12, 2023Greenville-based investment company Pacolet Milliken donated $10,000 in support of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities Visual Arts Department. This generous gift funded a student art exhibition…
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Life’s Healing Elixir
June 8, 2023By Tom Poland A Sunday sojourn found me at Healing Springs near Blackville, South Carolina. There I stood on Gods Acre, property deeded to God. Palm Sunday it was,…
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Jon Robertson of Abacus Planning Group appointed as Trustee of Richland Library
June 5, 2023Abacus Planning Group proudly announces the appointment of Jon Robertson, CFP® to the Richland Library Board of Trustees. Richland Library is a vibrant, contemporary organization that provides resources and information…
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Drumming Up White Feathery Memories
June 2, 2023By Tom Poland Long before I moved to South Carolina, family vacation trips took us over Charleston’s “New Cooper River Bridge.” To be accurate, we drove over the Silas…
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Exclusive exhibition showcases art of the Catawba Nation from the last 50 years
May 30, 2023Resurgence and Renaissance opens June 10 only at the CMA The Columbia Museum of Art announces featured summer exhibition Resurgence and Renaissance: Art of the Catawba Nation Since 1973, on…
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Highway 61 Revisited
May 25, 2023By Tom Poland From 22,000 miles high, a satellite dropped an uncanny merging of highway and music into my path. XM Radio played the comedic ACME siren whistle that…
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Google announces South Carolina winner of 15th annual Doodle for Google contest
May 18, 2023The annual Doodle for Google contest returns for the 15th year to showcase student artwork from around the country. Today, Google is thrilled to announce South Carolina’s Haniyah Simone Robinson…
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Memories Of Zebco Reels & Red Wrigglers
May 17, 2023By Tom Poland I drive west, Georgia bound, and pass it yet again, a place that pulls at my heart. My father had a worm farm, and my grandfather’s…
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‘Very Eric Carle’ exhibition making southeastern debut at Upcountry History Museum
May 15, 2023It will be a very special day for children and adults alike when the unique, one-of-a-kind Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit opens Saturday, May…
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Behind The Lens
May 10, 2023By Tom Poland Thirty-seven years ago I wrote “Worth The Wait,” a feature on photographing wildlife. South Carolina Wildlife magazine photographers Ted Borg, Robert Clark, and Phillip Jones gave…
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