Edgefield County Chamber of Commerce

 Information and Activities

Updated 5/21/09

** New

**1st Annual “Fill-A-Bus” Back to School Supply Drive Cruise-In – Saturday, June 13th, 2009.  Start and Finish at SRP Federal Credit Union, 225 Apple Square Plaza, Edgefield. First Bike/Auto out at 10:00AM – Last Bike/Auto out at 11:00 AM. $15.00 entry fee per hand / $25.00 per couple.  Lunch is included with entry fee.  Cook out starts at 12:00 PM - $6.00 per plate (Sausage Dogs, Hot Dogs, Drinks & Chips). Call in you plan to eat and not ride. (so we will be prepared)  803-275-0010.

 

**Women in Business Luncheon & Expo – Friday, June 12th, 2009.  Strom Thurmond High School Cafeteria – “How to Lose Weight & Keep it Off” guest speakers Jackie Enlund & Nancy Goslen, from Diabetes Nutrition & Teaching Center.  10:00 AM until 1:00 PM.  Health Screenings and health information, financial information, fashion show, senior citizen information, and much more.  Cost $15.00 -64 and under; $12.00 -65 and over.  RSVP to the Chamber office at 803-275-0010, by June 5th.

 

**Trenton Peach Festival – Saturday, June 20th, 2009 – Honors the peach industry; sponsored by the Trenton Community Development Association. Arts & Crafts, games, homemade delicacies, peach ice cream, live entertainment, a parade and softball tournament.  For more information contact Melody Bolyston 803-275-5303 or www.ridgepeachfestival.com

 

**Peachtree 23 Yard Sale – Saturday, June 6th, 2009 – spanning 44 miles along Highway 23 – Batesburg-Leesville, to Modoc. Treasures at a Bargain. Beginning of local farmers markets in Edgefield and Ridge Spring.  Come get your fresh local grown produce.

 

The Edgefield County Workforce Center is recruiting employers for our Summer Youth Employment Program. Our goal is to employ 50 or more Edgefield youth up to age 24 at local businesses in the area. Pay for summer employees will be provided by GLEAMNS Workforce Development(WIA).

Retail Stores, Administrative Offices, Restaurants, Non Profit Organizations and Summer Programs are ideal. All businesses, large and small, are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to participate in Workforce/Economic Development.

Please complete the attached Employer Summer Youth Request form and fax to 803-637-9891 or 864-223-3837.

For more details contact Ms. Sabrina Searles at 803-295-8119 or 803-637-7159 between 8am-5pm.

Ms. Sabrina Searles

GLEAMNS HR Commission

WIA Employer Services

Edgefield County

Office 803-637-4029

Cell 803-295-8119

 

EDGEFIELD COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR WOMAN OF THE YEAR

 

 

            The Edgefield County Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations for Business Woman of the Year 2009 and Young Woman of the Year 2009. This project recognizes outstanding women for their contribution to the business world and community service; and young women who have served their communities. The announcement of both awards will be made that the annual Edgefield County Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Luncheon.

            Applications for both award categories are available at The Edgefield County Chamber of Commerce Office, 416 Calhoun Street, Johnston. Call 275-0010 to have an application mailed to you or e-mailed to you.

            Deadline for submission is May 25th.

 

 

**May 23 – Breeze Fest on Thurmond Lake, featuring Mark Roberts & Breeze, Plum Branch Yacht Club. 8:00 PM until 12 Midnight.  Call 864-443-3000 for more information.

 

**May 28 – Edgefield County Interagency Council meeting – ECCHO, 300 Gray Street, Edgefield 8:30 AM.

 

**May 29 – Movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” – Edgefield’s Downtown Square – presented by ECDA’s Downtown Drive-In.  Free movie – activities begin at 8:00 PM; movie begins at dusk.  Concessions will be available for purchase.  Please no pets or unattended children.  Movie sponsored by Dr. Beth Gordineer.

 

**May 30 – Barbecue Chicken Plate Sale – 11:00 AM Johnston Pentecostal Holiness Church, 95 Edisto Street, Johnston. Cost $6.50 per plate. Plate consists of: half barbecue chicken, cole slaw, potato salad and bread.

 

**June 7 – A “Presentation and Walk-Through” ceremony – 4:00 PM, newly renovated Science Building on the Bettis Academy Campus, Trenton, SC.  The Science Building is the second of the original buildings of the former Bettis Academy and Junior College to be restored to its original character.  The public is invited.

 

 

**Don’t forget your Chamber of Commerce gift certificates. You can get them for any amount and they are good at any Chamber of Commerce membership.

 

       

 

EDGEFIELD COUNTY 211 HELP LINE – BEGINNING OCT. 1ST, 2008

 

**Edgefield Regional Arts seeks donations to bring theater to Edgefield.

All donations are welcome, of any size. Contributions are fully tax-deductible. Makes checks out to Edgefield Regional Arts Theatre Project and mail to 204 Augusta Road, Edgefield, SC 29824.

 

W.I.A. Information Session – Tuesdays, 9:30 AM – Edgefield OneStop, 400 Church Street, Edgefield. Need a job? Need training? Attend. Call 637-7159.

 

 

YOUR LIBRARY NEEDS YOUR HELP

If it’s spring, it must be time to join the Friends of the Edgefield County Library!

From now through Memorial Day, you can stop by the Library at any time, and for a mere $25 you can be part of the Friends’ important and fun activities to support your increasingly beleaguered and increasingly needed local Library.

 

            The Friends are more important than ever.  As the economy has declined, the State has reduced its support of the Public Library System three separate times, for a total loss of $84,000.  The per-person allocation has dropped from $2.25 to $1.53, and is proposed to drop another 19¢ next year, to $1.34. In addition, Edgefield County is so far scheduled to reduce its new budget allocation to the Library by $4650.

 

The Friends have tried to pick up some of the resulting slack. Last year, The Friends sponsored a number of activities that supported the Library’s outreach, such as its two Starbooks events, its two movie nights (“Fireproof” for couples and “Nights in Rodanthe,” based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks), its recent Spa Day, its Horror Trivia event, its booth at the annual Heritage Festival, and its participation in Edgefield’s Downtown Shop-Arounds.  It has collaborated with the Eagle Scouts, ECDA, Body Zone, and others to bring attention to the Library at a time when its resources are particularly valuable to the community.  The Friends hope to raise funds to purchase electric doors to make the Library handicapped accessible.

 

 

 

 

**The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor is pleased to announce the 2009 training schedule for our sites and partners. These sessions will help you market and fund your site, develop and present better interpretive programs, develop professional customer service skills and learn the ins and outs of public relations. We will hold nine sessions beginning in May and running through December.

 

In this challenging economic environment, we offer these sessions free as a service to our sites and partners to help you better serve visitors to the SCNHC.  We will hold trainings throughout the SCNHC to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to attend. However, we encourage you to attend as many as possible. Traveling to other regions for training sessions is a great way to meet new people with whom to network and share experiences and solutions!

 

Please visit our website at http://www.sc-heritagecorridor.org/training_opportunities/local_training_opportunities/  to see descriptions and dates of all of the training sessions. You will also find a downloadable brochure and registration form.

 

 

Devon M. Harris
Director of Public and Visitor Relations
SC National Heritage Corridor
1205 Pendleton Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Phone: (803) 734-1743
Mobile: (803) 331-5106 
Fax: (803) 734-3681
DHarris@scprt.com

www.sc-heritagecorridor.org
www.discoversouthcarolina.com

 

 

Edgefield County Events:

Downtown Drive-In on the Square in Edgefield featuring the classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie.  This is a free event.  Events to begin at 8pm.  Movie to begin at dusk.  Any questions contact Lauren Virgo at 637-3106 or go to www.VisitEdgefield.com for further information

 

 

Greenwood Events:

Live After 5 Series

 

 

2009 Live After Five Schedule

 Thurs, May 21 - Peace & Love

Playing all of the best funk & dance classics!

 

Sat, June 13 - Jason Sikes

SC Festival of Flowers Event!

This Elvis Show is one you don't want to miss!

 

Thurs, June 18 - Natalie Stovall

SC Festival of Flowers Event!

Columbia, Tenn's 'Peace, Love & Fiddle!'

 

Thurs, July 9 - Greenwood Blues Cruise

9th Annual Blues Cruise kick-off

 

Thurs, July 16 - The Fantastic Shakers

Playing the best in variety party music

 

Thurs, August 20 - Michael Stacey

 "Life Is Good" - mix of country and classic rock!

 

Thurs, September 17 - Swingin' Medallions

Greenwood's own party band of the south!

 

Sat, September 26 - Royal Scotsmen Band

Join the Rock N' Roll Cruisers for the Sat Cruise-In! 

 

Thurs, October 15 - The Original Drifters

Don't miss the legendary sound of the 1950s.

 

Folks attending the concerts should bring their lawn chairs and dancin’ shoes and enjoy a fun-filled evening in Uptown Greenwood.  Food vendors will be on hand and Uptown Restaurants will be open ready to meet all of the public’s needs. 

 

For additional information, contact Uptown Greenwood at (864) 942-8448 or email uptown@cityofgreenwoodsc.com. 

 

 

 

Railroad Historical Center Opens for Season

April has brought to Greenwood the familiar golden pollen hue, early spring flowers, and this weekend the season opening for the Railroad Historical Center.  Beginning this week and continuing through October, the Railroad Historical Center will be open to the public on Saturday’s from 10 am through 4 pm (weather permitting).   Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children. 

The site features seven vintage train cars, nearly one acre of semi-formal gardens, and an historic home.  Visitors can participate in a guided tour or may choose to explore the site at their leisure through a self-guided tour. 

According to Matt Edwards, The Museum’s Executive Director, “visitors can expect to see some new things as this season progresses.”  Along with continued work in the gardens by the Lakelands Master Gardeners and a number of local Eagle Scout candidates,  the Railroad Historical Center plans to release a self-guided audio tour in a few weeks and by festival of flowers several new interpretive exhibits will be up and running. 

The Railroad Historical Center became part of The Museum in July of 2005.  Since that time, museum staff and volunteers have been working to restore the semi-formal gardens, add interpretive exhibits and increase public access to the site.  For additional information call The Museum at 864-229-7093.

 

 

 

BBQ Teams, Judges, Blues Lovers, Friends, & Family –

 

We’re officially 90 days away from one of the largest BBQ and Blues street festivals in the south….the 9th Annual South Carolina Festival of Discovery/Greenwood Blues Cruise July 9-11, 2009 (http://www.festivalofdiscovery.com) presented by Greenwood’s own Carolina Pride!   Angie, Billy, and I look forward to planning/working hard over the coming months to have everything in place for your arrival!  

 

The accolades of our event keep coming as we’ve been nominated as a ‘TOP 20’ summer event by the Southeast Tourism Society (http://southeasttourism.org/top20/top20_julsep09.html).

 

We are pleased to announce that the Blues lineup for 09 is set – visit www.greenwoodbluescruise.com.  Another stellar lineup put together this year by our friend Gary Erwin AKA “Shrimp City Slim.”  12 Blues artists at 9 different venues in Uptown Greenwood!  Yes..it’s ALL FREE! NO COVER! What an economic stimulus relief for the summer!

 

We’ll see many of you next weekend in Kings Mountain!  Have a great Easter Weekend!  Safe travels!

 

Become a FAN of the Festival of Discovery on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Carolina-Festival-of-Discovery/58841082013

 

Charlie Barrineau

City of Greenwood

(864) 942-8411 office

(864) 992-4623 cell

charlie.barrineau@cityofgreenwoodsc.com

 

 

 

 

McCormick Events:

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McCormick County Chamber of Commerce                   Lincolnton-Lincoln County

PO Box 938                                                                     Chamber of Commerce

McCormick, SC 29835                                                     PO Box 810

864.852.2835                                                                    Lincolnton, GA 30817-0810

www.mccormickschamber.org                                         706.359.7970

mccchamber@wctel.net                                                    lincolncham@nu-z.net

 

 

With summer fast approaching, are you ready for some fun in the sun and an evening filled with excitement?  If so, make plans now for this year’s Thunder Over Thurmond!  The 2009 event will be held on July 11th at the Hwy 378 bridge between Lincoln and McCormick Counties.  The sky will light up with wondrous color and sparkles around 9pm.

 

Drive your boat, bring a lawn chair and spend a day on beautiful Lake Thurmond.  Then hang around for the best part of the day, as hundreds of fireworks displays light up the night sky over Lake Thurmond. As usual, thousands of people are expected so make plans now!!  Come out and celebrate our Nations Birthday with us!

 

This event is brought to you by the Lincolnton – Lincoln County and McCormick County Chambers of Commerce.  If you would like to contribute to this year’s event, please contact the Lincoln County Chamber at 706-359-7970 or the McCormick Chamber at 864-852-2835.  Thanks for helping make this the best Thunder Over Thurmond yet!!!

 

Ridge Spring Events:

 

 

 

**All Gods Creatures Pet Rescue accepts and is in need of monetary donations.  Tax deductible contributions may be sent to PO Box 23, Johnston. Also remember the need for donated pet food at the Bi-Lo food bin!!

 

**Also All God’s Creatures display tables are becoming antiques.  If anyone would like to donate (need 3) please contact Beth Byrd @ 803-637-5912.

 

**United Daughters of the Confederacy meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month, @ Oakley Park, 7:00 PM, all visitors are welcome.  637-4027 or 637-6861

 

**1st Thursday of each month, Sons of Confederate Veterans, @ Oakley Park, 7:00 PM.

 

**1st Thursday of each month, Edgefield Regional Arts (ERA).  All artists and interested persons are invited to attend. Meetings start at 7:00 PM.  Refreshments are served. Call Pamela 637-6763 or Carrie 637-6200 for locations and information.

 

 

 

**Edgefield County Water & Sewer Authority Board of Directors meets the 4th Monday of each month @ 5:30 PM at 100 Waterworks Road, Edgefield.

 

 

Regularly Scheduled Local Gov’t Meetings

·        Edgefield Town Council – 1st Monday of each month 5:30 PM

·        Edgefield County Council – 1st Tuesday of each month 6:00 PM

·        Johnston Town Council – 2nd Monday of each month 6:00 PM

·        Trenton Town Council – 2nd Wednesday of each month 6:00 PM

·        Edgefield County Planning Commission 2nd Thursday of each month 6:30 PM

·        Edgefield County Chamber of Commerce 3rd Tuesday of each month 5:30 PM

·        Edgefield County Alliance 1st Monday of each month 7:30 AM Piedmont Technical College-Edgefield Campus  $3.00 donation

·        Edgefield County Hospital Board – last Monday of each month 6:30 PM

·        Edgefield County Water & Sewer Authority Board of Directors meets the 4th Monday of each month @ 5:30 PM at 100 Waterworks Road, Edgefield.

·        American Legion Post 30 meets 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM at the Legion Hut on Penn Street.

 

 

SBA Launches New 100-Percent Guarantee ARC Loan Program to Help Struggling Businesses

 

WASHINGTON – Small businesses suffering financial hardship as a result of the slow economy may be eligible to receive temporary relief to keep their doors open and get their cash flow back on track through to a new loan program announced today by SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills.

 

Beginning on June 15, SBA will start guaranteeing America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) loans.  ARC loans are deferred-payment loans of up to $35,000 available to established, viable, for-profit small businesses that need short-term help to make their principal and interest payments on existing qualifying debt.  ARC loans are interest-free to the borrower, 100 percent guaranteed by the SBA, and have no SBA fees associated with them.

 

“These ARC loans can provide the critical capital and support many small businesses need to make it through these tough economic times,” said Administrator Mills.  “Together with other provisions of the Recovery Act, ARC loans will free up capital and put more money in the hands of small business owners when they need it the most. This will help viable small businesses continue to grow and thrive and create new jobs in communities across the country.”

 

As part of the Recovery Act, the ARC program was created as a no-interest, deferred payment loan to help small businesses that have a history of good performance, but as a result of the tough economy, are struggling to make debt payments.

 

ARC loans will be disbursed within a period of up to six months and will provide funds to be used for payments of principal and interest for existing, qualifying small business debt including mortgages, term and revolving lines of credit, capital leases, credit card obligations and notes payable to vendors, suppliers and utilities.  Repayment will not begin until 12 months after the final disbursement.  Borrowers don’t have to pay interest on ARC loans.  After the 12-moth deferral period, borrowers will pay back the loan principal over a period of five years.

 

ARC loans will be made by commercial lenders, not SBA directly.  For more information on ARC loans, visit www.sba.gov