Blythewood Online 691

Category: Events

  • PruittHealth remembers loved ones

    RIDGEWAY – Friends and family gathered for a memorial service at PruittHealth in Ridgeway last week.  A candle was lit to honor each of the residents and to celebrate the memory of those in Hospice care who passed away in 2017-2018.

    Social Worker Myrtis White shared a prayer and music was provided by staff member Shanae Johnson.  The service was officiated by the Reverend Tammy Sowell.

    Certified Nursing Assistant Shanae Johnson and Rev. Tammy Sowell. | Darlene Embleton

    A long stemmed red rose was given to each of the friends and family in attendance by Carolyn Jessee, RN, Senior Care Partner with PruittHealth-Ridgeway.

    “Raise that rose high,” shouted Reverend Sowell to the crowd.  “Raise it in celebration and remember the good times.”

    “Amen,” the crowd shouted in return.

    Those in the audience were encouraged to share memories when the name of their loved one was read.  Jannita Gaston, with tears on her cheeks, stood and declared that her mother, Clara Creswell, “is where she wanted to be…for she really loved the Lord.”

    “Amen”, chimed the crowd.

    “Don’t leave this room sad today,” Sowell entreated, “be happy, because they are in a better place.”

    Songs were sung and tears were shed as those in attendance honored: Lucy Goodman, Joann Felder, Elizabeth Canty, Curtis Ferguson, Robert Eliasen, Martha Cook, Albert Belton, Virginia Shull, Eldred Pearson, James Knorr, David Sligh, Marcia Campbell, Ruby Galloway, Wardell Willingham, Helen Giovinazzi, Rockie Williams, Margie Gayden, Bobby Gause, Carrie Titus, James Peterson, Versena Dean, Julia Brunson, Linda Lewis, Willis Brown, Gladys Mickle, Rufus Woodard, Joyce Pethel, Arthur Beach, Thomas Easter, Fred Johnson, Pear Desilet, Bryan Crosby, Marjorie Johnson, William Manning, Sam Davis, Docia Mcgriff, Clara Creswell, John Byrd, Florine Brooks, Lula Bell, Thomas Castle, Rudolph Hardie, Martha Small, Debra Hingleton, David Bell, Dan Harrison, Jessie Foster, Leland Odom, Lillie Thompson, Jessie Jackson, Arthur Belton, Pauline Corba, Ben Skinner, Roy McWaters, Elbert Estes and Coleman Johnson.

  • Richland Recycle Day, May 12

    COLUMBIA – Clean out your closets, garages and sheds and bring unwanted items to Richland Recycles Day to have them disposed of the right way. The County’s largest annual recycling event will be held from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday, May 12 at the S.C. State Fairgrounds.

    The public should enter the fairgrounds through Gate 12 on Rosewood Drive, where they will be directed to the appropriate drop-off site. Workers will unload acceptable items, including paint, household chemicals and cleaners, computers, TVs, home electronics, tires (limit of eight per family), fluorescent light bulbs, pesticides and scrap metal such as washers and dryers, bicycles, metal chairs and lawn mowers free of oil and gas. Paper shredding will also be available.

    The S.C. Department of Agriculture will be on site to accept pesticides from any South Carolina resident. All other collections are for Richland County residents only. Motorists’ driver’s licenses will be checked for proof of residency upon entry. No commercial or business drop-off is permitted.

    Items NOT accepted this year include mattresses, cooking oil and wooden furniture. Not sure if you item will be accepted? Call Richland County Solid Waste & Recycling at 803-576-2446 during normal business in the weeks leading up to the big day.

  • Artifact roadshow coming to Blythewood

    BLYTHEWOOD  –  Members of the  community are invited to bring ten of your prehistoric Native-American artifact “finds”, such as arrowheads, spear points, axes, broken pottery and other such  artifacts to the Blythewood Historical Society and Museum on April 27 for an evening of identification, dating and discussion.

    Three archaeologists will be on hand that evening, to examine the artifacts and answer questions  –  Dr. Albert Goodyear, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina and  internationally known as the excavator of the Topper Site; Joseph Wilkinson, M.A. Anthropology, the University of South Carolina and Dr. Leland Ferguson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, USC and author of several books.

    Sponsored by the Blythewood Historical Society and Museum, the event will be held at the Langford-Nord House, 100 McNulty Street in Blythewood at 7 p.m.

    The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Margaret Kelly at 803-333-8133 TWTH, from 9 – 4 p.m.

  • Summer concerts coming to amphitheater

    BLYTHEWOOD – A summer concert series is being planned for the Palmetto Citizen’s Amphitheater in Doko Park, with a total of nine family friendly concerts that will begin in June.

    While the plans are still tentative, Martha Jones, president of Bravo Blythewood, said she is announcing the plans now so Bravo Blythewood will have time to survey the community to find out what kind of music and what bands residents want to hear.

    “The concerts will be held on Thursday evenings, with four concerts in June, three in July and two in August,” Jones said. “We are thinking the Aug. 2 date might be a big back-to-school bash that would be free.”

    Jones said Bravo Blythewood will be using a professional concert promoter to handle the bands, vendors, marketing, ticket sales and to oversee the concerts. The cost for the entire series, including the cost for the concert promotion company, will range from $80,000 – $150,000. That cost, she said, might be paid for upfront by the Town Hall, then ticket sales with maybe a $2 surcharge could be used to help pay back that cost to the Town. Jones said Bravo would also be looking to use A-tax money and sponsorship sources to help fund the series.

    “We’ll be sending out the surveys soon,” Jones said, “and I hope everyone will respond and let us know what they want to hear.”

  • Residents’ input sought for Blythewood Road widening

    BLYTHEWOOD – Plans for widening Blythewood Road will be presented during a public meeting on Thursday, March 22, from 5-7 p.m. in the Muller Road Middle School gymnasium.

    The community has been invited to join Richland County representatives for the public meeting to review plans for the road widening project.  Citizens will have an opportunity to learn about the proposed project which is being funded by the Richland County Transportation Penny Program.

    Beginning at 5 p.m., those attending can review displays of the proposed project. At 6 p.m., the Richland Penny Program representatives will make a brief, formal presentation. Citizens will then have the opportunity to make formal, verbal comments regarding the project.

    The school is located at 1031 Muller Road in Blythewood. For more information, call 844-RCPenny or go to www.richlandpenny.com.

  • Need 200?

    Complete The Voice’s fillable March Madness bracket on page 12 of our March 8 edition for your chance to win $200 from Road Runner Cafe! Only one entry per person, and entries must be postmarked by March 14.

  • FC Rec offers free youth camp at Drawdy Park

    Coleman and Burroughs

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County Parks & Recreation will offer a free baseball and softball camp to kids ages 4-12. The camp, led by former high school coaches and Fairfield County residents Jonathan Burroughs and Roe Coleman, will be held March 12 and 13 from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at Drawdy Park, 702 Eighth Street, Winnsboro.

    Burroughs is the former head coach at Westwood High School in Blythewood and Coleman is the former head coach at Ridge View in Columbia.

    For information about the free camp, contact Lucas Vance at 803-815-2487 or lucas.vance@fairfield.sc.gov.

  • Blythewood to honor black history on Feb. 17

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Town and residents will take part in the annual Black History Month celebration this Saturday night, Feb. 17 with performances by the Westwood High School Dancers, the Round Top Baptist Church Youth Choir and EboniRamm and Band.

    The celebration, which will be emceed by performer EboniRamm, will be held again this year in the Doko Manor, from 1:30 to 4 p.m.

    This year’s theme will be Stitching History Together which has been coordinated by the Blythewood Historical Society and will feature an African-American community quilt made from quilt squares brought in by local citizens.

    The 5” x 5” squares will contain the name of the person associated with the square as well as a brief history of the piece that might be from a grandfather’s old work shirt, part of an old apron belonging to a grandmother, a piece of an ancestor’s party dress, etc. Anyone with a quilt piece they would like to be included in the community quilt can bring them to the Langford-Nord House (Blythewood Historical Society) through Saturday. The quilt-making will be showcased during the Black History event.

    Doko Manor is located at 171 Langford Road, and the Langford-Nord House is located at 100 McNulty St.

  • Council retreat set for March; Mayor invites community

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council’s annual day-long working retreat may be a little larger than usual this year, and a little different. Mayor J. Michael Ross said on Monday that he and Council are making an all-out effort to include resident participation in this year’s event.

    “The public has always been invited to our retreats,” Ross said. “But not many of them ever attend. This year, we want them to attend. Even if they cannot come for the whole day, maybe they can set some time off in that day to stop by and let their voices be heard. We can’t do what the people want if we don’t hear from them and know what they want,” he said.

    The retreat will be held on Saturday, March 10 at Doko Manor. The day will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until approximately 4 p.m. or until all items on agenda have been addressed.  This year will be somewhat different as an emphasis will also be on citizen involvement.

    That involvement will be an item on the Jan. 24 agenda, Ross said.

    “We’re going to look at including a citizen comment section after each discussion item during the retreat. And, as always,” Ross said, “there will be ample time during the meeting for open citizen comment, so whether a citizen comes for morning session or afternoon session they will be encouraged to engage with council.”

    As further accommodation for citizen involvement, Council is arranging a community lunch from 12 noon – 1 p.m.

    “We’re asking our local restaurants to help us out with a ‘taste of Blythewood,’ luncheon that day,” Ross said. “We want to sit and eat together and talk about the next year and five, even 10 years of ideas for the future of Blythewood.”

    While residents are encouraged to contact Town Hall with any subjects they would like to be discussed by Council at the retreat, Council has already sketched out a preliminary list of topics.

    “We’re going to talk about the plan of Columbia and Richland County to form a consolidated government and what that will mean for us,” Ross said. “It might be beneficial to our 29016 Blythewood neighbors to annex into the Town so they can vote and to pre-empt Columbia and Richland County’s plan that could possibly force the annexation of those neighbors into Columbia,” Ross said.

    He also wants to talk about creating a new baseball/softball complex in the Town to host tournaments.

    “Blythewood has some of the best players and coaches in the country, as evidenced by our recent State Championships and World Series successes,” Ross added. “The fact that they are training/playing on fields built in 1979-1980 should embarrass us all.”

    “The Planning Commission will soon be updating the Comprehensive Land Use Plan for our community,” Ross said. “This could include any insights we have from the Central Midlands Council of Governments regarding the realignment of Blythewood Road and Langford Road and maybe some renderings of what McNulty Road could look like after the Penny widening projects are completed.”

    Ross said the list also includes discussing a multi-use trail plan and a vending stand ordinance.

    “Another thing may be pre-budget development for some proposed budget items/projects that some members of the community would like to see come to fruition,” Ross said.

    Another topic that Ross suggested might be on the table for discussion is an economic development report on potential development of businesses on Blythewood Road vacant lots.

    “We just want folks in the community to make plans to join us. Let us know you’re coming so we’ll know how to plan. But please attend,” Ross said. “We’ll be shaping the next year and years to come.”

    Members of the community can email their ideas for discussion topics to townofblythewoodsc.gov or call Town Hall at 803-754-0501 and ask to speak to Julie Emory.

  • Recycle your Christmas tree

    BLYTHEWOOD – Recycle your live Christmas trees through the annual Grinding of the Greens program offered by the Keep the Midlands Beautiful! program. Trees can be dropped off at any of 21 locations between Dec. 26 and Jan. 11. Locations can be found at www.keepthemidlandsbeautiful.org or by calling 733-1139.

    Before dropping off trees:

    • remove all lights, tinsel and ornaments and the stand from the tree
    • drop off trees only. Wreaths, garland and other greenery are not accepted
    • remove tree from bag
    • remove any string, wire or ties on the tree

    Christmas tree drop-off locations nearest Blythewood:

    Clemson Institute for Economic & Community Development – 900 Clemson Road.

    Richland County Tennis Center-7500 Parklane Road, Columbia M-TH, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Fri, 9: a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. -3 p.m.
    City of Columbia Compost Facility –121 Humane Lane, Columbia. (off Shop Road across from SPCA). M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

    Free mulch made from the recycled trees will be available to the public at the following two locations on Saturday, Jan. 13 from 8:30 a.m. until the mulch runs out: South Carolina State Farmers Market (3483 Charleston Highway, West Columbia) and Seven Oaks Park (200 Leisure Lane; near the intersection of St. Andrews & Piney Grove roads).