Blythewood Online 691

Category: News

  • Release Your Hidden Artist

    Fairfield Arts Council board member Phyllis Gutierrez talks about all things arts with FCAC president Virginia Lacy on the steps of the Century House in Ridgeway.

    Local artist Campbell Frost says there’s a hidden artist in all of us. The Fairfield County Arts Council (FCAC) is inviting all those artists to come out and play.

    You hesitate to use five-dollar words like “renaissance” when talking about how something has improved or changed, but when we’re talking about the Fairfield County Arts Council, that word seems appropriate.

    A transfusion of new blood, brought about by associating with the Ridgeway Historic and Cultural Committee (the presenters of the annual Arts on the Ridge art event in Ridgeway), brought the FCAC back from almost the point of extinction.

    Now, the FCAC is a vibrant organization with their collective paint-smeared fingers in several pies, say FCAC president Virginia Lacy and FCAC board member Phyllis Gutierrez.

    “We are using community events to create a new excitement for the Arts Council,” Gutierrez said. “This arts renaissance involves artists and supporters of the arts who feel the arts should be an important part of specific community events like Arts on the Ridge and Pine Tree Playhouse. They feel there’s a need for more community involvement in every area of the arts — visual, performing, written, spoken and musical,” Gutierrez added.

    This group has provided the volunteer-powered engine that is starting to make art-related things happen in Fairfield County.

    Lacy and Gutierrez believe that love of the arts can bring communities together and help revitalize those communities.

    “There’s a common factor there, whether it’s your art work, a child’s art, your friend’s or a family member’s art, or art for art’s sake — it brings people together. People will come to these events” Lacy said. “It’s a wonderful way for all people to communicate.”

    OK, so arts are good for the community. This is a given. So, why else do you want to be a member of the Arts Council and attend the meetings?

    For the experiences, my friends. One of the goals of the Arts Council is to begin a series of art workshops in the fall. FCAC members will be able to take part in these exploratory workshops that are planned for everything from basket weaving to pottery making, as well as explore the paint mediums of oils, acrylics and watercolors.

    The FCAC has not left out the scribes among us in their planning, be you poet or prose writer. Virginia Schaefer is in the planning stages of organizing a writer’s group under the FCAC umbrella.

    FCAC members who are also artists have the opportunity to display and sell their works in the anteroom of Hoot’s Restaurant in Winnsboro and in other venues.

    Besides that, most every FCAC meeting features news of interest to artists and art-supporters, and there’s likely to be a realtime art demo of some sort thrown in for good measure at the meetings.

    The new FCAC is determined to see the arts flourish in Fairfield County and the surrounding areas. I urge you to attend one of their meetings and prompt your own hidden artist to come out and play.

    Fairfield County Arts Council meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month, at 6 p.m. at the Century House in Ridgeway. For information, call Virginia Lacy at 803-360-0893.

  • District Sees Gains in State Scores

    FAIRFIELD – Fresh off last week’s Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) ratings that dropped the Fairfield County School District from a B to a D, Superintendent J.R. Green is much more pleased with results from this year’s HSAP and PASS tests. The number of high school students scoring at level 2 or higher (2=competence; 3=proficiency; 4=exceptional) on both the English Language Arts and Mathematics portions of the High School Assessment Program (HSAP) test grew over 2012 numbers. And although third- through eighth-grade students taking the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) tests saw some declines in math and science, the District experienced overall gains in the percentage of students scoring Met or Exemplary.

    “There is still a concern with math, and science is where there is the most concern,” Green said of the PASS results.

    From 2012 to 2013, the percentage of students scoring at Met or Exemplary in math fell by a single point, from 62 percent in 2012 to 61 percent in 2013. That decline was greater in science, where scores fell from 61 percent to 56 percent over the same time period. But scores in other subjects have Green encouraged about the direction of instruction within the District.

    The percentage of students scoring Met or Exemplary in writing improved from 58 percent in 2012 to 65 percent in 2013. The percentages in English Language Arts edged up from 63 to 65 percent, while in social studies the number grew from 66 to 70 percent.

    The credit, Green said, goes to the teachers, as well as to the community.

    “We have teachers who are committed to providing engaged instruction,” Green said. “If students aren’t engaged, they are not going to be successful. We’ve been more successful getting everyone on board for the instructional process. We’ve had better involvement from parents and from the community.”

    Still, Green said, there is more work to be done.

    “I’m not saying we had an outstanding year,” he said, “but we are seeing some progress.”

    That progress can also be seen in the HSAP scores, which showed the percentage of students scoring at Level 2 or higher in English Language Arts reach 87 percent in 2013, up from 85.9 percent in 2012. More impressive, perhaps, were the gains in the percentage of students scoring at Level 4 (exceptional) between 2012 and 2013. In 2012, only 8.3 percent of students reached Level 4 status. In 2013, that figure was 16.6 percent.

    “We’ve got a good, strong body of teachers at the high school who have done a good job of engaging students,” Green said. “My goal is to hit 90 percent. I expect math (scores) to move into the 80s next year. That’s aggressive, but we can do it.”

    The percentage of students scoring at Level 2 or higher slipped in math between 2012 and 2013, from 67.6 to 66.8 percent, although the percentage of students hitting Level 4 went up from 10.8 to 13.5 percent. The percentage of students scoring at Level 1 (competency not met) also went up, however, from 32.4 to 33.2 percent. Green said the District has already made some personnel changes in the Math Department in response to those swings. Green said he has also done away with a long-standing tradition, one that is prevalent in many school districts, and one that allowed more experienced teachers to choose which classes of students to teach. Green said it has been common practice for more experienced teachers to push to teach juniors and seniors, leaving the freshmen to the rookies. But the freshmen, he said, may require instruction from a more experienced teacher in order to grasp the subject matter. A lack of experienced teachers for the underclassmen has been reflected in HSAP scores in the past, he said.

    “We’ve had to change that mindset,” Green said. “We have to have some of our most experienced teachers teaching our most needy students.”

  • Homeowner Foils Burglary Attempt

    Three Held at Gunpoint Until Cops Arrive

    DASHAWN ANTONIO BOYD
    RUBEN JAMES WOODARD
    TEVIN MARKELL JONES

    WINNSBORO – Three Winnsboro men who broke into a home on Bowson Lane late last month got more than they bargained for when they came face to face with the gun-wielding homeowner.

    Ronnie Gene Gantt, 61, was at his home on 596 Bowson Lane July 22 in a back room of the house when he heard what he thought sounded like something falling to the floor on one of the front rooms, according to the report from the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office. It was just before 3 p.m. and Mr. Gantt just happened to be spending the afternoon cleaning his handgun.

    According to the report, Gantt at first thought the noise he had heard was his son coming home. But when his son did not come back into the back room to greet him, Gantt came out to have a look. Gun in hand. Almost at once, Gantt came upon one of the intruders, 18-year-old Dashawn Antonio Boyd of Landis Road, standing in the bedroom. When Boyd turned and saw Gantt, Boyd walked into the hallway toward him. Gantt then raised his handgun, pointed it at Boyd and told him to stay where he was. Boyd turned and ran back into the bedroom, dove behind the bed and laid on the floor. Gantt stood in the bedroom doorway, blocking Boyd and his two companions – Ruben James Woodard, 24, of Evergreen Road, and Tevin Markell Jones, 20, also of Evergreen Road – inside while he phoned police.

    All three subjects were taken into custody and $238 in miscellaneous property was recovered and returned to Gantt. Prior to entering Gantt’s home, the men had also broken into his car, causing $50 in damage. All three were transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center and charged with theft from a motor vehicle, burglary, breaking and entering and vandalism.

    “Those guys were really lucky,” Capt. Brad Douglas said.

  • No Water for Proposed Subdivision

    WINNSBORO – A proposed subdivision just over the county line in Blythewood will have to seek water elsewhere after Winnsboro Town Council passed on an informal request for service during Tuesday night’s Council meeting.

    The request was presented to Council by Creighton Coleman, one of the Town’s attorneys, who said he had been approached by developers seeking guidance on where to best obtain water. Coleman was unspecific about the exact location of the proposed subdivision, but indications are that the site comprises approximately 141.5 acres on Blythewood Road adjacent to Cobblestone.

    “A bank owns the piece of property. I think it’s a foreclosed piece of property,” Coleman told Council. “They had it sold on two different occasions to a developer, but the deal fell through because of lack of water.”

    Coleman said the development would take 273,000 gallons of water a day, “Which is a lot,” he said. There was also some question concerning the size of Winnsboro’s pipes in the area and whether or not they could handle the extra capacity.

    “I certainly understand the water situation here,” Coleman said. “And not to do anything that would compromise our water for the town. So I’m sort of looking at ya’ll for some direction to tell these people how to best go about looking into this.

    “I think it’s important to work with these people because I think that is a gateway to the development in our county,” Coleman added. “This is in Richland, but it’s right on the line. Before we get development in Fairfield, they’re going to have to fill up there and there’s going to be spillover. We’re getting spillover now, but this is a larger development with a lot of homes.”

    Jesse Douglas, Director of Water and Sewer for the Town, said the issue was not only the size of the Winnsboro’s pipes, but also the Town’s existing obligations in the Blythewood area. Winnsboro was committed to the University Club (Cobblestone), he said, as well as an obligation on Boney Road that the Town has not been able to fulfill.

    “They’re really requiring us to work more than we possibly can to keep up the system,” Douglas said. “Right now, my feeling is if we aren’t careful, and if we continue on, we won’t have enough (Columbia) water to send back to Winnsboro and we won’t have the pipeline capacity to bring it back to Winnsboro.”

    Douglas said there was also only one water tank in that area, and if it went down for maintenance the area could be left high and dry. Douglas recommended deferring service to the proposed development. Mayor Roger Gaddy suggested that Coleman steer water queries for that development directly to the City of Columbia, although Douglas noted that that would require Columbia to run approximately a mile of pipeline to tie into existing lines.

    “That’s going to be their quickest bet and their best bet,” Gaddy said. “We’ve still got work to do with our water situation; getting a stable, permanent water supply.”

  • She’s Ready for Her Close Up

    Here Emma sings “Shy” from the musical “Once Upon a Mattress” at the Platinum National Competition held at Lexington High School last spring. She was named best junior vocalist for her performance.

    Emma Imholz is only 11, but her career as an actress and singer is already blossoming. A veteran of nine community theater productions, she’s performing as Teen Fiona this fall in the Village Square Theater production of “Shrek: The Musical.” She’s also cast in an upcoming episode of HBO’s “Eastbound & Down,” and has a callback for a lead role in “Elbow Grease,” a Screen Actors Guild movie that shoots later this summer. She recently snagged roles in an indie feature film and a country music video. In the meantime, she’s crewing backstage for the Town Theater production of “Tarzan.”

    You could say she’s found her passion.

    The Blythewood tween, who lives in Cobblestone Park with her parents, Julie and Mark, keeps an intense schedule of acting, singing and dance classes. But her instructors say they are only building on her remarkable, natural musical talents. Those talents were evident from babyhood, according to her parents.

    “Before Emma could even talk,” Julie recalled, “I’d hear her quietly humming little melodies to herself in her crib. It was actually on pitch – not baby noises. The tonality was really pretty. It just blew my mind!”

    Julie, a former surgical scrub nurse, recognized the quality and pitch because of her own musical background.

    “I was in chorus, and sang in a few pageants in high school. My mother also likes to sing. But,” she added with a laugh, “Emma is a whole lot better than either of us!”

    Emma began taking voice and dance lessons as a toddler, and by five she’d débuted at Town Theater, singing a lullaby in a Christmas play. Soon she was writing her own songs, playing piano by ear and creating elaborate shows with parts for friends and cousins.

    “I always loved performing,” Emma told The Voice. “My first-grade teacher at Round Top Elementary, Mrs. Hererra, even let me sing before class each morning for the rest of the kids, which was awesome!”

    Emma took a variety of performing arts classes over the next five years – from guitar and piano to the Broadway Bound program at Workshop Theater to this summer’s Girls Rock Columbia rock star boot camp.

    Vicky Saye Henderson, the Director of Education and a teaching artist at Trustus Theater, works with Emma on singing, acting, camera work and other aspects of performance.

    “Emma has an indescribable gift,” Vicky said. “She has an innate understanding of music in many ways. And she’s a ‘thinking’ actor – during lessons she’s often a step ahead, already making a discovery that I’m trying to lead her to.”

    She added that Emma is also strongly self-motivated.

    “I’m particularly amazed by her ability to teach herself at the piano. She writes music – she’ll sit down at the piano and play around with chords and notes, get the melody down, the lyrics. It’s a pleasure to watch,” Henderson said. “I think she’s going to have a lot of success both on stage and on camera.”

    Emma said that branching into TV and film work this year has been fun.

    “I had a great time doing an indie film this summer called ‘Love Letters’,” Emma said. “My character was in a water balloon fight. There were two takes, so I dried off and then got to do it again!”

    For that role, Emma travelled to Wilmington, N.C., a studio hotspot known in the industry as “Wilmywood.”

    “A lot of TV shows and movies are filmed there,” Emma said, “like ‘Under the Dome’, ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Iron Man 3’.”

    She was back in Wilmywood again a few weeks ago, to film a part for “Eastbound & Down” where her character watches and cheers for a boat race.

    Her work and travel schedule, while exciting, can also be exhausting.

    “It’s hard to get enough sleep,” Emma said. “When I was in ‘The Little Mermaid’ at Village Square Theater last year, I’d be on stage until 10 or 11 at night. Then we’d drive all the way home, and I’d have to get up early for school. I barely got five or six hours of sleep.”

    So, after Emma finished sixth grade this year at Muller Road Middle School – where she won the talent show in April – her family decided to try homeschooling in hopes of having a more flexible schedule. Emma credits her parents for doing a lot of the heavy lifting that’s necessary to, well, keep the show on the road.

    “They do a lot,” she said, “like driving me where I need to go, when they would probably rather be relaxing or watching a movie or something!”

    The family moved to Blythewood from Atlanta in 1997, when Mark took a job with CSC. Emma’s older sister, Jessica, is graduating from Coastal Carolina this year with a degree in Exercise Science, so for the most part she’s been spared the family’s frenetic schedule.

    Emma said that despite all the rigors of the acting life, though, she loves it.

    “Writing songs and singing and performing,” she said, “makes me really happy.”

    Emma will next be performing in “Shrek: The Musical” at the Village Square Theater in Lexington, Sept. 20 – Oct. 6. 

  • Second ‘Top Retailer’ Honors for Sharpe

    Larry Sharpe, owner of Blythewood Oil, right, and Sheri Mehaffey, Chief Operating Officer of the company, show off the award they received for the company being named the 2013 Retailer of the year for an unprecedented second time in three years.

    The S.C. Association of Convenience Stores has, for the second time in three years, named Blythewood Oil Company the top retailer in the state.

    Larry Sharpe, owner of the company, and Sheri Mehaffey, the company’s Chief Operations Officer, received the award last week at the Association’s 2013 convention in Hilton Head. Both Sharpe and Mehaffey are lifelong Blythewood community residents. Sharpe, who owns eight Sharpe Shoppe convenience stores – six in Blythewood, one at Lee and Longtown roads and one on Highway 34 at I-77 – started the business in 1976.

    The company was honored for its leadership and involvement in the convenience store industry. But Sharpe credits Mahaffey with the success of his stores.

    “She’s done it all,” Sharpe said, praising Mahaffey for her initiative in every area of the stores’ operations over the last eight years. He credits her with introducing the latest technology to his stores and more recently with the successful inclusion of a breakfast-lunch-dinner restaurant in the company’s newest store on Community Road at Exit 24 off I-77. Sharpe said because of the success and popularity of the Exit 24 restaurant, he plans to add restaurants to some of his other stores.

    Sharpe is adding improvements to two of his stores—the one in the EXXON station on Blythewood Road in downtown Blythewood and another at the Highway 34/Winnsboro Exit on I-77. He plans to build a new station/convenience store at Blythewood Road and Syrup Mill Road.

  • Park Short on Funds

    BLYTHEWOOD – In discussing future construction plans for the town park before Tuesday’s special called Town Council meeting, Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross told The Voice that the town is going to need an infusion of money to continue building projects planned for the park.

    “Until Paul Moscati gives us a final accounting later this month of what we’ve spent and what we have, we won’t know exactly where we stand on the final numbers,” Ross said. “With those final numbers we can find some direction.”

    At a meeting last week of the Park Committee, Chairman Tom Utroska asked Perry what was left of the original $5.5 million park bond. Perry explained that some change orders in the original construction contracts for the grounds and the Doko Manor made some extra money available.

    Perry said that while the Town still owes a total of $600,000 to Monroe Construction (for Doko Manor and other vertical site work) and Conder Construction (for horizontal site work), he said the Town still has $300,000 left in the bank for project expenses from the original $5.5 million bond. In December, the town will receive a final payment of $450,000 from the sale of the Community Center (which sold for $1.5 million last year). Perry said those figures leave the Town with roughly $150,000 to pay for dumpster enclosures and site work at the planned restaurant and the construction of restrooms in the park. To have money to build the restrooms, the Park Committee delayed completion of the spray ground water feature.

    The bulk of the costs for constructing the restaurant will come from two low interest loans totaling approximately $900,000 from the Santee Cooper Revolving Loan Fund and funds secured through the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

    While the Park Committee suggested that the next feature to be completed in the park should be the amphitheater, there are no funds left to build it. According to Perry, the Town plans to create a tax-exempt, 501 C 3 Foundation to raise funds for future park construction. Former Town Councilman Jim McLean will solicit private contributions and seek sponsors for park projects. The Foundation committee will consist of five members.

    The next meeting of the Park Committee is set for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 17. Utroska has asked Moscati to provide a detailed spreadsheet of all moneys that have been spent on Phase I of the park.

    Contract Inked for Playground Equipment

    Council also gave Ross the OK Tuesday night to sign a lease/purchase contract for playground equipment for the town park.

    “While it’s called a lease,” Ross told The Voice, “we will own the equipment at the end of three years, and at that time we will have some options to trade up for more up-to-date equipment. That will be a benefit to us in terms of maintaining and evaluating the playground. The lease payments will come to about $30,000 per year.”

    That amount, he said, was actually a capital improvement that was already budgeted. The equipment, purchased from GameTime, a Playcore Company, is very progressive in its appeal and usefulness and will provide three different sections for three different age groups, Ross said.

    “One section will be for very young children,” Ross said. “There will even be equipment that will accommodate the needs and enjoyment of the geriatric set.”

    The equipment will meet federal handicap accessible requirements and will include a swing that will accommodate a wheelchair.

    Town Administrator John Perry said the site for the equipment is already being prepared and that the installation should be completed and the equipment in use by the end of the summer.

  • Barbecue Babylon

    Hite’s Bar-B-Q, the dash between Batesburg and Leesville.

    Pick a day when you will be starving for traditional pit-cooked barbecue and make the 63-mile drive to Jackie Hite’s Barbecue just off Highway 23 in Leesville. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you park by the tracks and inhale the delicious aroma of hogs sizzling over hickory coals. Look for wisps of smoke and look for the patriarch of pork, Jackie Hite, who barbecues hogs the old-fashioned, traditional way. If you park to the side of Hite’s you’ll hear the chop, chop, chop of cleavers, and now and then out front the wailing horn of a Northern Suffolk train barreling by.

    Hite burns 4-foot logs of hickory in a firebox where pitmaster Tim Hyman wears a path to the pits carrying shovels of red coals, which he spreads beneath sizzling half hogs. A picky type once asked Hite how he knew the coals were hot enough. “If them hogs ain’t smoking and ain’t dripping, they ain’t cooking,” replied Hite, who’s been cooking hogs for 42 years.

    Hite’s operation functions like a well-oiled machine. He’s got a veteran crew that knows what it’s doing. “I’ve had the same crew all my life. Some people just like to work,” said Hite. And some folks, make that a lot of folks, just like to eat his barbecue. Inside the buffet you’ll see locals and visitors from afar. “Folks come here from Alabama to fish and they take my barbecue back to Bama. Georgia too,” said Hite.

    Hite takes great pride in the way he cooks pigs — a 25-hour process. “Sloshing mustard sauce on hogs makes it real barbecue,” he said, pulling on the bill of his Gamecock cap. (You won’t catch him without that cap.) Now and then he’ll pull out a 4-foot hickory stick. “Used for two things,” he says. “In school for manners and stirring coals in barbecue pits.” Hite’s a friendly fellow who talks just like he looks and along with good food he dispenses some of life’s lessons. “I could be a cop without a gun. Folks respect me ‘cause I do the right thing.”

    You can boil Hite’s approach down to seven words: hogs, hickory, fire, smoke, sauce and hungry people. As the hogs simmer and mustard sauce rains down on them, the smoke rises to the top of the outbuilding and drifts over the community. Says Hite, “Folks drive through and say ‘man yo place smells good!’ ” Every so often they cover the simmering hogs with giant sheets of cardboard to keep the smoke in. The cardboard refuses to burn. “We don’t throw that kind of heat to it,” says Hite. Outside folks queue up at 10:45, eager to get Hite’s barbecue.

    A food reviewer wrote that it’s worth driving 100 miles to eat at Hite’s. For sure it’s worth driving 63. Make the trip to Hite’s. About $22 will feed two. The buffet opens at 11 o’clock in the morning. Once you get good and full, visit Leesville’s Historic College District and Batesburg’s Commercial Historic District. Walk around a bit. You’ll need to. And know that Jackie Hite, who served as mayor in these parts, put the hyphen between Batesburg and Leesville. “I helped bring these two towns together.”

    Learn more about Tom Poland, a Southern writer, and his work at www.tompoland.net. Email day-trip ideas to him at tompol@earthlink.net.

  • Town Plays Catch-Up with Zoning

    Blythewood Town Council passed first reading to establish R-20 zoning on this 88.16 acres called Holly Bluff (formerly Summers Trace), located east of Blythewood Road near Fulmer Road.

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted to pass first reading Tuesday to give final zoning to a property that was annexed into the Town in October 2008 but never received final zoning. The 88.16 acre property is located on the east side of Blythewood Road between Fulmer Road and Annie Entzeminger Court.

    In 2008 the owners of the property requested R-20 Low Density Residential zoning for the property, which is approximately a quarter acre per home, and the annexation ordinance referenced that zoning as well. The proposed development was called Summers Trace and was shown on the Richland County tax map as TMS # 12500-02-05.

    The property is now listed as Holly Bluff. The lack of permanent zoning came to light when the property owner sought information regarding development of the property which is in the town.

    Town Administrator John Perry told the Planning Commission on Monday night that he could not find a copy of the zoning ordinance. In order for Council to adopt zoning now, the matter had to go back before the Planning Commission for recommendation. The Commission recommended the zoning at its Monday meeting and Council approved it on Tuesday.

  • Be True to Your School

    These 2012 Griffins cheerleaders have got it. Have you? Show yours Aug. 8!

    WINNSBORO — Students all over the county can hear the loud ticking of the clock that means their summer is winding down and school is starting. Sports fans hear a different sound, like the last few seconds before the final buzzer.

    Either way you look at it, the academic and athletic year is about to break loose. Those Friday night lights will soon be lit up, and I bet that FCHS tennis coach George “Bones” Boulware will have at least one midnight practice with his tennis team.

    A group of Winnsboro merchants and others think the start of school and school sports is a big deal. They’re cranking up Spiritfest 2013 – an event they hope becomes an annual thing around here.

    The Historic Winnsboro Merchants Group consists of local downtown merchants, the Chamber of Commerce and Town of Winnsboro Downtown Development, said group member Terry Vickers, the Chamber’s executive director.

    Spiritfest 2013 “kicks off” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, in front of the steps of the Fairfield County Courthouse on Congress Street.

    The teams, coaching staffs and cheerleaders of Fairfield Central High School and Middle School and Richard Winn Academy are scheduled to appear during this event, which Vickers characterizes as “a mega pep rally for the 2013 academic and athletic year.”

    Coaches from each school are expected to speak at Spiritfest, letting the audience in on some of their pre-season strategy.

    Cheerleaders from the schools will also inspire the crowd with some cheers, said Vickers.

    This is an opportunity that most school sports fans don’t get, said Vickers.

    Spiritfest is a chance to let our students know that our community supports them, said Vickers. It’s a way to bring the teams from the public and private school together.

    One way to show that support is a pep rally atmosphere centered on school sports, which everyone enjoys and in a lot of our community, peoples’ lives become centered around, said Vickers.

    School sports loyalty can sometimes be rabid, but it has the ability to cross all boundaries – social, economic and racial. Everyone on the community loves to pull for the Griffins and the Eagles.

    Spiritfest is the brainchild of the merchant’s group, Vickers said.

    “The merchants we have downtown want to see a vibrant downtown, and as they produce new events, that’s going to bring people downtown,” she said. “These merchants are willing to stay open these extended hours, to allow these families and other visitors to see what downtown has to offer.”

    The Beach Boys said it all: ‘Be True to Your School.’ Whether your heart is Vegas Gold and Black or Royal Blue and Gold, show your support on Aug. 8.