.....Advertisement.....
.....Advertisement.....

Features

  •
    15,000 and counting

    For Bill Stokes, nothing matches the serenity of paddling the Catawba River on a crisp, early fall morning.

    “I can talk about it for hours,” Stokes said. “You arrive at sunrise when there’s a little mist on the water before the crowd gets out. There’s just no better place to watch birds and wildlife.”  

    That love of nature is why Stokes took up kayaking a little more than 12 years ago. He paddles somewhere just about every weekend.

    Sure, it’s a chance to get some exercise and enjoy Mother Nature at her best.

  • Ripe and ready

    Ron Edwards was grateful to see Monday afternoon’s heavy downpour.

    Edwards, general manager of The Springs Farm in Fort Mill, said right now, crops there can use all the rain Mother Nature provides.

    “It’s taken a toll,” Edwards said of the recent heat wave. “The tomatoes and squash will take as much water as you can give them.”

    But the recent rainfall will have very little impact on the ripening peaches that growers are busy harvesting.

  •
    July 4th Parade

     McKenna Phillips of Elgin community waves to the crowd during the annual Charlesboro Fourth of July parade on Saturday. Charlesboro, Heath Springs and Rich Hill each held their Independence Day parades Saturday. They were held a day early since July 4 is on Sunday this year.

    A group of four-wheelers makes its way down Taxahaw Road in the Charlesboro parade Saturday.

  •
    Pageland Watermelon Festival starts...

    The Pageland Watermelon Festival 2010 will be spectacular, offering a variety of fun-filled, family entertainment and events for the young and the young-at-heart.

    Thousands of visitors from throughout the Southeast travel to Pageland every summer to enjoy one of the largest festivals in South Carolina.

    The downtown festivities will kick off at 3 p.m. today. You can enjoy amusement rides, magic shows, the balloon man and other live entertainment in Moore’s Park at the gazebo.

  •
    Midenna Anderson is swim team'...

    Some 19 years ago, Midenna Anderson showed up at the Lancaster County Pool to watch her daughter, Emily Anderson McCain, practice for an upcoming Lancaster Swim Team meet.

    The longtime McDonald Green Elementary School kindergarten teacher said she plopped down in a lounge chair to observe.

    “That was all I was here for,” Anderson said.

    All of that changed when former swim team coach Lynn Hammond saw Anderson sitting there. Anderson readily admits that at that time, she knew little about triple kicks, arm flies and negative splits.

  •
    Local produce

    By the time Andy Harper made it to the Lancaster County Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association Market at Ace Hardware on South Market Street on Wednesday morning, the pickings were slim.

    There wasn’t any okra, squash and cucumbers left.

    But that was OK. Harper still drove off with a bag of hot green and red peppers and 2 pounds of tomatoes grown by Nathaniel and Mae Barber.

    What is different about this market is the crops sold there are grown in Lancaster.

  • Try diabetic friendly version of...

    Since its introduction in mid-April, Kentucky Fried Chicken has sold more than 10 million of its first-ever bun-less chicken sandwich, the KFC Double Down.

    But the one-of-a-kind sandwich, has sparked a nutritional outcry from critics.

    Why?

    Made with two thick, white meat chicken filets, two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterrey Jack and pepper jack cheese and the “Colonel’s Sauce,” the original version of the Double Down contains 540 calories and 32 grams of fat. By comparison, the grilled version has 460 calories and 23 grams of fat.

  •
    Good manners last a lifetime

    The menu for 22 residents of Lancaster Children’s Home on Wednesday morning was typical breakfast fare; bacon, ham, eggs, grits and toast.

    But toasting milk in stemware set on tables adorned with fresh flowers, burning candles, name cards?

    That’s not a common sight.

    But it was a sight to stem some table manner confusion, said Annette Deese, Children’s Home director.

    See Lancaster SC’s Peggy Little, with a little help, schooled the group, ages 8 to 17, in former dinner etiquette.

  • His own voice

    Anything is possible.

    In the late 1980s, few people outside the Columbia music scene knew who Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim Sonefeld were.

    All of that changed in 1994 when the four, collectively known as Hootie & the Blowfish, released “Cracked Rear View.”

    That musical breakthrough was characterized by the national media as “instant success.”

    But musician and University of South Carolina graduate David Reed knows there is no such thing. It takes more than talent.

  • Holiday sweetness made simple

    The July 4 holiday is summer entertaining at its best.

    We pack the picnic basket and head out to relax with family and friends or light the grill and invite them over for an Independence Day celebration.

    Given that, we don’t want to stay in the kitchen with the oven turned on any longer than we have to. And if we are outside, we want something that’s going to be refreshing and cool.

    With abundant sunshine and high temperatures forecast near 90 degrees in the extended forecast on Saturday and Sunday, cool, shady spots are going to be in demand.

  • Where the big booms are this 4th of...

    The fourth of July is almost here. With the holiday falling on Sunday, there are two days of professional fireworks shows in this area to choose from. Here are some of the local events:

    Saturday

    – Rock Hill is hosting Red, White and Boom at 6 p.m. July 3 at the Old Town Amphitheater on Black Street. There will be children’s activities, live music and food vendors. For details, call (803) 329-8756 or e-mail crandall@cityofrockhill.com.

  •
    Natural Appeal

    The natural appeal of Kay Zaitz’ yard at 202 W. Springs St. really draws attention. Chock-full of perennials and woodsy plant material, the yard has been named the June Yard of the Month by the Lancaster Council of Garden Clubs.

    “The garden of Kay Zaitz is absolutely a veritable display of most plants known to mankind,” said Jackie Palmer, YOTM chairwoman. “She has a vast array of different specimens, planted cottage-style.”

  •
    Purple Power

    When Brittany Hill downloaded a copy of the schedule for the upcoming Miss South Carolina pageant, it was printed on purple paper.

    For Hill, Miss Lancaster 2010, everything keeps coming up as a mixture of red and blue.

    When part of the white swimsuit Hill planned to wear Wednesday night disappeared before the approval process at the Marriot in Spartanburg on Mother’s Day weekend, she went with the back-up swimsuit, which is purple.

  •
    Churches unite to provide fresh...

    Eight area churches are partnering with the Society of St. Andrew to provide fresh, in-season vegetables for needy families in Lancaster this summer.

    Dubbed Squash Out Hunger, the ministry includes Eastside Baptist, Hopewell United Methodist, New Hope AME Zion, Spring Hill Baptist, Tabernacle United Methodist, Union Baptist, Unity ARP and Zion United Methodist churches.

  •
    Three of a kind

    These days, local dirt racers Brandy Baker and Bryan Crook are shaking their heads.

    Their sons are growing up fast and getting faster by the week.

    Dillon Crook, Andrew Baker and Austin Baker are coming into their own in at Lancaster Speedway. The trio used to play in the infield dirt. Now they’re competing on the track.

    Not only are the three following in their dads’ footsteps, the trio is also cutting the same red clay line their respective grandfathers, Buddy Crook and Carson Baker, did years ago.

  •
    Going above and beyond

    Sandra Hinson got a little glimpse of heaven this week.

    She saw it in the pallet of shingles in her Flat Creek Road yard, boxes of roofing nails, new windows and a fresh coat of paint.

    Most don’t see the teenagers and adult volunteers who spent most of this week putting a new roof on Hinson’s small home as angels.

    But those who don’t should see them from Hinson’s perspective.

    That perspective comes from a roof that leaks so bad that water pools inside light fixtures.

  • Rolling out a red rose carpet

    To See Lancaster SC Director Peggy Little, little things mean a lot.

    That’s one thing she has learned when it comes to luring top-notch acts here as part of the See Lancaster SC Performing Arts Series.

    Little and 11 other members of the See Lancaster SC board who come up with the Performing Arts Series each year have also become adept at putting together jigsaw puzzles.

  •
    Summertime is VBS time

    In the next few days, hundreds of children in Lancaster County will be learning Bible verses, singing songs, making crafts and gulping all the Kool-Aid and sandwich cremes they can hold.

    A sure sign of summer vacation is Vacation Bible School.

    Many area churches have been, and will be, teaching about Christianity through themes such as “Saddle Ridge Ranch” and “Step Up and Go Green for Jesus” in the upcoming weeks.

  •
    Never Frozen

    Early Thursday, James Stogner pulled the back of his Ford pickup between two posts beneath the pavilion at the Lancaster County Farmers’ Market on Pageland Highway.

    He dropped the tailgate, reached inside and slid a square upside-down kitchen table out of the truck bed and turned it over onto to the cement.

    In no time at all, Stogner had the tabletop covered in heads of fresh cabbage, bright green cucumbers, squash and peppers.

  • Downloadable Father's Day gift

    Click here to download the gift for your father. 

    Make sure to click on the picture to make it full size!