By: Shamira McCray
FLORENCE, S.C. – TEDx Evans Street producer Darian Bethea said events such as the one held Thursday are important because it gets people out of their personal bubble and viewpoint and gives them a look through the eyes of others.
Eight performers and speakers presented at TEDx Evans Street on Thursday. The event was held at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology. Topics ranged from jazz music and fake news to cultural mindset and health care.
“You have doctors, you have students,” Bethea said. “Like today, we had bluegrass people and we had cloggers. We had (a) jazz band. All of these people sharing one stage, where in another arena, you might not get all these people in the same building on the same stage.”
Wilson High School student Rebecca Liu spoke Thursday about cultural mindset learning. She said in today’s society, everything is black and white and everyone must choose a side.
“You have to be for this political party or that political party,” Liu said. “Or you have to identify as belonging to one culture or another. There is no gray area. But what if we could compromise? What if we could take the best of both sides rather than having to choose?” Liu was born and raised in Florence. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Taiwan.
In America, Liu said, she is seen as Asian. But when she visits her grandparents in Taiwan, she sticks out as American.
“So who am I? Am I Asian or am I American?” Lieu said in her speech Thursday.
For many second-generation immigrants, creating a new cultural paradigm is their change agent.
“In my everyday life, I experience what I consider the best of both worlds,” Liu said. “I take the best of both cultures around me and use it to create my own personalized culture.”
Lake City Mayor Lovith Anderson Jr. was another one of the Pee Dee-area speakers at TEDx Evans Street. He spoke about how Lake City is now recognized on a world stage due to its change and remaining ageless.
Decades ago, Anderson said, Lake City was an agricultural community and grew crops such as tobacco, cotton, soybeans and green beans. In the early 1900s, Lake City was the “green bean capital of the world,” he said. But people began to leave the city as manufacturing and textile plants left.
Anderson even moved away from Lake City. He later returned, as many other are doing, he said. But in other to get more people into the city, Anderson said, people had to look at Lake City and figure out how they could get it back in shape.
“You’ve got to look at some basic things to make that happen,” Anderson said. “One is you need to have a vision. Second is you need to have some resources. Third is you need to have some faith and fourth is its going to take some hard work.”
Through vision and hard work, Lake City has transformed into what USA Today readers voted this year as the best small town cultural scene. Thousands of people from around the world visit Lake City each year for ArtFields, a nine-day art competition and festival. The city offers recreational activities for children, a senior center for senior citizens and Anderson said a new educational center is being built for students.
Other presenters and speakers at Thursday’s TEDx Evans Street included:
>> Capital City Clogging Company
>> Don Kausler Jr. – regional editor of the Morning News
>> Dr. Veeral Oza – advanced endoscopic gastroenterologist
>> Jennifer Ransaw Smith – Personal Elevation architech
>> Southern Bluegrass Band
>> South Carolina State University Jazz Band
Bethea said TEDx Evans Street will be held every year. He said several people apply to perform or speak at TED events.
TEDx is an international platform, Bethea said. Thursday’s event, the video being made from it and the performers and speakers will be watched by millions of people worldwide, he said.
https://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_ce6eacda-f9c5-11e8-8de2-377d16b511b4.html?fbclid=IwAR1uZA2QMQVE7Wyo3G3I_QhMQ4ZZsLb1LAA-8c2BcdGLDCJmkQebZH_LVyU
Junior Leadership Florence Class participates in Social Issues and Community Service Day
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleThe 2018-2019 Junior Leadership Florence Class was busy Thursday morning helping out at Harvest Hope Food Bank during their Social Issues and Community Service Day.
The JLF program is a partnership between The Greater Florence Chamber, The Florence County 4-H and Francis Marion University. The program is similar in nature to the Chamber’s Leadership Florence program, but designed for our Florence County sophomore and junior level high schools students.
Starbucks opens on Pamplico Highway
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleBy: Matthew Christian
FLORENCE, S.C. – Coffee lovers in Florence have a new place to get a cup of joe.
Florence’s newest Starbucks opened Monday morning in a new shopping plaza across from the main campus of Carolinas Hospital System on Pamplico Highway.
“It’s extremely exciting for me to be open today,” said Jaime Owle, the store manager. “We’re slower than we’d like to be, because we didn’t open on Friday as scheduled.”
Owle added that before coming to the Pamplico Highway store, he served as a store manager of the Five Points Starbucks. He said he trained the manager to take over the store. He also said he wanted the challenge of opening a new store.
Before working at Starbucks, he served as a meat department manager at a Publix.
“I’m super-excited to be here,” Owle said. “I’m super-excited about the location. Once we get going, I know that we’ll really, really generate some business in this location.”
Owle also said that the location was chosen because of the proximity of the hospital as well as the ongoing development in that southeastern area of Florence.
Starbucks was founded in 1971 in Seattle. It expanded from six stores in the Seattle area in the 1980s after being purchased by former manager Howard Schultz. Schultz served as the chief executive officer of Starbucks from 1986-2000 and 2008-2017. The chain now has over 28,000 locations around the world.
For more information, visit starbucks.com.
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Carolina Bank opens new headquarters in downtown Florence
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleBy: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — After more than two years of anticipation, Carolina Bank officially opened the doors of its new headquarters Monday in an estimated $4.5 million investment and expansion in downtown Florence.
The 19,200-square foot building will host the bank’s 15th branch location, as well as Carolina Bank’s headquarters, operations and administrative offices.
Brian Falcone, senior credit officer for Carolina Bank, said that the company has helped finance projects downtown, including Hotel Florence, The Waters Building and part of Kress Corner.
“We feel like we’ve been involved in downtown, but we’re very excited to be opening the new branch in downtown and to move our operations to Florence,” Falcone said.
Falcone said Carolina Bank’s lending volume in Florence has increased from around 20 percent to 75 percent over the years. That was a major factor in the company’s decision to move to downtown Florence, according to Falcone.
“We felt like there was an opportunity for us to grown downtown, and we looked at several properties,” Falcone said. “This building is just a great location, and we really loved the history behind it.”
Falcone said the bank moved approximately 30 jobs to the downtown location and created roughly six jobs with the new branch.
“This move will . llow us to provide more focused service to our customers and potential customers in a growing market, ” Rick Beasley, the president of Carolina Bank, said in a news release. “ The development downtown is exciting, and we are thrilled to be a part of it. However, we remain committed to our customers in Darlington and our other branch locations. We will continue to serve our communities with the exceptional customer and banking services they have come to expect from us.”
Last year, the bank announced that it would take over the former Art Trail Gallery at 185 W. Evans St. for its new company headquarters. The original plan was for construction to be completed and for the bank to move into the new building in December of 2017.
“It was well worth the wait,” Falcone said. “We started construction June 2017 but ran into different issues, so what was supposed to be a 12-month project turned into about a 17- to 18-month project.”
Falcone said that Carolina Bank was interested in the property because of its historical layout.
“The building was originally three stories, but when it was the furniture store and the Art Trail gallery, it was two stories,” Falcone said. “So, we looked at old plans when it was three stories and thought it was a really neat-looking building. It was the turn of the century when Florence was just getting going, and we really wanted to make the building look as much like that as we possibly could.”
The first floor of the bank includes the new branch operations and wealth management services. The second floor is dedicated to operations, such as loan, computer and deposit operations. The third floor houses several administrative offices for Carolina Bank’s headquarters.
Carolina Bank opened its first office in 1936 in Lamar.
https://www.scnow.com/news/business/local/article_68a84860-025e-11e9-b835-17867e2f6f13.html?fbclid=IwAR1KseJQZce69kN8e6HSgPkT9WwC3cFgz7CHsem_pN-CYwtmdBPNZa8aDz8
Piggly Wiggly Pharmacy in Florence celebrates anniversary
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News, Ribbon Cuttings /by Mandy HowleBy: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — The Piggly Wiggly Pharmacy celebrated its one-year anniversary with a grand-reopening and a ribbon cutting Friday afternoon.
The Piggly Wiggly Pharmacy, located at 1945 W. Palmetto St. inside the Piggly Wiggly grocery store, accepts all insurance plans and is an independently owned local pharmacy.
Brian Long, pharmacist in charger, said the pharmacy was formerly Sup-RX, but rebranded and reopened with the new name under new leadership last year.
“We’re just celebrating the fact that we’ve been open for a year and we really want to become more involved in the community and help people out as much as possible,” Long said.
As part of that desire to be in the community, Long said, the pharmacy has supported a YMCA soccer team, provided many more immunizations over the last year and looked for opportunities to communicate with people and offer the lowest prices possible.
He said joining the chamber was the next step in the pharmacy’s growth in community outreach.
“Being involved in the community is important for us,” Long said. “We’re excited to be here and really want to be able to help out people and other businesses, as well.”
Attendees were able to stop by the pharmacy and enter to win a touchscreen Chromebook, a fire pit or a television, as well as enjoy free food and other giveaways.
“Our No. 1 advantage is our staff,” Long said. “We’ve got the friendliest staff and people really enjoy that. They’re all very knowledgeable and that’s certainly our biggest asset. It’s a family environment and our customers are on a first-name basis.”
Piggly Wiggly Pharmacy is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
For more information, call the pharmacy at 843-673-9107.
https://www.scnow.com/news/business/article_e2ac5b5c-000a-11e9-87c9-27e5e88e5353.html
Florence networking event draws attention to development
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleBy: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — Members of Florence County Progress gathered Thursday evening at Seminar Brewing Company for the organization’s Holiday Networking Event.
Florence County Progress, the private-sector arm of Florence County Economic Development Partnership, was created in the early 1980s by business leaders throughout the county to provide support and leadership to the publicly funded economic development program.
Cameron C. Packett, membership relations manager, said the event was a chance for members of Florence County Progress to network during the holiday season.
“Our Holiday Networking Event is a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday season with our Florence County Progress members,” Packett said. “Seminar and Pepsi have been great partners for this year’s event. Bringing the business community together is what Florence County Progress is all about.”
Packett said hosting networking events allow business and community leaders to come together for the betterment of Florence County. She said the organization had a successful year and looks forward to 2019.
Florence County Progress will host its annual membership luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 17, at the SiMT building on the campus of Florence-Darlington Technical College.
“As we close out the year and turn our attention to 2019 we will continue to focus on our existing industries and attracting new industries to Florence County,” Packett said. “2018 has been a good year and we look forward to building on what’s been done in the new year.”
The event was held at Seminar Brewing, which is at 551 W. Lucas St. Seminar is Florence’s first commercial craft brewery.
Florence County Progress works to recruit new business and industry to the area while helping existing industry expand. For more information or to join the partnership, contact Packett at cpackett@florenceco.org or 843-676-8796.
https://www.scnow.com/news/business/article_4f089d1c-ff3c-11e8-8fe2-b77bd7cfcd2c.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR0lTs1qlaSllaLrOg0l3bDj8l5UIBpqmPOQGaq5Fr47VoU1uCRE8HPHddw
Pee Dee Tax & Payroll joins chamber, holds ribbon cutting
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News, Ribbon Cuttings /by Mandy HowleBy: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — Pee Dee Tax & Payroll joined ambassadors from the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce on Thursday to celebrate the company’s new chamber membership.
Pee Dee Tax & Payroll, at 3344 W. Palmetto St., was established in 2015 by partners Audrey Jordan and Ryan Miller.
The company offers individual and small-business professional accounting services, tax preparation, up to $6,000 income tax refund advances and full-service payroll options.
Miller said he has known Jordan for more than 19 years and the two worked together in several professional settings before Jordan decided that she’d like to open her own agency. The two partnered to bring the business to Florence a little more than three years ago.
Miller said joining the chamber was a way for the company to take its first steps in being involved in the community.
“Being a part of the Florence community is important,” Miller said. “Joining the chamber is the first step in starting to be involved and it’s a great networking opportunity for us.”
Pee Dee Tax & Payroll is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with extended hours during tax season.
For more information or to get in contact with the business, call them at 843-407-1500 or visit PeeDeeTax.com.
https://www.scnow.com/news/business/article_0c8449ee-ff3e-11e8-a940-eb1c151a8af9.html?fbclid=IwAR1c8Qg8hsMju_S8q7cltEldufk_iq4DqXpkxc-iG-m6-7mNB0OQBknCKKs
Avon consultant has ribbon cutting in Florence
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News, Ribbon Cuttings /by Mandy HowleBy: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — Myreah Eley, of Pass Her Avon, joined ambassadors from the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce on Thursday to celebrate her new chamber membership.
Eley, a beauty consultant, said joining the chamber was important for her getting out in the community.
“I heard about the chamber from a fellow representative in another state and how that one helped them,” Eley said. I want to be involved in the community and I want people to know my name. I really wanted to connect with the city and I think the chamber is a great way to do it.”
Eley said she offers a variety of Avon products including fashion, jewelry, makeup, fragrances, perfume, cologne for men and women, children’s toys, house supplies and more.
“I started off as a regular Avon representative, but now I also am a consultant,” Eley said. “I help people find what they’re looking for and what’s best for them. I also do fundraising and help organizations that way, as well.”
For more information, call her at 727-437-2866 or email at support@passheravon.club. Eley said she also has a Facebook page and has a website at passheravon.club.
https://www.scnow.com/news/business/article_5dafa718-f9d1-11e8-8f08-2ffa6b5f4d7a.html?fbclid=IwAR0ElVoQ9FsY0UojvLQhZlfbZepKpcEmpURIDLdBPHN32fdi41ZHOp3jQms
TEDx offers new viewpoints at Florence event
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleBy: Shamira McCray
FLORENCE, S.C. – TEDx Evans Street producer Darian Bethea said events such as the one held Thursday are important because it gets people out of their personal bubble and viewpoint and gives them a look through the eyes of others.
Eight performers and speakers presented at TEDx Evans Street on Thursday. The event was held at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology. Topics ranged from jazz music and fake news to cultural mindset and health care.
“You have doctors, you have students,” Bethea said. “Like today, we had bluegrass people and we had cloggers. We had (a) jazz band. All of these people sharing one stage, where in another arena, you might not get all these people in the same building on the same stage.”
Wilson High School student Rebecca Liu spoke Thursday about cultural mindset learning. She said in today’s society, everything is black and white and everyone must choose a side.
“You have to be for this political party or that political party,” Liu said. “Or you have to identify as belonging to one culture or another. There is no gray area. But what if we could compromise? What if we could take the best of both sides rather than having to choose?” Liu was born and raised in Florence. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Taiwan.
In America, Liu said, she is seen as Asian. But when she visits her grandparents in Taiwan, she sticks out as American.
“So who am I? Am I Asian or am I American?” Lieu said in her speech Thursday.
For many second-generation immigrants, creating a new cultural paradigm is their change agent.
“In my everyday life, I experience what I consider the best of both worlds,” Liu said. “I take the best of both cultures around me and use it to create my own personalized culture.”
Lake City Mayor Lovith Anderson Jr. was another one of the Pee Dee-area speakers at TEDx Evans Street. He spoke about how Lake City is now recognized on a world stage due to its change and remaining ageless.
Decades ago, Anderson said, Lake City was an agricultural community and grew crops such as tobacco, cotton, soybeans and green beans. In the early 1900s, Lake City was the “green bean capital of the world,” he said. But people began to leave the city as manufacturing and textile plants left.
Anderson even moved away from Lake City. He later returned, as many other are doing, he said. But in other to get more people into the city, Anderson said, people had to look at Lake City and figure out how they could get it back in shape.
“You’ve got to look at some basic things to make that happen,” Anderson said. “One is you need to have a vision. Second is you need to have some resources. Third is you need to have some faith and fourth is its going to take some hard work.”
Through vision and hard work, Lake City has transformed into what USA Today readers voted this year as the best small town cultural scene. Thousands of people from around the world visit Lake City each year for ArtFields, a nine-day art competition and festival. The city offers recreational activities for children, a senior center for senior citizens and Anderson said a new educational center is being built for students.
Other presenters and speakers at Thursday’s TEDx Evans Street included:
>> Capital City Clogging Company
>> Don Kausler Jr. – regional editor of the Morning News
>> Dr. Veeral Oza – advanced endoscopic gastroenterologist
>> Jennifer Ransaw Smith – Personal Elevation architech
>> Southern Bluegrass Band
>> South Carolina State University Jazz Band
Bethea said TEDx Evans Street will be held every year. He said several people apply to perform or speak at TED events.
TEDx is an international platform, Bethea said. Thursday’s event, the video being made from it and the performers and speakers will be watched by millions of people worldwide, he said.
https://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_ce6eacda-f9c5-11e8-8de2-377d16b511b4.html?fbclid=IwAR1uZA2QMQVE7Wyo3G3I_QhMQ4ZZsLb1LAA-8c2BcdGLDCJmkQebZH_LVyU
Financing set to build Florence hotel
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleBy: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — Spirides Hospitality Finance Company has arranged a $5 million construction mortgage loan to finance the development of a new Radisson Park Inn in Florence, officials told the Morning News.
The Radisson Park Inn will be a limited-service hotel featuring 60 guest rooms and suites in a three-story interior corridor building situated on 1.5 acres of land, according to an announcement.
The hotel will feature a breakfast area, business center, indoor swimming poll, fitness center, guest laundry room, meeting room, market and vending area. The hotel will be off Interstate 95 at the West Lucas Street (U.S. 52) exit in the Fairfield Festival business and retail development off Mandeville Road and will be less than three miles from Florence city center.
“The city of Florence, South Carolina, which was founded as a railroad hub, today remains vitally linked with the U.S. transportation system by being the midway point between New York City and Miami, Florida on Interstate 95,” said Harry G. Spirides, president of Spirides Hospitality Finance Company. “This geographic fact has led to strong demand for hotel accommodations at Interstate 95’s exits in the metropolitan Florence area. Additionally, Florence’s good interstate access, which also includes Interstate 20, has allowed it to be the home of a QVC Distribution Center, an Otis Elevator manufacturing plant, and a Honda manufacturing plant among numerous other businesses.”
The hotel will be operated by Radisson Hotel Group, which is one of the world’s largest hotel groups with eight distinctive hotel brands and more than 1,400 hotels in operation and under development around the world.
The terms of the financing arranged by Spirides for the new development include a “favorable” interest rate, a 25-year term, an 80 percent loan-to-cost ratio, interest-only monthly mortgage payments for the first 12 months of the loan through the construction period, followed by principal and interest payments based on a 24-year amortization for the remainder of the loan.
The concept of Park Inn by Radisson features all necessary modern hotel services and amenities, a guest service philosophy called “Adding Color to Life” and a cost-effective building design which includes colorful and contemporary interiors.
Based in Tampa, Florida, Spirides Hospitality Finance Company arranges mortgages and loans for hotel owners across the United States for new ground-up construction, acquisition, debt refinancing, renovation, and other types of hotel capital projects. Members of the Spirides family have owned, operated, developed, and advised hotels and restaurants since the 1920s.
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Fellows in Education hear plans for new classes at West Florence
/in Frontpage Article, Images, News /by Mandy HowleBy: Lauren Owens
FLORENCE, S.C. – During the Fellows in Education’s visit to West Florence High School, Principal Matt Dowdell shared the school’s plans for implementing more STEM classes and Advanced Placement (AP) courses starting next fall.
“We are trying to give our students the best education that they can get within these four walls,” Dowdell said. “We are trying to teach them how to collaborate, how to be creative and how to problem solve.”
The addition of the classes will allow students to graduate with a STEM or AP Capstone diplomas.
Dowdell, who’s in his first year as principal, said one of his focuses this year is increasing academic rigor, which will create new AP classes, such as government, economics, computer science and psychology, and STEM courses, such as biology, English, geometry and world history.
The additions to the AP program will also give students to take part in research.
In addition to increasing the academic rigor at West Florence, Dowdell said, the administration has begun to take a more hands-on approach with students and build relationships with them, to better support them and teachers.
During the fellows’ visit, they viewed classes across different subjects, including English, journalism and three science-based Project Lead The Way classes, where they got to see students performing lab activities and creating the school newspaper, Knight Life.
Joe Edick, who is a fellow, saw the need for funding the newspaper and decided to offer free printing through his company, M&M Graphics.
“It’s a small price to give,” Edick said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about – giving back.”
Tiffany Straus, the director of community relations at HopeHealth, also volunteered to help through purchasing advertising with the newspaper. Straus said she thinks it is important to invest in the school district.
The next Fellows in Education meeting will take place at Savannah Grove Elementary School on Tuesday, Jan. 8.
https://www.scnow.com/news/education/article_618532ee-f838-11e8-9a1d-9f0753446d59.html?fbclid=IwAR1yDseYbjsO1SgohnC2A-ZZFQs7aY7uPfMwO8kfZ8ESitT38CJBLzq-ySI