Tag Archives: South Carolina

Orthopedic surgeon/author Tom Kelso to speak at Sunset River Gallery Feb. 9

Thomas Kelso will speak at Sunset River Gallery on Thursday, Feb. 9 from 11 a.m. to 12 noon as part of its monthly Coffee With the Authors program. The event is free, but seating is limited so the gallery requests reservations. Coffee, tea, and breakfast treats will be served.

Kelso is a practicing local orthopedic physician who is also well known for his thrillers, which are based on current innovations in medicine and science. His current novel is Stability Island, third in his Mark Thurman series. It’s an ordinary day in the ER for orthopedic surgeon Thurman until he finds a mysterious sphere that defies gravity. Excitement and danger build in a race against time as Thurman once again joins forces with his former Naval Special Warfare Development Group to prevent one of modern history’s most significant scientific discoveries from falling into the wrong hands.

Previous medical thrillers in the Mark Furman books include Fractured and Hyperion’s Fracture. All three are available at the gallery for book-signing.

Experience the 27th Annual Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration


Arts Ob We People: Winter Exhibit and Sale
Now through March 4 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Daily
Art League of Hilton Head Gallery
14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head Island
This free exhibit displays original work by emerging and leading artists who represent the life of Gullah people on Hilton Head Island and the surrounding community. Artists will be onsite at various times throughout the exhibit. Check for exact schedules at gullahcelebration.com. Private tours are available by appointment only.

Hilton Head Island Honors and Embraces
Black History Month with Cultural Celebrations

February is Black History Month, a month honoring the shared stories and contributions of African Americans who have shaped our nation and also Hilton Head Island.

During this month-long celebration, the Town of Hilton Head Island encourages you to take advantage of the many incredible events being hosted to highlight the Island’s Gullah Geechee culture and other significant contributions of local African Americans. Experience live musical performances, special gatherings, art gallery shows, festivals and more. These wonderful celebrations are fun and educational opportunities for the whole family to enjoy.

Freedom Day Celebration Hosted by Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
Saturday, February 4 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
40 Harriet Tubman Way, Hilton Head Island
This free program explores black resistance in the fight for freedom and honors the life and legacy of Robert Smalls, who was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina. Smalls later won freedom for himself and his family, and became a prominent leader in the community during the Reconstruction era, including service in both the state and national legislature. Special guests include Michael Boulware Moore, the great-great grandson of Robert Smalls; Gullah artist Quentin Smalls and the Claflin University Concert Choir. Visit exploremitchelville.org for more info.

Family and Friends Day
Tuesday, February 7 at 7 p.m.
Historic First African Baptist Church
70 Beach City Road, Hilton Head Island
Cost: Free
Join the Historic First African Baptist Church for its annual family and friends program, featuring traditional and contemporary Gullah songs and samples of authentic Gullah food! Visit gullahcelebration.com for details.

Gullah Celebration’s Patrons and Friends Party
Wednesday, February 8 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Art League Gallery
14 Shelter Cove Lane Hilton Head Island
Cost: Free
Spend the evening with the 2023 featured artist Lisa Rivers and many other exhibiting artists at the Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration’s Patrons and Friends Party. Complimentary food and beverages. Visit gullahcelebration.com for more details.

A Taste of Gullah
Saturday, February 11 from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Art League Gallery
14 Shelter Cove Lane Hilton Head Island
An afternoon filled with gumbo, conch stew, fried fish and shrimp dusted in traditional Gullah seasonings and more favorites, storytelling, music, and other activities. Free admission but food is available for purchase. Visit gullahcelebration.com for more details.

Gullah Market and Block Party: An Arts, Crafts and Food Expo
Saturday, February 18 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Historic Honey Horn
70 Honey Horn Drive, Hilton Head Island
Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for youth. Children 5 and under admitted for free.
An all-access experience to Gullah culture featuring Gullah and African crafts and food, traditional storytelling, music entertainment, and more. Events will proceed rain or shine. Visit gullahcelebration.com for more details and tickets.

Celebration of African American Authors
Saturday, February 25 from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Rotary Community Center
11 Recreation Drive, Bluffton
An afternoon experience that shines the light on African American authors and the important narratives revealed in their latest publications. The featured guest author is former NFL player Aaron Maybin. A complimentary lunch will be provided at this free event.

For more information on local events celebrating Black History, visit the websites for the following organizations:

Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
Native Islander Business & Community Affairs Association’s Gullah Celebration
Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra

Art Under the Oaks at Litchfield Village Commons

Saturday, Oct. 22, 9 AM-4 PM

Sixty vendors (art, crafts, books, food and music) will stretch around the oak-covered corner of Willbrook Blvd. and Ocean Highway. A great day for browsing, noshing, shopping and just welcoming the fall.

Visit CLASS Publishing’s tent where a dozen authors will be available to chat and sign their books – thoughtful and appreciated choices for the gift giving season!

Hilton Head’s Biggest Jeep Event

October 7-8

Hampton Inn and the Island Recreation Association is proud to announce Jeep Island is back! “Last year,
over 100 Jeeps joined the event, and even more are expected this year,” says Special Event Director
Joe Cain.


The weekend kicks off with live music Friday night, October 7 at Lowcountry Celebration Park. Local
band RetroRoxx opens the concert from 5-6:30pm, then Idlewild South, The Allman Brothers Band plays
from 6:30-9 pm.


Saturday October 8 is the Jeep Island main event combined with the Kiwanis Chili Cookoff. Jeep Island is
free to attend, or $25 to register your jeep. View all prices: https://www.jeepisland.org/buy-
now


In addition to the event, there is a 1999 Jeep Wrangler Sport up for grabs! Raffle tickets are selling fast,
with only 850 total being sold. Learn more: https://www.jeepisland.org/jeep-raffle


For more information on the Association’s Events, visit events.islandreccenter.org.

Moveable Feast Events Announced

The Moveable Feast offers monthly luncheons in the Myrtle Beach area featuring presenters on a broad range of cultural topics (music, art, drama, history, and some literature, mostly by local and CLASS-published authors). Each is individually priced.

Friday, Oct. 7 ~ John Lane & Phil Wilkinson (Seven Days on the Santee Delta) at Inlet Affairs ($30)
A richly embroidered coastal South Carolina tapestry of three strands: Philip Wilkinson’s stunning photos of people, wildlife and weather; his homespun stories of the place and its conservation history; and a seven-part narrative by award-winning environmental writer and Wofford College professor John Lane who shares what he has learned firsthand in the field with Phil. With publication of this remarkable coffee-table book, the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust, Evening Post Books and a generous group of conservation-minded sponsors brings Wilkinson’s legacy to a wider public and celebrates the beauty and value of a remarkably wild and vital place. Enjoy a narrated slide presentation of this remarkable
publication.

Tuesday, Oct. 11 ~ at Caffe Piccolo ($25)

South Carolina poet Libby Bernardin is the author of Stones Ripe for Sowing (Press 53, 2018) and two chapbooks, The Book of Myth (SC Poetry Initiative, 2009) and Layers of Song (Finishing Line Press, 2011). Journal publications include The Asheville Poetry Review, Southern Poetry Review, Kakalak. She has won poetry awards from the Poetry Society of South Carolina and the North Carolina Poetry Society, and has served as co-director of the highly respected Litchfield Tea & Poetry Series for the past 16 years. A retired English teacher from the University of South Carolina, she has conducted poetry workshops for Coastal Carolina University’s OLLI program, as well as for Georgetown County Library. Libby is a lifetime member of the Board of Governors of the SC Academy of Authors. Her new book, House in Need of Mooring
(Press 53, 2022) is yet another testament to the silver lining of the pandemic.

Tues., Oct. 18 ~ FOWL Annual Luncheon & Auction “Together Again …with Friends,” Pawleys Plantation
11 AM-1:30 PM, $38, tickets available at the Friends Center in Waccamaw Library or from Linda Ketron!

Tuesday, Oct. 25 ~ Robin Salmon (Brookgreen 101: A Curator’s Legacy) at Ocean One, Litchfield ($30)
For two of her nearly five decades at Brookgreen Gardens, Vice President of Historical and Art Collections and Curator of Sculpture Robin Salmon has delivered monthly lectures affectionately known as “Brookgreen 101.” Begun in 2006 as an offshoot of public lectures she had given through the years, the series was drawn from books and articles she’d written, as well as from her vast knowledge of the history of the property, collections, and the lives of the founders. Intended as an ongoing informational seminar to augment staff and volunteer training, the program was an informal hour of shared facts and insights that became a popular public series in 2018. This first collection of essays features favorite topics with
illustrations where available. It is our hope that future volumes will preserve and make accessible the deep treasure chest of knowledge that is Robin Salmon.


Tuesday, Nov. 1 ~ Laurie Loewenstein (Funeral Train) at Pawleys Plantation’s Sawgrass Room ($30)
In her gripping follow-up to the widely acclaimed Dust Bowl Mystery Death of a Rainmaker, Laurie Loewenstein brings 1930s Oklahoma evocatively to life. Already suffering the privations of the 1930s Dust Bowl, an Oklahoma town is further devastated when a passenger train derails—flooding its hospital with the dead and maimed. Among the seriously wounded is Etha, wife of Sheriff Temple Jennings. Overwhelmed by worry for her, the sheriff must regain his footing to investigate the derailment, which rapidly develops into a case of sabotage. The following night, a local recluse is murdered. Temple has a hunch that this death is connected to the train wreck. But as he dissects the victim’s life with help
from the recuperating and resourceful Etha, he discovers a tangle of records that make a number of townsfolk suspects in the murder. Temple’s investigations take place against the backdrop of the Great Depression—where bootlegging, petty extortion, courage, and bravado play out in equal measure. Death of a Rainmaker was named one of the Best Books of 2018 by both the Library Journal and NPR which characterized it as “a striking historical mystery…that is brooding and gritty and graced with authenticity.” It was a finalist for the 2019 Oklahoma Book Awards Laurie is on the fiction faculty of Wilkes University’s graduate level Creative Writing Program.


Saturday, Nov. 26 ~ Six Children’s Authors at Pawleys Tap & Pour ($30)

On Shop Small Saturday, The Moveable Feast and My Sister’s Books partner for a fabulous presentation by six area authors of works for “small readers,” followed by a delightful lunch at a fast-rising favorite among Pawleys eateries. Join us to hear Millie Doud (beloved author/illustrator of Caretta’s Great Adventure and of many Brookgreen Gardens’ books for children), Christine Thomas Doran (author of the Flash & Fancy books about playful otters on the Waccamaw River), Cindy Hedrick (champion of rescued animals recounted in her Tails from SC-Cares and Love at First Sight), Maura & Alyson Kenny (mother-/daughter-in-law team behind Mindful Santa), and … two more to be announced! The
Moveable Feast is a “grown-ups” event (for parents, aunts and uncles, grands and even great-grands), then after the feast, the authors will migrate next door to the book store for sales and signing (kids are welcome there!!). Shop Small for Small Readers is a great opportunity to start a child’s library of autographed books.

Hilton Head Oyster Festival

The Island Recreation Association and South State Bank are pleased to announce the Hilton Head Oyster Festival is back again! “We are preparing for another great crowd,” says Special Event Director Joe Cain.

Friday November 11 from 5-8pm: All You Can Eat Event at Shelter Cove Park. All you can eat steamed local oysters, lowcountry boil, pulled pork, seafood chowder & chili. Drinks sold separately. Live music and limited availability. Live music: Crosstown Traffic. $55 for adults, $45 for children. Tickets and all purchases inside the festival need to be made through the Crowdblink App.

Saturday November 12 from 10 am-4 pm: Main Event at Lowcountry Celebration Park. Restaurants compete for best Seafood Dish. Admission $8 before Oct 1, $10 after Oct 1 | children 10 and under are FREE. Includes admission to the event to enjoy live music and browse local artisan pop up shops. Food, beverages, and kid’s activities sold separately. Tickets and all purchases inside the festival need to be made through the Crowdblink App. Bands and Entertainment: 10 – 11 am: Cameron Tate Band, 11 – 1 pm: Deas Guyz, 1 – 2 pm: Cameron Tate Band, 2 – 4 pm: Draucker, Oyster Shucking Contest 1:10 pm

New this year: All purchases for Oyster Festival will be done with your Crowdblink app. No cash, no credit cards. Crowdblink generates a personalized QR code that gets scanned when you want to pay. Simply create your Crowdblink account, buy tickets, and save your credit card. No more paper tickets!

Find out more about the festival: Hiltonheadoysterfestival.com

Sunset River features group show, Beach Dreaming

Artist Nancy Hughes Miller, Beach Cloud Colors, oil, 40×40

Sunset River Marketplace, the eclectic art gallery in Calabash, NC will feature Beach Dreaming, a group exhibition of Summer-themed paintings from Wednesday, July 13 through Saturday, August 6. The show includes works by oil painters Connie Winters, Janet Sessoms, Carol Iglesias, Sharon C. Jones, Ruth Cox, and Nancy Hughes Miller; acrylic artists Rachel Sunnell, R.L. Thomas, Vicki Neilon, Ortrud Tyler and Linda Karaskevicus; and watercolorist William West.

Artist Connie Winters, Sunny Day At the Beach, oil, 24×30

Located in coastal Brunswick County, Sunset River Marketplace caters to both area visitors and a growing local community of full-time residents seeking fine art for their homes and businesses. Featuring work by approximately 150 North and South Carolina artists, the gallery is well known in the area for its collection of oil paintings, watermedia, pastels, photography, hand-blown glass, fused glass, pottery and clay sculptures, turned and carved wood, unique home décor items and artisan jewelry.

Artist Sharon C. Jones, Beach Passage, oil, 18×24

There are two onsite kilns and five wheels used by the gallery’s pottery students. Art classes and workshops are currently being offered on a limited basis. Call the gallery for details.

The gallery address is: 10283 Beach Drive SW, Calabash, NC 28467.  Hours are Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, call 910.575.5999 or visit the website at www.sunsetrivermarketplace.com. Daily updates are available on the gallery’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

The FrameCenter, located within the gallery, is open Wednesday through Friday, 12 noon – 5 p.m. and by appointment. Call framer Louis Aliotta directly at 910.368.7351.

Feataured Author

Tuesday, Aug. 2 ~ Mary Perdue (Landaluce) at Caffe Piccolo ($35)
When Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew retired from racing in 1978 to stand at stud at Spendthrift Farm, no one could be certain he would be a successful sire. But just four years later, his dark bay daughter Landaluce won the Hollywood Lassie Stakes by twenty-one lengths—a margin of victory that remains the largest ever in any race by a two-year-old at Hollywood Park. California horse racing had a new superstar, and Slew was launched on a stud career that would make him one of the most influential sires in North America. Like her father, Landaluce soon became a national celebrity, and was poised to become the next American super-horse. But those dreams ended when the two-year-old died in her stall at Santa Anita four months later, the victim of a swift and mysterious illness. Today, with her “I Love Luce” bumper stickers long gone, the filly has been largely forgotten. In Landaluce: The Story of Seattle Slew’s First Champion, Mary Perdue tells the story of a horse whose short but meteoric career could have changed racing history forever. Sparking comparisons to Ruffian, Landaluce helped elevate California horse racing to the national stage and could have been the first filly to ever win the Triple Crown. In telling this story, Perdue explores the lives and careers of Landaluce’s breeders, owners, and trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, as well as her famous sire Seattle Slew—and shows not only how one filly captured the imagination of racing fans across the country but also set the stage for another filly turned super-horse, Zenyatta,
in the decades to come.

July Author Events

All Moveable Feast reservations are to be made through CLASS (www.ClassAtPawleys.com, or 843.235.9600, or linda@classatpawleys.com). 

July 1 ~ Jamie Brenner (Gilt) at The Village House ($60 w/bk)

A luxurious and richly compelling new novel from the acclaimed author of Blush, about a famous family jewelry dynasty and the hidden past that could topple it all. One perfect diamond is all it takes to divide a family. Could one summer be enough to fix it? The Pavlin family built an empire on love. As the first jewelers to sell diamond rings exclusively for proposals, they started a tradition that has defined engagements ever since. But when an ill-fated publicity stunt pits the three Pavlin sisters against one another for a famous family jewel, their bond is broken. No ordinary diamond ring, the Electric Rose splinters the sisters, leaving one unlucky in love, one escaping to the shores of Cape Cod, and the other, ultimately, dead. Now, over a decade later, Gemma Maybrook is still reconciling the reality of her mother’s death. Left orphaned and cast out by her family after the tragic accident, Gemma is ready to reclaim what should have been hers: the Electric Rose. And, as a budding jewelry designer in her own right, Gemma isn’t just planning on recovering her mother’s lost memento, she’s coming back for everything. From Manhattan’s tony Fifth Avenue to the vibrant sands of Provincetown, Gilt follows the Pavlin women as they are forced to confront the mistakes of the past if they have any hope of finding love and happiness of their own.

July 8 ~ Nancy Naigle (What Remains True) at Litchfield Country Club ($35)

An uplifting novel about three months that may change three lives—and lead to love—from USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle. Working at a little shop on Main Street in a small town is exactly the break that executive Merry Anna Foster needs following her divorce. She’s made a bet with her ex-husband that she can live on the amount of money she’s giving him in alimony. If she can do it, then Kevin will have to stop complaining and leave her alone. But after three months of this new life, will she even want to leave Antler Creek? Adam Lockwood, bull rider and owner of the local feedstore, is having the best year of his rodeo career. He’s also a bit distracted by the pretty new neighbor living in his old bunkhouse. But Adam has no time for matters of the heart. He’s got his future all mapped out, and that future doesn’t involve a woman just yet. It doesn’t involve parenting a little girl either. However, Carly Fowler still suddenly leaves five-year-old Zan—the daughter Adam didn’t know he had—in his care. Is it possible that the future holds a life even better than what Merry Anna and Adam had each dreamed of? One that includes both tenderness and even love—not just for each other but for Zan, too.

*July 15 ~ Viola Shipman (The Edge of Summer) at DeBordieu Colony Clubhouse ($40)

Reminiscent of the complex, uplifting family stories by Nancy Thayer, Sunny Hostin and Mary Alice Monroe, Viola Shipman’s poignant new novel explores the relationship between a curious woman and her secretive mother, taking readers from their hardscrabble life in the Ozarks to her search for answers along the sparkling shores of Lake Michigan. Devastated by the sudden death of her mother—a quiet, loving and intensely private Southern seamstress called Miss Mabel, who overflowed with pearls of Ozarks wisdom but never spoke of her own family—Sutton Douglas makes the impulsive decision to pack up and head north to the Michigan resort town where she believes she’ll find answers to the lifelong questions she’s had about not only her mother’s past but also her own place in the world. Recalling Miss Mabel’s sewing notions that were her childhood toys, Sutton buys a collection of buttons at an estate sale from Bonnie Lyons, the imposing matriarch of the lakeside community. Propelled by a handful of trinkets left behind by her mother and glimpses into the history of the magical lakeshore town, Sutton becomes tantalized by the possibility that Bonnie is the grandmother she never knew. But is she? As Sutton cautiously befriends Bonnie and is taken into her confidence, she begins to uncover the secrets about her family that Miss Mabel so carefully hid, and about the role that Sutton herself unwittingly played in it all.

July 22 ~ Colleen Coble (Edge of Dusk) at Inlet Affairs ($35)

In this new series, bestselling romantic-suspense author Colleen Coble returns to one of her most beloved towns, where familiar faces—and unsolved cases—await. Even though secrets lie off the coast of Rock Harbor, the truth will set Annie Pederson free—if it doesn’t kill her first. Nine-year-old Annie Pederson’s life changed the night her sister was kidnapped. The two had been outside playing on a dock, and Annie never forgave herself for her role in her sister’s disappearance. Twenty-four years later and now a law enforcement ranger, Annie is still searching for answers as she grieves a new loss: the death of her husband and parents in a boating accident. But Annie and her eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, aren’t the only people in the town of Rock Harbor whose lives have been marred by tragedy. While managing the property around the Tremolo Resort and Marina she inherited, Annie discovers a dead body floating in the cold Superior surf and begins to work with the sheriff’s office to tie the death to a series of other mysterious reports in the area. At the same time, her first love, Jon Dustan, returns after nine years away, reigniting the town’s memory of a cold case he’d been suspiciously linked to before he left to pursue his orthopedic residency. For the sake of her investigation and her heart, Annie tries to stay away. But avoiding Jon becomes impossible once Annie realizes she is being targeted by someone desperate to keep secrets from the past hidden. 

July 29 ~ Jennifer Chiaverini (Switchboard Soldiers) at The Village House ($35)

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini, a bold, revelatory novel about one of the great untold stories of World War I—the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who broke down gender barriers in the military, smashed the workplace glass ceiling, and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to victory. In June 1917, General John Pershing arrived in France to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself unable to communicate with troops in the field. Pershing needed operators who could swiftly and accurately connect multiple calls, speak fluent French and English, remain steady under fire, and be utterly discreet, since the calls often conveyed classified information. At the time, nearly all well-trained American telephone operators were women—but women were not permitted to enlist, or even to vote in most states. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began recruiting them. More than 7,600 women responded, including Grace Banker of New Jersey, a switchboard instructor with AT&T and an alumna of Barnard College; Marie Miossec, a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer; and Valerie DeSmedt, a twenty-year-old Pacific Telephone operator from Los Angeles, determined to strike a blow for her native Belgium. They were among the first women sworn into the U.S. Army under the Articles of War. The male soldiers they had replaced had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in ten seconds. The risk of death was real—the women worked as bombs fell around them—as was the threat of a deadly new disease: the Spanish Flu. Not all of the telephone operators would survive. The women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honor and played an essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a novel…until now.