Treasures from the National Music Museum – The Utley Collection of Brass Instruments


Something weird and wonderful is on the way!

Opening September 13! Treasures from the National Music Museum – The Utley Collection of Brass Instruments.
The exhibit will feature selected pieces from one of the world’s finest collections of over 600 historic brass instruments from the Joe and Joella Utley Collection of Spartanburg, SC. In collaboration with the National Music Museum (NMM) in Vermillion, South Dakota, which will soon house the Utley Collection, Dr. Sabine Klaus, curator of the Utley Collection, will be working closely with Tom Strange, Curator and Artistic Director of the Carolina Music Museum to prepare the exhibit. Daily on Tuesday - Saturday 10-5 -- Sunday 1-5 pm

Carolina Clavier Collection


Exhibit ending in late September…. Don’t miss this amazing collection of keyboard instruments from the early South!
World-famous Carolina Clavier Collection – more than 40 harpsichords and pianos from 1712 to 1857. These were instruments that told the stories of the people who sold, bought, repaired, played, taught on, and listened to these instruments.

Tim Conroy and Kathryn Kirkpatrick: An Evening of Poetry


Join us on Thursday, September 19th at 6pm for an evening of poetry with Tim Conroy and Kathryn Kirkpatrick. Each will read from their new works and sign books. Make it a very-Spartanburg-evening by stopping by RJ Rockers for a beer or grabbing dinner next door at Cribbs after the event!

Tim Conroy – Theologies of Terrain

Tim Conroy is a poet and former educator. His work has been published in journals, magazines, and compilations, including Fall LinesAuntie BellumBlue Mountain ReviewJasperMarked by the Water, and Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy. In 2017, Muddy Ford Press published his first book of poetry, Theologies of Terrain, edited by Columbia, South Carolina poet laureate Ed Madden. A founding board member of the Pat Conroy Literary Center established in his brother’s honor, Tim Conroy lives in Columbia.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick – The Fisher Queen: New & Selected Poems

Kathryn Kirkpatrick is Professor of English at Appalachian State University where she teaches environmental literature, animal studies, and Irish studies and co-coordinates the Animal Studies minor. She is the author of seven books of poetry, including collections addressing climate change, human illness, and nonhuman animals (Unaccountable Weather (2011) and Our Held Animal Breath (2012)). The Fisher Queen: New & Selected Poems, was published in 2019 by Salmon Press. Kirkpatrick is the editor of Border Crossings: Irish Women Writers and National Identities (U of Alabama Press, 2000) and co-editor with Borbala Farago of Animals in Irish Literature and Culture (Palgrave, 2015).

Spotlight on the Arts Gala


The Spotlight on the Arts Gala will feature a showcase of artists and entertainers from a variety of art areas. Because the Greer Center for the Arts features spaces for both visual and performing arts, the entertainment will include music, art, dance, theatre, and more! The Gala will include performances by internationally renowned pianist Emile Pandolfi, Greer native singer/songwriter turned musical force Noah Guthrie, and performance painter Jarod Emerson. The evening will be hosted by WSPA-TV host and producer, Jamarcus Gaston.

Greer Center for the Arts Grand Opening


The Grand Opening for the newly renovated Greer Center for the Arts is Saturday, September 21, 2019! Join us from 11am-4pm for tours of the newest arts center in the upstate. The free Grand Opening event will include inflatables, a magician, a balloon artist, pottery wheel demonstrations, origami demonstrations, resident artist open studios, and more! Food and beverage vendors will be on-site so you can purchase a meal while you enjoy the event!

Additional parking will be located at Victor Baptist Church.

A Book Signing with Kathryn Smith


Join us at Hub City Bookshop on September 24th to meet a writer full of passion for women’s history! Enjoy a fun reading, Q&A session and book signing to follow.

Kathryn Smith is a journalist, writer and American history speaker who is fascinated by women who were ahead of their time. Her interest in Gertrude Legendre was aroused when a friend told her about the multi-talented, multi-tasking mistress of Medway Plantation. “When she got to the part about Gertie escaping the Nazis over the Swiss border, I said, ‘Wait, wait, one woman did all this?” As part of her research, Kathryn personally traced Gertie’s POW experience, from the Ritz Hotel bar in Paris where she met a friend who agreed to drive her to the front, to her escape by train from Konstanz, Germany. Her research also took her to Aiken, where Gertie was born, New York, where she lived in a mansion off Central Park, and, finally, to Medway itself.

Mary Ann Claud: Read Between the Wines


Meet writer Mary Ann Claud while sipping a glass of complimentary wine at the Hub City Bookshop! Read Between the Wines is a monthly event you won't want to miss.

Mary Ann Claud is originally from Lancaster, SC. She began writing in the early 1970s, shortly after moving to Tryon, NC. Claud published her first of four novels to date in 2014 called, The Dancin’ Man, the first installment of her trilogy. She has participated by invitation twice as a presenter at the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival and has previewed all of her books at Spartanburg’s Hub City Bookshop. She is a member of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and is a strong supporter of Independent book stores where she favors appearing.

A Reading with Jon Sealy


Hub City Bookshop is thrilled to host author Jon Sealy “a significant new voice in Southern fiction” on October 3rd at 6PM!

His latest novel, The Edge of America, is set in 1984 Miami. Enter the high-stakes world of South Florida’s drug culture, where a businessman with CIA ties is about to risk it all.

Bobby West is on the edge. As chief financial officer for a Miami holding company and a CIA front, he has overleveraged his business in the go-go 1980s financial culture. He turns to a deal-with-the-devil money laundering operation with a local gangster, Alexander French—a deal which quickly goes south when $3 million goes missing. With echoes of Iran-Contra and the Orwellian surveillance state, The Edge of America is a stunning thriller about greed, power, and the limits of the American dream.

Jon Sealy is also the author of The Whiskey Baron (Hub City Press, 2014). His fiction has appeared widely in literary journals and magazines. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Andrea Bobotis: Reading Between the Wines


Sip a glass of complimentary wine with author and South Carolina native Andrea Bobotis at the Hub City Bookshop!

Her debut novel The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt, has received acclaim as The New York Post’s best books of the week, Library Journal’s Best Summer/Fall 2019 Debut Novels, BookBub’s 10 Debut Summer Books by Women Everyone Should Read, Coastal Living’s Best Beach Reads for Summer 2019, and Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s Summer 2019 Okra Pick.

It has also been a featured pick in Woman’s Day Magazine, on celebrity Molly Sims’s summer book list, on Deep South Magazine’s Summer Reading List, and as the most-anticipated summer read on Workingmother.com!

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt follows a Southern woman as she untangles the dark legacy of her family's possessions in a South Carolina cotton town. It is a novel steeped in Southern lyricism, tragic family secrets, and suspenseful storytelling.

An Evening with David Lynn


Join us at the bookshop on Tuesday, October 22nd for a discussion with former Kenyon Review editor David Lynn!

David Lynn recently resigned after 15 years as the editor of the Kenyon Review, an international journal of literature, culture and the arts.

As an author, he received a 2016 O. Henry Award for “Divergence.” His latest collection, Children of God: New & Selected Stories, has been published in 2019 by Braddock Avenue Books. An earlier volume, Year of Fire, was published in 2006 by Harcourt. In a review, Publisher’s Weekly said that “the stories of this collection occupy the gray borderland where betrayal mixes with trust, violence with affection, humiliation with lust. The effect is quietly haunting.” And the New York Times said, “feels his way toward tentative, glancing resolutions that avoid glib epiphanies and leave his characters, like the professor in ‘Life Sentences,’ ‘numb and sad and lonely . . . a still center as the emotional chaos of these people swirled about him, destroying so much.’”

David Lynn is the author of the novel Wrestling with Gabriel, an earlier collection of stories, Fortune Telling, and The Hero’s Tale: Narrators in the Early Modern Novel, a critical study. His stories and essays have appeared in magazines and journals in America, England, India, and Australia. Other awards include the Glimmer Train Short Story Prize 2015, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award Finalist, and the Ohioana Library Association Award for Editorial Excellence.

David Lynn lives in Gambier, Ohio with his wife, Wendy Singer, a distinguished historian of India. He is also Professor of English at Kenyon College.

Literary Luncheon with Patti Callahan Henry


Hub City Bookshop will host New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry at the Piedmont Club for a literary luncheon on October 25th.

A ticket includes lunch with the author and a copy of her new book The Favorite Daughter!

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times bestselling author whose novels include The Bookshop at Water’s EndThe Idea of LoveThe Stories We Tell, and Driftwood Summer.

As Patti Callahan, she’s the author of the USA Today bestseller Becoming Mrs. Lewis. Short-listed for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, and nominated multiple times for the Southern Inde¬pendent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Book Award for Fiction, Patti is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs, and women’s groups.

As a former nurse, much of Henry’s graduate work focused on injuries of the brain and memory, leading her to deep reflection on what it means for families who must learn to cope with what medical professionals refer to as “ambiguous loss.” How does one grieve for a loved one that still lives on but no longer seems to be the same person? Inspired by her professional experiences with memory loss, Henry wanted to explore the concept further as a novelist, resulting in her new book, The Favorite Daughter—a heart-rending story about a broken family that is forced to rally when tragedy strikes.

Out of the Darkness Upstate Area-Spartanburg Walk


When you walk in the Out of the Darkness Walks, you join the effort with hundreds of thousands of people to raise awareness and funds that allow the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to invest in new research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy, and support survivors of suicide loss.

Thanks to Walkers and Donors like you, AFSP has been able to set a goal to reduce the annual suicide rate 20% by 2025.

Online registration closes at noon (local time) the Friday before the walk. However, anyone who would like to participate can register in person at the walk from the time check-in begins until the walk starts. Registration is free and open to the public. Walk donations are accepted until December 31st.

Operation Music Fest


Country and rock music from some of the biggest artists in the business … from today and yesterday. The festival is brought to you by one of the founders of Operation Rock Fest and his partners, and it’s hosted here at Denver Downs Farm in Anderson, South Carolina. All ages welcome; no children’s activities will be available, however.

Headliners include Bret Michaels, Sebastian Bach, The Kentucky Headhunters, Ashley McBryde, and Bucky Covington, along with plenty more great acts!

No coolers, pets, tents, outside food/beverages or concealed weapons.
This is a rain or shine event! All sales are final. No refunds.

Building Your International Network: Learn How to Expand Your Connections Across the Globe


Kathy McAfee, America's Marketing Motivator, will share her expertise on networking and communicating in order to help you make powerful, professional international connections.  In our global economy, international networks have become extremely valuable.  Networking plays a key role in the development and success of businesses across the world and in our local business community.  Ms. McAfee will guide you through the creation of a strategy that will take your international networking to a new level, helping you to find customers and partners abroad and throughout the Upstate.  Lunch is included and Ms. McAfee will be available to sign her books following her presentation.

World Affairs Council Upstate, along with Upstate S.C. Alliance and the European American Chamber of Commerce - Carolinas is pleased to welcome Kathy McAfee, a professional speaker, author, and executive presentation coach.  Kathy works with organizations that want a stronger leadership pipeline, and with professionals who want to be outstanding in their field.  Known as America's Marketing Motivator, Kathy specializes in the arts of high-engagement presentations, effective networking, and strong personal branding.  

Railfest


Greer's 4th Annual Railfest at Greer City Park all about trains and rail safety! This 4 hour event is free to the public, offering rail safety presentations from Operation Lifesaver, trackless train, model trains, and more. Our local rail police and museums will be available with interactive displays and everyone can enjoy videos about locomotive history and rail safety inside of City Hall. Children and adults can enter to receive prizes such as scenic train rides, model trains, and more!

Food and drink will be available for purchase.

For the safety of all attending the movies, children 16 and under must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times. Pets are not permitted

Food Truck Rollout


Celebrate the start of the weekend with Food & Drink at Greer City Park. Food Trucks, tailgating games, and music. Follow the event for Food Truck announcements and more information.

Thank you to our Food Truck Rollout Series Sponsor Greer CPW

Children under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times.

The Artisan Makers Market


The Artisan Makers Market: Craft, Food, and Music

ar·ti·san (ˈärdəzən)
noun
*a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.
*(of food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients.

The Artisan Makers Market and Greer Farmers Market will host up to 25 makers at Greer City Park; Makers who have worked to perfect their craft and brand themselves well will be chosen to participate in the event.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase onsite.

Workshop with Hannah Palmer: Writing About Home


This literary placemaking workshop is aimed at helping both beginners and established writers tell their stories. The idea is to capture a diverse range of voices and memories that capture the essence of the places we are from.

Hannah Palmer works as an urban designer in Atlanta. She writes about the intersection of southern stories and urban landscapes for venues like CNN, Art Papers, Atlanta Magazine, ATL Studies, and for urban design and planning projects around the world. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, she earned an MFA in creative writing from Sewanee: The University of the South. She lives near the Atlanta Airport with her husband and sons. Her first book, Flight Path: A Search for Roots beneath the World's Busiest Airport, was published in 2017 by Hub City Press.

Multi-Genre Workshop: Nicki Salcedo, Losing Your Writing Inhibitions


The worst thing writers do is censor themselves. It takes courage to put words on paper. It’s time to lose your writing inhibitions. As you enjoy a cup of Waller’s coffee, we will discuss what it takes to tell a good story. The class will focus on ways to get started, stay motivated, and be true to your creative voice. We’ll have tips and writing prompts for fiction, essays, and poetry. The class will be facilitated by local author Nicki Salcedo.

Nicki Salcedo is a novelist and freelance writer. She is a regular contributor to Decaturish.com. She has judged the annual Creative Loafing Fiction Contest. Nicki has been on stage in Write Club Atlanta and Bleux Stocking Society. Her book “All Beautiful Things” is a romantic suspense set in Atlanta. She is also the author three collections of essays about life in the South, through grief, and while creating goodness.

Workshop: The Ins and Outs of Self-Publishing


What is self-publishing? How does one self-publish a book? This three hour course will serve as an overview of the different methods of self-publishing, updated for the 2019 publishing landscape. It will be facilitated by Meg Reid, director of Hub City Press.

It will cover the process and costs of hiring a designer and editor, printing the actual books and getting them into stores, and how to avoid the many scams and predatory printers that are present in the marketplace. A Q&A period will close out the seminar.

Please reserve your seat early as attendance is capped at 30.

Business and Talent Recruitment in the Upstate


Businesses move here, and you can too. Join us for our next Caffeinated Conversations featuring John Lummus, President and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance, as we dig into the organization's efforts to recruit to the Upstate.

Hear Local Entrepreneurs Pitch Their Ideas


Coming up with creative ideas is one thing, but the ability to pitch your concept in a captivating way is another. That’s why Denny’s partnered with the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce to offer an EmpowerPitch SPEECHCRAFT program (presented by experienced members of Spartanburg Toastmasters) to all underrepresented entrepreneurs and small business owners in Spartanburg County including graduates of the City of Spartanburg’s Amplify program and the Northside Development Group’s StartME initiative.

The EmpowerPitch SPEECHCRAFT program teaches the art of storytelling to capture an audience during six bi-weekly, two-hour sessions. Nine entrepreneurs are graduating from the program after learning public speaking fundamentals through the Toastmasters curriculum, and we’d like to celebrate them.

Folk Art Day


Live demonstrations, historical art forms, and more! This event is geared toward highlighting regional artisans who are preserving heritage art forms and techniques or pursuing niche crafts. Craft Day is a community favorite, with demonstrations from blacksmiths, potters, spinners, and woodworkers.

Join us for live demonstrations from the Hallowed Earth Pottery, Zanewerks, and Hearth and Home Forge, plus our regular market programs and seventy local farmers and craftsmen! We will have music from Lucy Allen and Marshall Goers, the Hungry Drover food truck, and free kids' activities!

Pumpkintown’s Mountain Market


We are unique in that we have our beautiful local folks and also those who come to us as a destination to enjoy the mountains that cradle us.

We have great vendors both local foods, plants & crafts but we always need more growers. People who want to grow clean, local food and sell their extras with the community.

Jewish Film Festival presents Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles


Join us for the documentary screening on Sunday, August 25th. Enjoy an evening filled with sweet & savory Jewish delights, music by Greenville County Youth Orchestra as well as Bandana Klezmer, and our guest speaker Dr. Jim Dant, Senior Minister at First Baptist Greenville, who will highlight the diverse impact of this film.

Fall Tree Keepers Course

What are Tree Keepers?

Tree Keepers are industry professionals and community members who have attended an all day workshop or taken a 5 week training class on Urban Forestry, Tree Planting, and Tree Care.  The Community and Professional Tree Keepers Courses are different.

The Professional Tree Keeper Course is designed for: Landscapers, Grounds Crews, Landscape Architects, Landscape Planners, Builders, Developers, Property Management Companies, Horticulturits, and Tree Care Companies.  Pesticide credits available.  This class is not intended for ISA Certified Arborists.

The Community Tree Keeper Course is designed for:  TreesUpstate Volunteers, Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists, Park Hero Volunteers, and anyone interested in learning more about how to properly plant, care, and maintain a healthy urban forest.  The minimum age is 18 years old.  Master Gardeners can earn continuing education hours.

Seminar: Stand Up and Stand Out – Creating Your Personal Brand with Anissa Starnes


Have you defined your personal brand?   Are you consistently living your personal brand every day? Most people would answer no to those questions, but personal branding is the means by which people remember you. It's more than a business card; it is how you present yourself online and offline to potential clients, customers and future employers. Your personal brand can build your business, but it still centers around you as an individual. This presentation will offer useful tips and stories on how personal branding can be a key part of your success, in leadership and in life.

The Great Greer Bake Off


Which Home Cook has got what it takes to bake? Plate 108 and I are partnering to raise money for Make A Wish charity. On September 21st, teams of two will compete head to head to see who can make the best cupcake. Bring the kids, cheer on your favorite team, and be taste testers of the cupcakes. Judges will pick the winner and you will be crowned The Greatest Greer Baker.
Team fee $45
Audience fee $10 purchase at the door or through eventbrite

Music for Miracles Presents A Night of Favorites


A charity concert event at the Younts Center for Performing Arts in Fountain Inn, SC to benefit Prisma Health Children’s Hospital Upstate. Be a part of a great night of fun and music and help support the everyday miracles occurring at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital Upstate. Your tax deductible sponsorship will go directly to our local Hospital. Checks payable to Prisma Health Children’s Hospital Upstate – tax information available.

Turkish Food Fest!


A culinary tour of Turkey, right here in the Upstate! Check back to the Facebook event page as details will be added.

Family Fun Day with the Greenville Zoo


The Greenville Zoo will be here for the August Family Fun Day as we explore the animals of Wonderland! Meet the "Mock Turtle" and "Frog Footman" from 10am - Noon. Throughout Family Fun Day enjoy games, craft stations, story times, and play time in our other summer exhibit, "Thomas & Friends: Explore the Rails."

GREENVILLE ZOO: 10:00 a.m. - NOON

ADMISSION:
$10 - Adults
$9 - Senior Adults & College Students
$8 - Kids (ages 4-18)

Determined to Soar Women’s Brunch


Bring a friend, daughter, or niece and join us for a delicious brunch and a program guaranteed to inspire and unite!

Thanks to the generosity of Denny’s Corporation this event is free! Pre-registration via Eventbrite is required for admission**. Meet on the ground floor for check in. The event will be held on Denny’s beautiful 17th floor with a soaring view of the upstate.

Attendees MUST register through the Eventbrite link provided.

Author Talk with Marie Benedict


Join author Marie Benedict as she discusses her acclaimed new novel, The Only Woman in the Room. She will also explore the common theme throughout all her books – women who play pivotal roles in history but go unnoticed. A reception and book-signing will immediately follow the event.

In her most recent work of historical fiction, Benedict looks at the remarkable life of Austrian-born American film actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. The New York Times raves, “ a novelist who’s made a career writing about ‘the only woman in the room’… In Benedict’s telling, the story is a ready-made thriller as well as a feminist parable.”

Over the Edge Upstate


Go Over the Edge for Cancer Association of Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties!

What is Over the Edge?
Friday, October 18th join 100 “Edgers” who are brave enough to raise a minimum of $1,000 to rappel over the edge of a 10 story building for the Cancer Association.

Who:

100 participants (men, women, children; 100 to 300 lbs)

What:

Raise a minimum of $1,000 for the chance to rappel down a 10 story building

When:

Friday, October 18, 2019

Where:

AC Hotel and Level 10

Why:

To raise funds to support services for local cancer patients in our area.

Sober Rides to Prevent DUIs


Holidays are times to celebrate with friends and family. However, they also bring increased danger to our roads. To show our commitment to preventing DUIs and the resulting accidents, injuries, and deaths, the Peace Law Firm is offering free rides home on specific holidays. The program is simple. All you have to do is make the right choice to take a taxi or use a ride sharing service to get home if you’ve been drinking, pay for it up front, and we’ll reimburse you for it via PayPal.

Details below:

Rides must be in Greenville County.
Rides must be taken between 5PM on a holiday listed above and 10AM the next day.
You must be of legal drinking age to qualify (21 and over).
Valid for one, one-way ride to a safe destination.
Limit one reimbursement per household.
Maximum value of $25.00.
Participation in this promotion is limited to the first 100 submissions per year.
Within 7 days of the end date, a Receipt, Photocopy of Valid Driver’s License, and email address associated with a PayPal account must be sent to:
Sober Rides
1225 South Church Street
Greenville,SC 29605

Farm Fest


Come meet your local farmers and buy local farm products, see live farm animals, touch a tractor, drive a combine simulator, and see craft vendors! Eat some ice cream or a snow cone and enjoy the restaurants and stores in downtown West Pelzer!

Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee—Urban Cowboy Reunion


These two country music legends will give yoi an experience to remember as they bring back some of their chart-topping songs complete with memories of the 1980 hit movie, Urban Cowboy. Gilley and Lee have earned an outstanding 38 chart singles with 20 #1 hits, including Room Full of Roses, Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time, and Lookin' for Love.

Sharing 10 years of their musical career together, these two are sure to put on an evening of great music, fun memories, and incredible entertainment!

History on Tap: History of Lake Keowee


Grab a beer and learn about local history at Keowee Brewing Company! Oconee History Museum Assistant Curator Jennifer Moss will chronicle the history of the Keowee River Valley, which would eventually become the lake we all know and love!

Program is FREE, but donations to OHM are gladly accepted.