Sports Bar in Johns Island, SC

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – A local youth baseball program on Johns Island has plans to expand so more kids can play ball, but they will need Charleston County’s help.

“A lot of our kids have to go elsewhere to play other sports and that’s what we’re trying to do is just keep it here on Johns Island,” said Todd Rieger who leads the Youth Umpire Program for the Barrier Islands Little League.

Barrier Islands Little League dates back to the 1950s and currently serves more than 600 players. The organization is looking to build a new complex off Main Road to accommodate even more kids.

“We’ve got some high dreams for the kids that will serve age four all the way up to 16 in Little League, and possibly American Legion, which is getting into more 17 to age 21,” Rieger explained. “So, very exciting time for our community and for the kids to have a really nice complex to play in.”

The nonprofit, Lowcountry Land Trust, requested over $1.6 million from Charleston County’s Greenbelt funds to purchase 40 acres of land which would be transferred to the Barrier Islands Little League.

The money in the county’s Greenbelt Program comes from a half penny sales tax approved in 2004 and then again in 2016.

“We rely heavily on our partners, nonprofits, municipalities. They apply for grant funding to acquire land and once they do that, then we place a grant agreement on it which protects that land,” said Eric Davis, the Director of Greenbelt Programs for Charleston County.

Aside from the new baseball facilities, the proposed active and mostly passive park would include greenspace and hiking trails.

The Charleston County Finance Committee will consider making a recommendation to approve the request on Thursday which is one step in making the project a reality.

Rieger said they are still going to need help from a generous donor with what could be a $15-20 million total cost.

“Is that a lofty goal? Sure. But why not?” Rieger asked. “That’s what we teach our kids, set goals, try to reach them.”

County officials said the recommendation from the Finance Committee will go to full council for their approval.

A new restaurant has opened inside a former liquor store on Johns Island.

Serving tapas and curated cocktails, Bar Copa debuted Aug. 23. In the time since, the response to the 3297 Maybank Highway restaurant has been “overwhelmingly jubilant,” said owner Roderick Groetzinger, whose brother is the proprietor of Island Provisions down the road.

Food

A small kitchen inside the 1,600-square-foot space is producing cold and hot plates like scallop crudo, tuna tartare, whipped feta, a crab roll and shrimp a la plancha with sweet corn and butter beans. The majority of the menu is priced between $15 and $30.

“It’s kind of a choose-your-own-adventure,” Groetzinger said. “We’re trying to really drive home value for people, which is something I think can be lost in this day and age.”

Bar Copa’s 12 cocktails are a hallmark of the new restaurant, Groetzinger said. A limoncello spritz is served on tap, and other beverages lean into light, refreshing flavors with rum often serving as the spirit of choice.

Bar Copa is open for happy hour and dinner Monday through Saturday. For more information, visit eatbarcopa.com.

GREENVILLE — You will find only three kinds of Southern traditions at this local festival, and they all start with the letter B: Bourbon, bacon and barbecue.

After first hosting the event in 2021 at the Old Cigar Warehouse, Hog and Barrel will return on Nov. 1 and 2 to Judson Mill with plans for 1,200 guests.

The themed festival will bring 14 restaurants together, including Comal 864, The Cook's Station and Up on the Roof, who will create exclusive bourbon cocktails, barbecue dishes and bacon meals.

Corinne McGrath, marketing generalist with High Spirits Hospitality, hopes to shine a light on the food and drink that defines the South.

"We really just wanted to celebrate the rich culinary traditions of the South, and what better honors than bourbon, bacon and barbecue?" McGrath said. "...You pretty much can't go anywhere without seeing those three items on a menu."

The weekend-long festivities will start on Friday night with a five course dinner, each related to barbecue, bacon and bourbon, cooked by Michael Sibert, chef at White Wine & Butter.

It will continue on Saturday with a full-day "Bourbonpalooza," when visitors will be able to try barbecue dishes and bourbon cocktails from 14 different restaurant booths.

"We just felt like this would be such a great way to try all of those different great restaurants in the Greenville area all in one place," she said.

In between bites, attendees can enjoy live music, college football games, axe throwing, private bourbon tasting and guest judges picking the night's best food and drink.

If somehow you're bored, you can ride a mechanical bull.

But the organizers haven't lost sight of the disastrous Tropical Storm Helene that tore through the Upstate one month ago.

"A lot of (the restaurants) were shut down for a week," McGrath said. "This is a great way for them to get exposure."

Those interested can donate a portion of their ticket cost to a lottery system for disaster relief workers.

General admission tickets start at $60 with funds going to the Greenville Technical College culinary program.

For more information visit hogandbarrelfestival.com.

Here's who's coming:

- City BBQ

- Comal 864

- The Cook's Station

- Culinary Institute of the Carolinas at Greenville Technical College

- Entre Nous

- Events at Judson Mill

- Home Team BBQ

- Indaco

- Liquid Catering

- Mill City Kitchen

- Nard's Backyard BBQ

- Social Latitude

- Tupelo Honey

- Up on the Roof

Published: Oct. 21, 2024 at 1:50 AM PDT|

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Monday marks the first day of early voting in South Carolina, so Charleston County voters can now cast their ballots at any of the seven different early voting locations.

Over 100,000 early voters are expected in Charleston County alone, which would be record-high numbers amid a recent law change, according to the Executive Director of the Charleston County Board of Elections, Issac Cramer.

“We do anticipate early voting to break records for Charleston County because of the excitement in the voters. They want to cast their ballots, it’s a presidential election, and also [for] the convenience,” Cramer says.

In 2022, the Early Voters Bill passed allowing early voters to cast their ballots without a reason, making this the first major election that the law will be in effect. Only a valid photo ID is required to check in.

“The Early Voters Bill that passed in 2022 gives all voters in Charleston County the ability to cast their ballot without an excuse, in person, early… We are trying to get the message out that they don’t need a reason anymore. If they just want to vote early, they can,” Cramer says.

Acceptable forms of photo ID include a South Carolina driver’s license, a South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles ID Card, a South Carolina Concealed Weapons Permit, a South Carolina voter registration card with photo, a United States military ID and a United States passport.

Cramer encourages people to vote early because it’s the easier option since voters get to choose the location, time and date that they would like to vote, rather than being constricted to 12 hours on election day and only going to an assigned polling place.

“We’ve got a lot of great feedback about our vote centers across the county, and we want our voters to know that they can vote at an accessible location, we offer curbside at every one,” Cramer says.

Early voting is open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and will last until Nov. 2. CARTA will not be offering free rides to the polls during early voting, but they will be on election day.

Early voters can vote at any of the seven following locations:

To find early voting locations anywhere in the state, click here.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – After the weekend, the Johns Island and Lowcountry community came together to help out St. John’s High School.

The local high school hasn’t had a traditional homecoming dance since 2020, but this year they are bringing it back. One student on the dance’s committee took to Facebook and sent out a post hoping to make this year’s homecoming special.

“She was worried our homecoming dance wasn’t going to happen,” Erin Longshore, a teacher at St. John’s High School, said. “I think her original intention was to see if she could get a couple of things here and there for us to have really great decorations and from there it just kind of exploded.”

The response from that post allowed the school to raise over $13,000. Longshore checked her email on Saturday and shared the news with her committee members Madison Evans and Morgan Denton, who are also teachers at the school.

“Completely utter shock,” Longshore said. “I started crying when I saw all the emails on Saturday and I normally don’t check emails on Saturday, but something told me to.”

School officials said students are excited for the dance and were also surprised by the amount they fundraised. Some of the donations included buying tickets for students and others to their Amazon wish list. With the dance coming up tomorrow, students and staff on the decorating committee are continuing to prepare for the night.

“We’ve been patiently waiting for the Amazon delivery truck to show up so we can get all our packages and undo those,” Longshore said. “They’ve been able to come out of their classes do so, and we’ve been slowly decorating during lunch. And in any free time we might have, which we don’t have much, but we’ve been getting it done.”

Officials said the remaining amount of money will go towards future dances and activities, which will leave the students and staff plenty of time and resources to plan ahead. Longshore said this year’s decorations will be recycled and reused.

The dance is on Oct. 17, while the homecoming football game and parade will be on Oct. 18.

Published: Oct. 15, 2024 at 8:28 PM PDT|

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - People who live in Charleston County had the chance to raise their concerns Tuesday night about a half-cent sales tax referendum.

In just three weeks, Charleston County residents will either vote for or against the renewal of this tax. If passed, they would be pay a half-cent sales tax for 25 years or until $5.4 billion is raised.

Those funds would be used towards road projects, mass transit systems and greenspace.

The extension of the Mark Clark Expressway, or Interstate 526, from West Ashley onto Johns and James Island is the priority project.

The ordinance states it is expected to bring in $4.9 billion for road and transportation-related projects, with the Mark Clark extension expected to cost $2.3 billion. Additionally, $432 million would go towards greenbelt projects.

At the public hearing, residents who are both for and against the sales tax came out to share their sides.

Charleston County Council Vice Chair Jenny Costa Honeycutt, who supports the referendum, said she has been advocating for the completion of I-526 for a while. She also said there are ways to maximize residents' tax dollars saying that is what the county has done and will continue to do.

“We have a three-part contract with the government, with the state, that’s why that is listed as the priority project,” Honeycutt said. “Our other $800 million worth of projects are projects that we intend to complete. We intend to leverage the dollars collected through the sales tax and get grants and seek other partnerships with either the state or federal government.”

The Coastal Conservation League is one organization that is against the sales tax. The executive director, Faith Rivers James, was at the public hearing and she said voters should be able to choose what they want to support without having to also vote on I-526.

“We do think it’s important that voters have an informed choice where they are able to select the things that they want to support, special projects, greenbelt, pedestrian support, mass transit, without having to accept the 526 as the price for those improvements and other traffic safety improvements,” James said.

Johns Island resident Bradley Taggart supports the referendum and wants to see the Mark Clark extension completed.

“Most people in Charleston are going to make off much better from this passing and save more money than it will ever cost them in taxes,” Taggart said. “It’s been a long time coming and it just needs to happen, so that we can finish this project and get talking about other things that we want to do.”

An Edisto Island resident, Fred Palm, who is against the referendum, said he doesn’t think extending the Mark Clark Expressway is going to improve traffic at all.

“We’re building in 25 years, which is the length of this program, during that time and after that time the traffic is going to remain and guess what? We’re all stuck in traffic and they are not fixing what’s broken and that’s why I am here,” Palm said.

Click here to read the ordinance and the ballot question.

Charleston County residents will vote on this sales tax in three weeks on Nov. 5.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.