Spartanburg City News

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City residents wowed by light installations during National Night Out Oct 05, 2016

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If you follow us on Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter, or Snapchat, you might've noticed a flurry of activity on Tuseday night. Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light's nine public art installations debuted in neighborhoods throughout our city, bringing out thousands to see the culmination of more than a year's work in bringing the Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded project to life. Today on the podcast, we're talking about this great project, our community's reception to the installations so far, and what it will ultimately mean for the neighborhoods involved and for the city has a whole.

Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light art installations to be unveiled during National Night Out, October 4 Sep 28, 2016

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In October 2014, Bloomberg Philanthropies invited U.S. mayors to collaborate with artists and arts organizations to develop innovative projects that engage residents and attract visitors. In all, 237 cities submitted proposals, with Spartanburg joining three other cities around the country selected to receive up to $1 million for public art installations. Spartanburg's winning bold and innovative idea? Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light, which will bring nine temporary art installations by internationally renowned light and digital media artist Erwin Redl to 10 city neighborhoods From October 4 – April 1. The project is a partnership between the City of Spartanburg and ten city neighborhood associations, and is being led by Chapman Cultural Center. Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light builds on National Night Out, an annual event that promotes crime prevention efforts, police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Today on the podcast, we're talking with Jennifer Evins, President and CEO of the Chapman Cultural Center about the project, and about the special Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light kickoff events being held throughout our city during National Night Out, Tuesday, October 4.

'Hub Crawl' mini art fair coming to downtown Spartanburg, Sept. 28 Sep 21, 2016

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It's our city's both literal and figurative centerpiece, a space with which practically everyone who lives in Spartanburg County is familiar. Serving as the home for recurring events like Jazz on the Square and Music on Main, Morgan Square has long been an ideal (and iconic) place for the community to come together to celebrate. Now, thanks to local arts organization Hub-Bub and their partners throughout Spartanburg, those opportunities are more abundant than ever. As part of their mission to "reimagine place," the group has launched a new initiative that will bring dozens of events of all types to the square, in the hopes of injecting a near-constant buzz of community activity into Spartanburg's most well-known public space. For a taste of what they've got planned for the square, check out Hub Crawl, September 28, 5– 8p.m. Morgan Square and the surrounding area will be turned into a mini art fair featuring live music, painting, poetry, and interactive stations.

Hub City Brew Fest returns to downtown Spartanburg, October 15 Sep 15, 2016

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Spartanburg's craft beer scene has definitely been on the rise lately, and on October 15, local craft beer geeks will have even more reason to celebrate as the Hub City Brew Fest returns for its second year. Featuring over 20 brewers exclusively the Carolinas, the festival kicks off at 1 p.m. on the corner of W Main and Spring streets. Set up to raise funds for construction of the Hub City Bike Park, the festival also features a fantastic live music lineup headlined by Major and the Monbacks and food from great local restaurants like Willy Taco and Venus Pie. Today on the podcast, we're talking with the event's music coordinator Reid Johnson and RJ Rockers' Mark Johnsen. Follow this link to purchase tickets.

Lydia See to focus on art accessiblity during Hub-Bub residency Sep 08, 2016

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From its inception, Hub-Bub's residency program has inarguably been, for many in our city, one of the Spartanburg's most beloved arts programs. Artists from the residency have left their marks on the community in sometimes physical ways (check out Sparkle City Miniputt sometime) and often in more intangible ways, with each year's artists helping Spartanburg to see itself from their fresh, and very often novel perspectives. For this year's revamped 11-month residency, Hub-Bub is partnering with Spartanburg County Public Libraries to grow that community impact in new ways, and the residency's new focus seems to be a natural fit for its first artist, Lydia See. Throughout her residency, See's time will be split between her own artistic projects and community work centered around creating inclusive, accessible programs meant to introduce the artistic process to those who aren't often exposed to art in their everyday lives. Today on the podcast, we're getting to know Hub-Bub's newest resident, finding out about Lydia See's work and more about what she'll be doing during her time in Spartanburg.

Hub City Bites explores Spartanburg's growing restaurant scene Aug 31, 2016

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With new restaurants opeing seemingly every week lately, it's probably safe to say that Spartanburg's restaurant scene is on an upswing, a pretty historic one in our estimation. If the clockwork-esque opeings aren't enough to convince you though, maybe Spartanburg's new food blog, Hub City Bites, can. The website provides reviews of local restaurants, as well as listings broken down by meal, type of cuisine, and feature. Today on the podcast, we're talking with the founder of Hub City Bites, Amanda Richardson. Be sure to check them out at the Hub City Bites website, as well as on Facebook, and Instagram.

Looking at the Montgomery Building's place in downtown Spartanburg's history Aug 26, 2016

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If you've heard any downtown Spartanburg news at all lately, you know that this week has been a big one for one of Spartanburg's most beloved icons, the Montgomery Building. On Monday, City Council passed a development agreement with developer James Bakker, a crucial procedural step that will allow Bakker to move forward with his plans to renovate the building to include 9,500 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor, 9,000 square feet of office space on the second floor, and 72 residential units on floors three through 10. Today on the podcast, we're diving in deep on the biggest historcial redevelopment in downtown Spartanburg's history with Brad Steineke, Local History Archivist with Spartanburg County Public Libraries, about the Montgomery Building's place in Spartanburg's 20th century history and its freshly secured place in our city's future.

What does the Montgomery Building's redevelopment mean for downtown Spartanburg? Aug 23, 2016

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It is perhaps Spartanburg's most iconic struture, a symbol of our history as a textile powerhouse, and a long-vacant, sometimes painful reminder of downtown's 20th century heyday. In many ways, and for many locals, the Montgomery Building has become a barometer for downtown progress. Bring back this beauty, the reasoning goes, and we'll know there really is sometihng to this whole "downtown revitltilization" thing. Yeah...there's something to it. At Monday's meeting, Spartanburg City Council approved first reading of a development agreement with developer James Bakker, a crucial procedural step that will allow Bakker to move forward with his plans to renovate the building to include 9,500 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor, 9,000 square feet of office space on the second floor, and 72 residential units on floors three through 10. The agreement includes several development incentives, including free parking in the St. John Street Garage adjacent to the Montgomery Building (140 spaces for 10 years), $750,000 in public monies to be used to develop a pedestrian plaza that will connect the Montgomery Building and the parking garage, development rights on a small adjacent city-owned parcel, and property tax abatement. Today on the podcast, we're talking with City Council member Erica Brown, whose district includes the Montgomery Building, about its redevelopment, and about what it means for downtown Spartanburg's future.

Taking a look at Spartanburg's growing restaurant scene Aug 10, 2016

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Foodies in Spartanburg have never had it so good. New restaurants throughout the city have either opened or announced openings at a rate faster than anyone can seem to remember, and lunch lines out the door for new downtown hotspots are a daily downtown occurrence these days. The numbers back up what our eyes are saying as well. Hospitality Tax revenue, paid as a percentage of gross restaurant food sales, continues to climb at an ever increasing rate, with downtown restaurants, in particular, seeing even greater growth. The implication is clear. Those larger and larger crowds seen downtown recently are spending dollars while they're here. Today on the podcast, we're basking in the glow of what seems to be Spartanburg's restaurant renaissance, talking about some possible next steps, and as always, ruminating about what it all means for you.

Spring Fling evaluation committee seeks input from downtown merchants Aug 04, 2016

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In June, on the heels of concerns raised by constituents, City Council created a committee to examine the City's longest-running special event, Spring Fling. The festival has been annual staple for decades, and some questions have been raised in recent years about how Spring Fling can serve our downtown as it exists today, and as it continues to grow and evolve. In their two bi-weekly public meetings so far, the committee has begun the information gathering process, looking over reports from the Police Department, results from a survey taken of this year's Spring Fling attendees, and approved a draft of a survey of downtown business owners to be finalized and admininstered later this month. Today on the podcast, we're taking a look at the committe's work so far and exploring a little more deeply some of the questions that led to its creation.

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