COME DOWNTOWN FLORENCE TODAY FROM 3PM TO 7:30PM
AND
SHOP THE DOWNTOWN FARMERS MARKET

160 W Evans Street in the Breezeway
North

W Evans

South

JOIN US TODAY RAIN OR SHINE

What’s on the Menu this afternoon:
Enjoy the MUSICAL STYLINGS OF MELANIE McMILLAN

One thing Rain does for Farmers is Grow Great Produce!

Check out what we have!

A & B Farms – Wonderful Selection of Greens & Beans

Carolina Heritage – Fresh Tender Poultry & Pork

Mistletoe Farm – Succulent BEEF

Sweet Berry Farm – Juicy Red Delicious Strawberries … cucumbers, melons and more coming soon

Orangeland Seafood – Serving up great beef and seafood tacos as well as fresh catch of the day and LIVE Blue Crabs

Righteous Ranch – Great Grass fed BEEF

Trinity Farms – Fresh produce , Americana Eggs and great specials 2 Dozen for $6.00!

SC Real Foods – Local whole grain breads , THE BEST GRANOLA ON EARTH and more

Triple R Farms – Big Juicy Tomatoes, Strawberries and more as the season progresses

Lone Palmetto Farms – Fabulous array of Goat’s Milk Products with the BEST CHEVRE’s on the PLANET!

Dickson Organics – Radishes, Red Onions, Greens and more!

Countryside Gardens – Beautiful Plants and Flowers and HERBS to make your meal even better!

Harvest Moon – Silkiest Soaps to make your skin glisten! Also a wonderful selection of Pepper Jellies and Honey too!

Akreations – Wreaths of all kinds

Interested in being a vendor in our Farmer’s Market? …. Contact atellis@cityofflorence.com

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

I was fascinated by the Carolina Food Project blog a few years ago. They don’t update as much now, but I see a post from April 23– maybe they will be posting more in the future! Its fun to read if you have some time– they ate all local food for a year.

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

I have an addiction to Tervis Tumblers. They are taking over my cabinets as we speak (errr… type?). Yet, this post on Tomlinson’s blog is calling out to me to go buy more! Tomlinsons also carries lids and straws.

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

Amy Lauren posted about her weekend celebrating her husbands graduation from college. She mentions Rebel Pie again– I have GOT to try this place!

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

I think this is a great plan! Registered kids get two free games of bowling every day all summer long! They have certain dates and times posted, but still– FREE. I am a fan of free. All Star Lanes offers it this summer.
The times available are pretty generous too:

Monday 11:00am — 6:00pm
Tuesday 11:00am — 6:00pm
Wednesday 4:00pm — 11:00pm
Thursday 11:00am — 7:00pm
Friday 11:00am — 6:00pm
Saturday 1:00pm — 6:00pm
Sunday 2:00pm — 8:00pm

@Flossipfriend and I took our kids yesterday and had a blast– I’m actually not sure who had more fun– them or us?

The other bonus? Its SMOKE FREE!! It was so much nicer!

(She beat me soundly, for the record.)

118 N Cashua Dr
Florence, SC, 29501
(843) 669-5151

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

I love, love, love when I see house renovation pictures on facebook! I found a whole blog full of them! Renovating Madison is about a house transformation right here in Florence. I love it!

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

From the Florence Mens Choral Society Website:

5th Anniversary Gala Performance

      Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center

201 S. Dargan Street

                               November 19, 2011

           Gala – 7:00 p.m.            Performance – 8:00 p.m.     

The citizens of the Pee Dee and surrounding areas of South Carolina have been relishing the beautiful sounds of the Florence Men’s Choral Society since 2007.  To celebrate the beginning of their 5th year of rousing performances, the Board of Directors invites you to attend the Florence Men’s Choral Society’s 5th Anniversary Gala Performance in the new FMU Performing Arts Center on Saturday evening, November 19.  The Gala begins at 7:00 p.m. and the performance follows at 8:00 o’clock.

Joining the Florence Men’s Choral Society for this special celebration will be 60 members of the Palmetto Mastersingers under the direction of Walter Cuttino, Associate Professor of Voice/Voice Area Coordinator at the University of South Carolina  Mr. Cuttino is conductor of the Palmetto Mastersingers, Artistic Director of the Palmetto Opera,  and Director of Music at Lake Murray Presbyterian Church.  FMCS is also pleased to welcome the Palmetto State Boychoir, under the direction of Mark Railey, who will perform with the society.  And, to continue our tradition of featuring the talents of area young musicians, FMCS welcomes to the podium Mr. Kyle Brazell as guest conductor and soloist.  Kyle is a Francis Marion graduate and is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Teaching in Music Education (Choral Music) at the College of Charleston.

To purchase tickets, please visit the Box Office at the Francis Marion University Performing Arts Center located at 201 S. Dargan Street in Florence.  You may also make your ticket purchases by calling the Box Office at 843-661-4444 or online athttp://www.fmupac.org/buy_tickets.  Additional charges may be applied to online purchases.

 Ticket Prices (Gala included in prices)

General Admission:                 $30
Seniors(55+):                            $25
Students(college and under) $10

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

I sometimes work in Kingstree and loved being able to stop and pick up something from Foodscapes. They saved me twice for supper club! I was sorry to read on Pee Dee Foodie that they have closed.

That is never the update that I want to see.

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

(This is a guest post by a mystery writer! Thanks so much! Also– the show was SOLD OUT last night, so get your tickets FAST!)
The Florence Little Theatre ends their 2011-12 season with a toe tapping, hand clapping gospel music sing along called Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, underwritten by Dan and Ann Ervin. This show is the third in a series of gospel musicals about the Sanders Family, a North Carolina based group of blood and marriage related kin that sing, testify, and poke fun at themselves and their shortcomings, but all done in a spirit of fun and forgiveness.

For those not familiar with the story, its 1945 and the gospel music group The Sanders Family are returning for a third time for a Saturday Night Sing at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church (just down the road from the pickle). The reason for the trip this time is to wish the Reverend Oglethorpe well as leaves to answer a call to a church in Texas (and take their daughter, his now very pregnant wife June with him). Filling the vacant pulpit will be one of the Sanders Family twins, Dennis (he’s the boy), so the celebration is two-fold. The service is filled with testimonies, sermuncles, and most importantly, good ol’ gospel music with a country/bluegrass feel. All the cast members sing, play instruments, and dance (respectfully) to familiar hymns and new songs that fit as if they were written at the same time.

Ed Clements and Scarlett Knight anchor the evening as the Sanders patriarch and matriarch, singing and playing guitar and autoharp. Papa Sanders deliver a moving speech about financial responsibility that rings very true even today, and Mama Sanders delivers arguably the funniest moment of the show with a children’s sermon that involves airplanes, hell, and gas….well, you just need to see it.

The twins Denise and Dennis are perfectly played by Arlene Boyd and Jamie Lambert (He’s the boy), both beautiful of voice and poignant in their individual moments of testimony. There’s a two-part “surprise” to one of Arlene’s best moments in the show that I will not give away – but your heart will melt, thanks to her perfectly felt and genuine testimony, beautiful singing and the little explosions that accompany it. Jamie’s remembrance of his wartime experiences (hence the homecoming of the title) is a touching and poignant reminder of the pain that always accompanies conflict.

The Oglethorpe clergy couple, played by James Baxley as the Reverend Mervyn Oglethorpe and Jennifer Thomerson as his long suffering (and I do mean long) wife June Sanders Oglethorpe. The preacher and his wife offer much of the comedy of the evening, with the Reverend’s interrupting and constant attempts to sing and play along with the rest of the folks and with June providing “sign language” that she hopes one day someone will understand. Both are featured with singing solos that are fun and touching: The Reverend gamely yodels a song appropriate to his new church, and June who says “I don’t sing, I sign” does in fact deliver Amazing Grace before the evening is through. (Deliver may be a sign of things to come.)

Every family needs a troubled, black sheep, and that role falls to Stanley, the uncle and brother to rest of the brood. Frankie Sullivan has played this role in all three incarnations of the Smoke trilogy for FLT. Not only does play a mean upright bass and sing, but Frankie delivers a moving confession of the wandering soul who searches everywhere for the love and acceptance that he only finds on the backsteps of the church and in the arms and harmonies of his family. There are plenty of light hearted moments in this show, but there are also moments of genuine heart tugs and tears – none more than Stanley’s moment in Act Two. In the midst of all the fun, it’s wonderful to have a character that reminds the audience why we are in a church.

Watching along onstage with us in the audience are a slew of archetypal church folks, collectively known as “the Amen Corner”. Thanks to the sparkle of Larry Chewning, Karen Porter, Chuck Bender, Chris Elmquist, Nina Early, Irma Tanner, John Eiler, and Steven Smith, and Will and Harrison Walker we immediately know and are reminded through the evening that we are in a country church, and that a church is not a building, but the people in it.

Having seen the two previous “Smoke” productions (Smoke on the Mountain and Sanders Family Christmas), I was anxious to see if the third story would as successfully feature the wonderfully colorful characters of the Sanders Family. I was not disappointed by the script or the production. Director Jumana Swindler has assembled and admirably staged a combination of past “Smokers” and new faces to the cast that never fail to deliver on testimony, harmony, or laughs. The music, directed by the ever present at FLT “Brother Robbie” Thompson is infectious and delightful – I especially liked the moment he had to get up and sing! The set by Lisa Sims is spot-on appropriate and beautifully lit as always by Joe DeVito. The stained glass windows are particularly nice touch.

The spirit of ensemble has been present in every show this season at FLT, and none more than Smoke On the Mountain Homecoming. For those looking for an entertaining evening of gospel music, family and fellowship, this is the show for you. Tickets will go fast for this one, so call and reserve tickets now. The performances run nightly through Saturday May 5 at 7:30. Call 662-3731 for reservations!

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.

Flossip Featuring reviews, to-do's, and the not quite news in Florence, SC.