Keeper of
Keys the
TOM STRANGE REVIVES CENTURIES-OLD PIANOS TO THEIR FORMER GLORY—AND INSPIRES A NEW SET OF PERFORMERS
S E P T E M B E R 2 015 TOWNCAROLINA.COM
Obtain the Property Report required by federal law and read it before signing anything. No federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. This is not an offer where registration is required prior to any other offer being made. Void where prohibited by law. In South Carolina, Cliffs Realty Sales SC, LLC, 3851 Hwy 11, Travelers Rest SC 29690, Harry V. Roser, Broker-in-Charge. In North Carolina, Walnut Cove Realty, 158 Walnut Valley Parkway, Arden, NC 28704, Dotti Smith, Broker-in-Charge. Copyright Š2014Cliffs Land Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.
the
SEVEN TIMES
RIDE Spin through leafy backroads with our Director of Cycling, Tour de France legend George Hincapie. Take to the open road with kindred spirits aboard a Harley or vintage sports car. Take your every sport to a higher level with integrated training that follows you from the gym to the course to the courts. The Cliffs offers a hundred answers to the question, “Who do you want to be today?” And it all happens in the glorious mountains of the Carolinas — the perfect place to call home. Come, be our guest and discover why we say, “There’s life, and then there’s living.”
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AugustaRoad.com Realty LLC Joan Herlong Owner/BIC 864-325-2112 *Joan is the Number One Realtor in Greenville. Source: MLS sales volume 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012
FIRST
Glance
6 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Scale Up: Who: Doug Harper, silhouetted against the Himalayas Where: Nepal, between the villages of Namche Bazaar and Thame What: A hike designed to help Doug Harper and Ward Stone acclimate to the trek’s high altitudes When: October 2013 Photograph by Ward Stone (see “O, Brother,” page 86)
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 7
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Contents 21 THE LIST
See, hear, read, react. The month’s must-dos.
29 43 47
52 65
69
ON THE TOWN
Pics of the litter: Upcountry fêtes & festivities.
Downtown bookstore M. Judson, Eastern flair at the Rose Ball, Michelin-starred chefs at Euphoria, and more.
TOP BUNK
The Swag is an Appalachian paradise nestled in Waynesville, NC.
TOWN PROFILE
Ten years ago, Euphoria started a grand tradition of food and philanthropy. Founders Carl Sobocinski and Edwin McCain join executive staff Brianna Shaw and Allie Maietta to reflect and talk about the festival’s future.
Fall is for adventuring—in your backyard, or at a tailgate; plus, West End staple Monkee’s gets a makeover.
76
MAN ABOUT TOWN
93
EAT & DRINK
WEDDINGS TOWNBUZZ
STYLE CENTRAL
99 104 112
The importance of cultivating friendships is not lost upon the Man.
South Carolina-made Blenheim’s Old #3 ginger ale is a tastebud burner; and whip up some wings for gameday.
DINING GUIDE TOWNSCENE
Got plans? You do now.
0 8
PIANO MAN Tom Strange restores 18th and 19th century pianos for the next generation of talented musicians. / by Stephanie Trotter // photography by Paul Mehaffey
6 8
O, BROTHER Lifelong friends Doug Harper and Ward Stone undertook a trip to the foot of Everest for adventure, healing, and brotherhood. / by John Jeter
SECOND GLANCE
When circumstances separated brothers Tom and Jesse Flowers, art kept them connected.
THIS PAGE: The hammers of the John Broadwood and Sons grand piano, once played by composer Frédéric Chopin. For more, see “Piano Man,” page 80. Photograph by Paul Mehaffey COVER: Tom Strange plays the “Chopin grand.” For more, see “Piano Man,” page 80. Photograph by Paul Mehaffey
10 TOWN / towncarolina.com
September
It didn’t invent motion. It just keeps reinventing it. 2015 C250 Coupe Mercedes-Benz engineers have long believed that the best way to stand apart from the crowd is to leap ahead of it. It’s how they set speed records 60 years ago that remain unbroken to this day. Or how inventing the multivalve engine, the 4-wheel independent suspension and fuel injection decades ago sparked the performance advances under the sleek sheet metal of today’s C- Class. To make history, you have to look ahead. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to look good doing it.
www.CarltonMB.com
(864) 213-8000 • 2446 Laurens Road, Greenville, SC 29607
EDITOR’S
Letter
Photog r aph by Paul Meha f fey
Mark B. Johnston PUBLISHER mark@towncarolina.com Blair Knobel EDITOR-IN-CHIEF blair@towncarolina.com Paul Mehaffey ART DIRECTOR
Will Leads to Way
SENIOR EDITOR Andrew Huang
W
hen Easley resident Tom Strange built his first harpsichord 35 years ago, he probably didn’t think that one day he would own a collection of rare, world-renowned pianos that he himself would bring back to life—including one that virtuoso composer Frédéric Chopin once played. That he would share them with eager students, aficionados, and famous musicians alike. That he, through his hobby, would cultivate one of the best collections in the world, keeping history alive through their craftsmanship and sound (see “Piano Man,” page 80). Strange’s salvaged and restored pianos and harpsichords are now time portals, their previous owners ranging from European royalty to Civil War heroines to Southern governors. Though many were neglected for years, Strange saw their value beyond decay—and, because of that, the music lives on. That’s how greatness happens. Life-altering journeys begin with a single step. An idea. A desire. Three years ago, four women bonded over their mutual literary love. But, more than that, they each felt something missing—an experience in Greenville that would allow folks to enjoy a downtown bookstore and hub for the literary arts—complete with food, artisan wares, and special events. M. Judson Booksellers and Storytellers (see “Book Marks,” page 48) is now open in the former county courthouse building on Main Street: part bookstore, part cafe, part restoration project—and now part of Greenville’s evolving story. A story that contains characters like Greenville businessmen Doug Harper and Ward Stone. Lifelong adventurers, longtime friends. Each with a desire to go on a goliath journey—at 63 and 68, respectively (see “O, Brother,” page 86). Tackling a mountain is no easy task—a 21-day trek in Nepal’s Himalayan mountains is something few take on, let alone accomplish. But their bond pushed them forward—to plan, to prepare—to take a first step. The stories of our community, in these pages and out, run wide and deep. Life depends, totally, on what we choose. So, play on. It’s the only way that others will hear your music.
Blair Knobel Editor-in-Chief
STYLE EDITOR Laura Linen CONTRIBUTING EDITORS M. Linda Lee Steven Tingle Jac Valitchka CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mary Cathryn Armstrong, Kathryn Davé, Ruta Fox, John Jeter, Mamie Morgan & Stephanie Trotter CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & DESIGNERS Chelsey Ashford, Will Crooks, Jivan Davé, TJ Grandy, J. Aaron Greene, Kate Guptill, Rebecca Lehde & Cameron Reynolds EDITORIAL INTERN Alec Hernández DESIGN INTERN Kayla Pellegrino Holly Hardin OPERATIONS MANAGER GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Kristy Adair Michael Allen Whitney Fincannon MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Nicole Greer, Kristi Jennings, Donna Johnston, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehmen & Emily Yepes Kate Madden DIRECTOR, EVENTS & ACCOUNT STRATEGY kate@towncarolina.com
Emily Price DIGITAL STRATEGIST Danielle Car DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER
Photograph by Paul Mehaffey
THAT’S HOW CHANGE H A P P EN S. L I F E-A L T ER I N G J O UR N EY S BEG I N WI T H A SI N G L E ST EP . A N I D EA . A D ES I R E. Editor-in-chief Blair Knobel tries to look the part of a virtuoso on Tom Strange’s “Chopin grand.” For more, see “Piano Man,” page 80.
12 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Kristi Fortner EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Lorraine Goldstein, Sue Priester & Hal Weiss CONSULTING MEMBERS
TOWN Magazine (Vol. 5, No. 9) is published monthly (12 times per year) by TOWN Greenville, LLC, 581 Perry Ave, Greenville, SC 29611, (864) 679-1200. If you would like to have TOWN delivered to you each month, you may purchase an annual subscription (12 issues) for $65. For subscription information or where to find, please visit towncarolina.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to TOWN, 581 Perry Ave, Greenville, SC 29611. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
OCTOBER 16, 17 & 18 Featuring internationally renowned interior decorator Nina Campbell
For more information
call 864.546.4061 or visit gcma.org/antiques
Antiques, Fine Art & Design Weekend sponsored by
GCMA TOWN AFAD 1 page Nina.indd 2
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♥ DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A MODERN LOVER ?
We think you do! And, well, don’t blush, but we’re willing to teach you. That’s right, we’re happy to share the latest tips & tricks for learning to appreciate—and perhaps, collect—modern
art !
It’s easy to be a Modern Lover ! If you’re a member of the GCMA Collectors Group or a Contributing-level member, then you’re already invited to join us for our next
Modern Lovers event at the GCMA.
If you’re not already a museum member, visit gcma.org to join. Don’t be shy. It’s going to be fun. To learn more about exhibitions and events for art lovers, visit gcma.org.
Greenville County Museum of Art
420 College Street Greenville, SC 29601 864.271.7570 gcma.org Wed - Sat 10 am - 6 pm Sun 1 pm - 5 pm
admission free
TOWNCAROLINA.COM DIGITAL REMIX // SEPTEMBER 2015
PRESS PLAY / Moving Pictures
“I LOVE THEIR STORIES. WHEN YOU PLAY THESE PIANOS, IT’S AUTHENTIC.” Tom Strange // scientist, vintage piano restorer & musician // “Piano Man,” page 80
))) SEE TOM STRANGE PLAY HIS CENTURIES-OLD PIANOS AT TOWNCAROLINA.COM PLUS FOOTAGE FROM OUR EUPHORIA ROUNDTABLE AND STYLE PHOTOSHOOT
FASHION ON THE TOWN / #FOTT2015 It’s that time again: follow along for all the details on this year’s grand shopping crawl. Meet our participating retailers, get the rundown on fall trends, and score free prizes. @fashiononthetown facebook.com/fashiononthetown @TOWN_fashion
Art director Paul Mehaffey works with model Holly Julian on our September style shoot.
SUBSCRIBE to TOWN(IE) We’ve launched an easier way for you to get TOWN on the go. Subscribe to TOWN(ie), and get the best of the magazine straight to your inbox twice a month. It’s all you love about TOWN, but with lots of guided shortcuts.
After the applause, the stage goes dark… Blue Ridge Security keeps watch over the Peace Center.
Residential, & Commercial Security Systems
BIT.LY // TOWNIEMAIL
Serious Security
CONNECT WITH US
@towncarolina facebook.com/towncarolina
blueridgesecuritysolutions.com 18 TOWN / towncarolina.com
A subsidiary of Blue Ridge Electric Co-op
@towncarolina
Photographs by Andrew Huang
888-407-7233
F I L
E L H A T KE I T A S E
guided
A
FISHING TRIP The Reserve at Lake Keowee is a playground for fun and adventure. Nestled in the rolling foothills of South Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, The Reserve is a private community located two hours from Atlanta and Charlotte, one hour from Greenville and just down the road from Clemson University. Begin your adventure by playing a round of golf on our Jack Nicklaus Signature course, hiking miles of trails and then finishing the day on the mountain-fed waters of Lake Keowee showing a new angler the ropes. Your perfect day at the lake is waiting.
To learn more about life at the lake, visit ReserveAtLakeKeowee.com/Town. Homes selling from $500K-$2M+ and homesites from $100K-$600K+ .
ASK ABOUT OUR LIMITED TIME BUYER INCENTIVES.
A vibrant mixed-use development is taking shape on more than 1,000 acres of untouched real estate within the city of Greenville. A smart, flexible plan comprises diverse housing at varying price points, thriving commercial districts and an array of recreational amenities. Fostering a walkable environment, Verdae’s vision ranges from corporate headquarters and niche offices to a village square filled with specialty retailers, local restaurants and professional services, all interconnected by pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, a lush central park and abundant greenspace. It’s happening at Verdae.
Garden photo by Promotion Imaging, LLC
3 Legacy Square • Greenville, SC (864) 329-9292
verdae.com
List z
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THE MONTH’S MUST- DOS
September 2015
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Photograph courtesy of Bon Secours Wellness Arena
LADY ANTEBELLUM The Nashville-bred trio makes an Upstate stop during their “Wheels Up” tour, joined by special guests Hunter Hayes and Kelsea Ballerini. Since kicking things off with “Love Don’t Live Here” back in 2007, Lady Antebellum has been caught in a whirlwind of success, topping the charts with hit after hit, racking up awards, and even teaming up with Darius Rucker. Now is your chance to see the country superstars live, so don’t miss out. Bon Secours Wellness Arena, 650 N Academy St, Greenville. Sat, Sept 12, 7pm. $32-$57. (864) 241-3800, bonsecoursarena.com
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 21
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NC APPLE FESTIVAL
EUPHORIA
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then that’s logic enough to flock to Hendersonville’s North Carolina Apple Festival, heralding the forbidden fruit for more than sixty years. Enjoy four days of entertainment, including music, arts and crafts, a street fair, and, of course, irresistible apple-centric eats. But feel free to indulge in another fried pie or cider doughnut—the doc is nowhere to be found.
This year, Greenville’s signature food, wine, and music festival adds another noteworthy distinction: its10th anniversary. The lineup matches the momentous milestone, starting with singer/songwriter (and festival co-founder) Edwin McCain’s return. Our city’s finest culinary establishments are also set to welcome an impressive list of guest talent, including Michelinstarred chefs, James Beard Award winners, and a Master Sommelier. Join in for themed guest-chef dinners, a food truck rodeo, and the festival’s signature Songwriter’s Recipe.
North Carolina Apple Festival, Downtown Hendersonville, NC. Fri–Mon, Sept 4–7. Free admission. ncapplefestival.org
zWhat-Not-To-Miss / INDIE CRAFT PARADE Join the Southeast’s vibrant community of artisans, makers, craftspeople, and tastemakers at this yearly exhibition. Browse two levels of 2D and 3D fine art, fiber and textile creations, paper goods, clothing, home goods, and more at the Huguenot Mill. Familiar names and faces—Shed Labs, Lily Pottery, BILLIAM, and Cory Godbey— make appearances alongside newcomers. For an early preview (and to skip the lines), grab tickets to the VIP Gala on Friday evening. Huguenot Mill, 101 W Broad St, Greenville. Sept 18–20. Fri, 6–9pm (VIP Gala); Sat, 9am–6pm; Sun, 11am–5pm. VIP Gala, $35; general admission, $2. Indiecraftparade.com
Photograph by TJ Getz / courtesy of Euphoria
Locations vary, Greenville. Thurs, Sept 17–Sun, Sept 20; times vary. Prices vary. (864) 233-5663, euphoriagreenville.com
TAILORED
by DESIGN
PelhamArchitects.com 22 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Photograph courtesy of the Indie Craft Parade
THE
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
GOODWILL MUD RUN
Let’s do the time warp again! The Richard O’Brien musical has become a cult classic, lending itself to numerous international tours and a smash film starring Tim Curry as the “sweet transvestite” doctor himself. But you have not truly had the Rocky Horror experience until you see it live. The production relies heavily on audience/actor interaction that includes having “virgins” of the show hop on stage for the Time Warp dance. Both campy and endearing, you may never want to leave Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter’s freaky castle.
Dreaming of flying full-frontal into a mud pit and cleaning dirt out of your ears ’til next Tuesday? Here’s your race. Boost your ego with the same rope climbing, wall hopping, and belly-crawling that soldiers-in-training go through on this threeand-a-half-mile course. This race may not be for the faint of heart, but athletes of almost any age and endurance are encouraged to participate and raise a little money for Goodwill Charities. SC-TAC, 5 Chapel Rd, Greenville. Sat, Sept 26, 8am. 2-person team, $100; 4-person team, $140. goodwillmudrun.org
The Warehouse Theatre, 37 Augusta St, Greenville. Sept 18–Oct 31. Wed–Sat, 8pm; midnight shows Fri & Sat. $35. (864) 235-6948, warehousetheatre.com
“NO PLACE LIKE HOME”: A RUBY SLIPPER EVENT Habitat for Humanity’s special evening of charity returns yet again, this time bringing more talent and excitement than ever before. In addition to an impressive auction including jewelry, sports items, and luxurious experiences, the event will also feature a special performance by famed local artist Edwin McCain with his Acoustic Trio. The gourmet dinner will be highlighted with a live show by the Phillis Wheatley Repertory Theatre. All proceeds will benefit Habitat for Humanity. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Dr, Greenville. Mon, Sept 14, 6pm. $75. habitatgreenville.org/getinvolved/no-place-like-home
September 2015 Photograph courtesy of the Goodwill Mud Run
Photograph courtesy of the Warehouse Theatre
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Quick HITS THE ROSE BALL
z In keeping with its tradition of unparalleled elegance, this year’s edition of the Rose Ball will feature the intricate work of more than 25 different Upstate designers. Centered on the theme of Chinoiserie, the ball will explore the origins of its namesake blossom, blending together elements of ancient Chinese inspiration with a modern, twentyfirst-century edge. Greenville’s longest-running charity event has handpicked 15 organizations as this year’s beneficiaries. The Poinsett Club, 807 E Washington St, Greenville. Fri, Sept 18. $450 per couple. theroseball.org
FARM FRESH FAIR
Photograph courtesy of the Peace Center
z The word entrepreneur does not typically draw to mind farmland teeming with animals and greenery. Nevertheless, the Farm Fresh Fair is dedicated to opening the door for the purveyors of handcrafted goods, homemade eats, and everything organic. Benefitting sustainable farming at Mill Village Farms, this crisp day will feature antique shopping, artisan crafts, farm fare, and even live music. Pick up some eats or just a home accent—it is all in the good faith of shopping local. The Farm at Rabon Creek, 125 Phillips Lane, Fountain Inn. Sept 19–20. Sat, 10am–5pm; Sun, 11am–4pm. Adults, $5; juniors, $1. thefarmatraboncreek.com
TASTE OF OUR CAROLINA FOOTHILLS
z The Blue Ridge Mountains are home to much more than fall foliage and breathtaking views. A dazzling roster of regional wineries, breweries, restaurants, and farms converges at Overmountain Vineyard in Tryon, NC. Part food and wine festival, part celebration of the foothills, this area has plenty of culinary and natural pleasures. Overmountain Vineyard, 2012 Sandy Plains Rd, Tryon, NC. Sun, Sept 27, 1–5pm. $45. (828) 863-4098, ourcarolinafoothills.com
HANDBAGS FOR HOPE
z Shopping, dining, and a great cause? What more could you ask for? The 9th annual Handbags for Hope event will benefit the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation, inviting guests for a fabulous evening of both silent and live auctions featuring more than 110 items. Capping off the night will be plenty of flowing cocktails, delicious appetizers, and the opportunity to win big with gifts from local retailers.
Willie Nelson Country singer Willie Nelson is one of the world’s most beloved musicians. With a career spanning nearly six decades and more than 200 albums, Nelson is a living legend. The recently-released Let’s Face the Music and Dance is a distinct blend of country-pop tunes, proving that this long-haired country boy definitely still has it. The Peace Center, 300 S Main St, Greenville. Tues, Sept 22, 7:30pm. $55-$85. (864) 467-3000, peacecenter.org
September 2015 S
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Huguenot Loft, 101 W Broad St, Greenville. Thurs, Sept 24, 6–9pm. (864) 373-6306, scovariancancer.org
24 TOWN / towncarolina.com
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STILL DON’T HAVE SEASON TICKETS?
TH E ST OR Y OF FR AN KI E VA LL I & TH E FO UR SE AS ON S
RAYMOND LUKE JR. PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS. ALL OTHER PHOTOS BY ANDREW ECCLES.
Photos (Broadway cast): Joan Marcus and Chris Callis
YOU’LL HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE.
“MORE THAN A BROADWAY SHOW. A celebration of music that transformed America!” — CBS Sunday Morning ®
MOTOWN IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF UMG RECORDINGS, INC
SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 4
NOVEMBER 24-29
SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE SEPT. 18
© Disney
OCTOBER 27 - NOVEMBER 1
DECEMBER 29, 2015 - JANUARY 3, 2016 • SINGLE TICKETS ON SALE OCTOBER 9 THERE’S STILL TIME
This season, our goal is to make the magic of Broadway even more accessible to Upstate audiences. Orchestra seats for seven-show packages now start at $455, and balcony seats start as low as $180! This Broadway season brings Dirty Dancing, Motown the Musical, Disney’s Newsies, Matilda the Musical, Cabaret, The Sound of Music, The Bridges of Madison County, plus two season options: Jersey Boys and Riverdance - The 20th Anniversary World Tour!
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
FROM BIG BROADWAY HIT TO BIG BROADWAY HIT, THERE ARE MANY GREAT BENEFITS THAT COME WITH BEING A SEASON SUBSCRIBER. • Save your seats for 7, or all 9, amazing 2015-16 Broadway shows • Lock in your ticket price so you never pay more • Exchange tickets for another performance, free of charge
PEACE CENTER | PEACECENTER.ORG | 864.467.3000
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
SEPTEMBER ��-�� ALL EVENTS ARE
ALL-INCLUSIVE
LAMBS AND CLAMS Presented by KENTWOOL
Late night bites of lamb and oysters. Old Cigar Warehouse THURSDAY, 8:30 PM - MIDNIGHT | TICKETS : $75
proudly supported by
TASTE OF THE SOUTH Great drinks, local restaurants and live music from special anniversary Guest Edwin McCain. Peace Center Amphitheater FRIDAY, 6-10 PM | TICKETS : $125
SONGWRITER’S RECIPE Presented by The Cliffs
Stories, drinks and music from Tim Nichols, Marv Green and Edwin McCain Studio 220 at the Hyatt THURSDAY, 7-10:30 PM | TICKETS : $100 SPONSORS:
SPORTS SERIES Our new Sports Series offers something for every athlete hiding inside a foodie’s body! Golf at The Cliffs (Mountain Park) & Cycling with George Hincapie at Hotel Domestique FRIDAY, 8:30 AM | TICKETS : $150
TASTING SHOWCASE Presented by Greenville Water
Culinary Stage & CAFEeuphoria presented by GHS Corner of Main and Broad Street SATURDAY, 12-4 PM | TICKETS : $75
GUEST CHEF DINNERS Join guest chefs at some of Greenville’s most popular dining destinations. Various Restaurants SATURDAY, 7 PM | TICKETS : $150
JAZZ BRUNCH Presented by South State Bank
TRAFFIC JAM
Live music featuring Delfeayo Marsalis & Mark Rapp, over 20 local restaurants and endless bloodies & bubbles. Corner of Main and Broad Street SUNDAY, 10 AM -2 PM | TICKETS : $45 | Kids Welcome
Enjoy live music from Outshyne, craft beer & spirits, and an array of delicious food truck cuisine. Outfield of Fluor Field SATURDAY, 5-8:30 PM | TICKETS : $75
SWANKY & SWEET Presented by Sunnie & DeWorken
A late night gathering filled with desserts and bubbles that keep flowing all night long. Clemson Space at Greenville ONE Building SATURDAY, 9 PM -1 AM | TICKETS : $45
SUNDAY SUPPER Presented by Acumen IT
Break bread with our elite line up of local and guest chefs. The Wyche Pavilion at the Peace Center SUNDAY, 5-8 PM | TICKETS : $150
CELEBRATING �� YEARS OF FOOD, WINE & MUSIC
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Town
ON THE
Tapas & Tinis July 17, 2015
Susanna McShea, Adam Scher & Roselle Roux
Leigh Watson, Jack Bacot, Taryn Scher & Carl Sobocinski with Kym & Ron Petrie
Steve Wallace, Jill Wallace, Ryan Sanders, Annette Sanders, Steve Simicich & Carol Simicich
With Greenville’s iconic food festival just around the corner, what could be better than a tasty sneak preview? In honor of the 10th anniversary of Euphoria, the festival took over Clemson University’s rooftop space at the ONE Building for a night of signature cocktails and miniature foodie delights. Performance Foodservice’s chef Derin Moore served up dishes ranging from beef tenderloin sliders to key lime pie bites, and Van Gogh Vodka provided specialty cocktails for guests. The evening’s worth of tastes was plenty to whet appetites for Euphoria’s full fall festival. Photography by Will Crooks
Emily Pattera & K.C. Brown
Jen Moreau & TJ Breil
Mike & Gina Gatlin
Bill & Diane Yarborough
Amy Bradford & Michael Tollison Noble Guest
Gracie Boswell, Morgan Team, Marcela Gallegos & Ashley Davidson
d.
, and get up
ppliances to
March 31, 2016. SEPTEMBER 2015 / 29
Laurens Electric Poker Run July 18, 2015 The mid-summer South Carolina heat couldn’t keep the 450 participants of the Laurens Electric Poker Run from hopping on their motorcycles to benefit our community. The Poker Run started at Laurens Electric’s main office and sent riders around Greenville on a hunt for the best poker hand. Parks King of Simpsonville, SC, brought home the grand prize, and the event raised a total of $12,000 for the Cooperative Caring Fund that supports families who struggle to pay utility bills. Photography by TJ Grandy Parks King (High Hand Winner)
Dale Royals
2222 Augusta Street, Suite 7 Greenville, SC 29605
Twill jr pg Town Sept15.indd 1
Abby & Brent Bagwell, Paula Lyles, Sherry Brantley & Doug Miller
8/13/15 5:31 PM
JT Lindsey 30 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Wes Hamilton & Paola Hernandez
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www.wilsonsonwashington.com | 864.235.3336 | 794 E. Washington St., Greenville, SC
FALL
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Cocktails & Art June 14, 2015 Greenville County Museum of Art benefactors dove into 170 years of South Carolinian art history, not to mention delectable treats to boot. The Collector’s Group Cocktail and Art event was held in the museum’s Study Gallery, where benefactors could experience the Palmettopalooza exhibit from an even closer perspective. Executive director Tom Styron spoke to the group about a selection of the exhibit’s watercolors, while guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres. Photography by Will Crooks
Anne & Bill Masters
Clay Rainey & John Pellett
Tom Snider, Mary Lawson, Deborah Gibson & Tom Styron 32 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Catie de Montille & Stephanie Smith Bauknight
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Member FDIC
Smart. Strong. Healthy. Your Best You. Stephen Edgerton & Tish Glenn
Musette Stern & Jenny Woods
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DrB jr Town Sept15.indd 1
Will & Carmen Feemster, Amy Ray & Drew Thomas
34 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Caroline Kimball & Celia Steifle
8/17/15 10:24 AM
Suzanne Philipsen, Virginia Hayes & Tish Glenn
ON THE
Town
Summer on Augusta VIP Party July 21, 2015 Members of the Augusta Road Business Association came together on a warm July evening to thank their sponsors and to kick off the multiday Summer on Augusta festivities. Renita Owens, president of the Augusta Road Business Association, welcomed friends and guests, including presenting sponsor Virginia Hayes of Coldwell Banker Caine, while the Augusta Grill treated everyone to fresh summer bites. By Chelsey Ashford Photography
Lisa & Jeff McGehee
Michael & Wanda Ponthieux
TAZ jr TOWN Sept15.indd 1
John Ko with Andrew & Meredith Coln
8/13/15 9:20 PM
Kirk & Amanda Jones with Lelia & Matt King
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 35
ON THE
Town
Bradley & Sarah Phillips with Phillip & Gayla Day
Amanda Piekutowski, Maggie Wentzky & Emily Northey
USC School of Medicine Community Orientation July 30, 2015
Sarah Weiner & Barrett Bradham
Alan Ethridge, Lauren Lavin & Ben Wagner
The Metropolitan Arts Council’s second annual orientation event brought some of the Upstate’s blossoming doctors together for a quick lesson on local culture. The reception included a warm welcome and an overview of Greenville’s cultural opportunities for the incoming class of students at USC School of Medicine Greenville. By Chelsey Ashford Photography
Tara & Billy Clark
Sonja & Adam Young
Bennett May, Lucy Conay & JeanMarc Ault-Riche
Symone’ Austin & Darius Blanding
Westley Dillard & Quinn Nix
Margaret Caulkins, Sarah Gillette & Claire Shin Lauren Egbert & Abby Lewis
36 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Kristan Abernathy, Phillip Dixon, Benjamin Davis, Katie Robinson & Leah Cooper
Marguerite Wyche and Associates
THE NAME TO KNOW.
110 Huckleber r y Ridge | Greenville | $2,495,500
607 McDaniel Avenue | Alta Vista | $1,175,000
International by design, this superb 10 acre mountaintop estate offers an unobstructed 270 degree view of the valley below. This magnificent residence is a peaceful place surrounded by waterfalls, koi ponds, and gardens that are stunning throughout the year. the home has over 7000 square feet, 5 bedrooms an 6 baths, and a magnificent indoor /outdoor swimming pool and hot tub!
This handsome two story brick home offers the classic architecture of this desirable neighborhood, and its renovations offer an exceptional residence of the highest taste and standards. This 4 bedroom 3 1/2 bath home offers a very desirable open floor plan, high ceilings, hardwood floors, fabulous kitchen, master suite with its own den, rec room, study, two car attached garage, private back yard with brick wall and much more.
19 Southland Avenue | Alta Vista | $749,500
404 McDaniel Avenue | Alta Vista
This 3 or 4 bedroom home gracefully invites you into its well proportioned entrance hall which reaches to the back of the home. The 10 foot ceilings, classic moldings, arched cased entrances are just some of the many exceptional features of this custom designed residence. Walk to Cleveland Park, the Swamp Rabbit Trail, and downtown Greenville.
Enjoy evening neighborhood strolls, with walking distance to downtown and Cleveland Park. Fabulous master bedroom suite with brand-new master bath and his/her walkin closets. Well-appointed rooms with open kitchen, large family room and plenty of natural light and storage. Seize this jewel before it is gone!
| $785,500
604 Crescent Avenue | $630,000
100 Putney Bridge Lane | $830,000
Lofts at Mills Mill, #212 | $229,000
Alta Vista at its best! Bright and beautiful updated 1940s home with 3 or 4 bedrooms and 3 baths includes open kitchen, large den and attached 2 car garage; large master suite on the main floor plus bonus room upstairs; recently re-landscaped front and back, enjoy the private back yard. Walking distance of downtown Greenville and Cleveland Park!
This six year old custom built 5 bedroom 4 1/2 bath home is beautifully appointed with fabulous open floor plan; large updated kitchen; incredible master suite with access to the outside and covered porch. 3++ car garage. Private, fenced, and beautifully landscaped backyard.
There are a limited number of corner one bedroom units at The Lofts and they rarely come up for sale! This unit is larger than most with gracious room sizes. Soaring ceilings greet you with three oversized windows, great views and a bright open floor plan. The original exposed brick offers a true loft feel. Great community amenities including pool and dog park.
Bobbie Johnson
Marguerite Wyche
Catharine Sturtevant
Laura McDonald
Suzy C. Withington
864-630-0826 bjohnson@wycheco.com
864-270-2440 mwyche@wycheco.com
864-346-6886 csturtevant@wycheco.com
864-640-1929 lmcdonald@wycheco.com
864-201-6001 swithington@wycheco.com
T
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16 W. North Street, Greenville, SC 29601 www.wycheco.com | 864.232.5224
540 Crescent Avenue
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$2,675,000
211 Camille Avenue
$827,500
Outdoor SALE As the seasons transition from Summer to Fall, now is the time to take advantage of the best savings of the year on all of Old Colony Furniture’s In-Stock outdoor sets from Woodard and Lloyd-Flanders. Create your own outdoor retreat and enjoy the cooler weather and the upcoming football season together with family and friends in the comfort of your new outdoor group.
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Mary Lewis Tiller, Sally Hammond, Karen Calhoun & Mary Nell Brandt 38 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Cate Ryba, Buck Brandt & Rogers Settle
A breathtaking blend of now and forever. 8/6/15 2:35 PM
ON THE
Town
Featured Home
Luna Blanc May 17, 2015 A mystery location and time were no deterrents for Luna Blanc’s 180 guests. The details for this outdoor dinner party were released just hours before it began. Locals dressed in white to flood downtown Spartanburg’s Harvest Park, crowding the Hub City Farmers Market with tables, food, and conversation. Luna Blanc hopes to bring communities together over communal meals—and what better way to get to know your community than sharing a spontaneous meal with a friendly stranger? Photography by Will Crooks
Jeannie Rucker & Candi Weinstein
8 Lanneau Drive | $649,000
Charming traditional brick home nestled on one of Alta Vista’s most sought-after streets! Three bedrooms | Two-and-a-half bathrooms Schedule a showing today!
864.313.2986 | www.VirginiaHayes.com
Al Jolly, Carolyn Schoepf & Russell Floyd
Courtney Brown & Taylor Barrett SEPTEMBER 2015 / 39
ANDY WARHOL
Closing Soon! On View through September 13
1515 Main Street in the heart of downtown Columbia, SC | 803-799-2810 | columbiamuseum.org Special thanks to Bank of America and the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, for lending to this exhibition. Presenting Sponsor
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TOWN
Weddings
/ by Alec Hernández
Flint and Tinder Gather close and snuggle up. There’s more to winter warmth than the fire.
Jennifer Lynn Nelson & Ellison Smyth McKissick IV June 19, 2015
Some say that chivalry is dead, but it goes a long way for others. In the fall of 2007, Smyth had just begun his freshman year at the University of Georgia when he found a stray cellphone on the ground in the football stadium after a weekend game. Nobody in his immediate surroundings claimed the phone, so he proceeded to dial number under “Dad” in the saved contacts. After a brief and polite conversation with her father, Smyth was put in contact with Jennifer, who was visiting campus as a senior in high school. The found cellphone led to six years of dating, and a proposal on the Nelsons’ candlelit, hydrangea-covered porch. The couple was married at Christ Church Episcopal and guests were welcomed to the reception by an a cappella singing group. Although the couple’s roots are in the South, they now reside in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSH JONES // J. JONES PHOTOGRAPHY
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 43
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Weddings Elizabeth Anne Buchanan & Mario Elliott Brown June 5, 2015 After five years of dating, Liz and Mario decided to pack their bags for a European adventure that would bring them closer than ever before. The trip began in Madrid, but quickly transitioned to the most romantic city on the continent: Paris. One morning, the couple decided to explore the city, taking the metro in search of the famous lock-covered Pont des Arts Bridge. Upon arrival, Mario led Elizabeth to a lock with the phrase “Will you marry me?” attached to the bridge’s iron siding. The couple’s wedding ceremony was held at The Rock Quarry at Falls Park, and the reception mirrored their European experience with signature drinks and cocktails from Spain, France, and Italy. After honeymooning in Croatia, back in Europe where they were first engaged, the couple now resides in Greenville. PHOTOGRAPH BY JIM TRICE // JIM TRICE PHOTOGRAPHY
Riley Catherine Seaver & Tyler Davisson Smith June 6, 2015 Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy a drink. Riley and Tyler first met during their senior year at Clemson at the Wingin’ It bar. Tyler spotted Riley from across the room and insisted on buying her a drink. Though she initially declined, she accepted his offer and the soon-to-be couple talked the night away. Two years later, during a family trip to Litchfield Beach, Riley woke to a breakfast invitation at a friend’s nearby beach house. Little did she know, Tyler planned to propose in the warm sand during their walk over. Nearly a year later, Riley walked down the aisle to a bagpiper playing “Highland Cathedral.” The couple’s family and friends came together to celebrate their union at a dreamy summer reception under a tent on the Village Green. Today, the couple has settled in Greenville. PHOTOGRAPH BY GABRIELLE GRACE SMITH // GABRIELLE GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY
Allee Parrott & Evan Bramhall April 11, 2015 Although their first encounter as middle school students in a Spartanburg church group was not the most romantic, Allee and Evan later came together when they were further from home than ever. After her college graduation, Allee had accepted an interior design internship in Shenzhen, China. Evan, in his last year of law school, prepared to depart for Tianjin, China, for an international law class. Through mutual friends and family members, the two united online to share their Chinese experiences. The couple started dating when they returned to the States. One day while training together for the 2014 Nashville Marathon, Evan pulled a bothersome rock from his shoe—the ring with which he proposed on the trail a few minutes later. Allee and Evan were married in Spartanburg’s First Baptist Church, where they first met, while the reception matched their Southern roots with a Chinese flare in food, dance, and decoration. The couple now lives in Greenville. PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNA MOORE // JENNA MARIE WEDDINGS HEARING WEDDING BELLS? TOWN Magazine wants to publish your wedding announcement. If you currently live or grew up in the Upstate and were recently married, please write to us at TOWN Magazine, Attn: Andrew Huang, P.O. Box 2266, Greenville, SC 29602, or e-mail ahuang@towncarolina.com. Due to space constraints, inclusion is not guaranteed. 44 TOWN / towncarolina.com
“Purveyors of Classic American Style” 864.232.2761 | rushwilson.com 23 West North St. | Downtown Greenville
LIFE’S MOMENTS HAPPEN IN A HIGHLAND HOME.
David Street Enjoy living close to a downtown that is alive and flourishing. Located off the historical James Street, David Street dates back on the city directories from 1903. Homes offer elegant lifestyle with convenient access to museums, art galleries, recreation, boutiques and fine restaurants. The 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathroom newly constructed homes offer families a floorplan that maximizes their living space and unique needs. Don’t miss this opportunity to own a brand new home with a great value located just minutes from downtown Greenville! To learn more about his exciting community, please contact Patrick Franzen: patrick@highlandhomessc.com × 864-250-1234
WWW.HIGHLANDHOMESSC.COM | 864.233.4175
TOWN
Buzz
TOP BUNK / UPTOWNER / TOWN PROFILE
Word & Deed
Photograph by Rebecca Lehde
M. Judson gives a downtown icon a literary makeover
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 47
TOWN
Buzz Cover Artists: Ashley Warlick, June Wilcox, Tricia Lightweis, and Samantha Wallace created M. Judson as a showcase for Southern authors, makers, and producers.
Book Marks M. Judson presents storytelling as a community-wide project / by Andrew Huang
// photography by Rebecca Lehde
T
he value of story is incalculable. Just ask Samantha Wallace, Ashley Warlick, June Wilcox, and Tricia Lightweis. These four women are the founders of M. Judson Booksellers & Storytellers, a downtown Greenville bookstore that opened in July 2015, so it goes without saying that they hold stories in high regard. These women know that stories are a way of structuring the world, of helping us make sense of our place in it. But more than that, they believe that stories have the power to help us imagine new worlds—and to look forward. Three years ago, Wallace (publisher of local food culture magazine Edible Upcountry), Warlick (a published novelist and editor of Edible Upcountry), Lightweis (former owner of the Booksmith bookstore in Seneca, SC), and Wilcox (owner of an IT consulting firm) came together to address an unfulfilled need in Greenville. “We’re a community that prides itself on being progressive and rich in many dimensions, but there was no literary hub,” says Wallace. Warlick adds, “I’ve been involved with organizations like the Emrys Foundation for years, and it’s a struggle to find a home for the very cool stuff they do. When we first started talking about a bookstore, one of the first things I got really excited about was that there could be a regular home for events, learning, and being around books.” The home that they found in the historic Greenville County Family Court building couldn’t have been a better fit for their vision of a community focal point: the regal Beaux-Arts building has long been a recognizable element of the city’s streetscape. “The first day we came up here, we all knew this was the space,” says Lightweis.
48 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Inside, former government-issued offices have been stripped out and traded for an open floor plan, white walls, and a flood of natural light. The shelves are populated by a carefully curated mix of Southern novels, Southern authors, cookbooks, and children’s books. A strip of the original terrazzo floors remain, flanked by book-lined walls and a café which serves small bites—sourced from the cookbooks on the shelves—coffee, beer, and wine. “This is what we love,” says Warlick. “We all are mothers, we’ve all raised our children to love books. Cookbooks and food writing are some things Sam and I have always been passionate about, as has Tricia. And then Southern books, or books by Southern writers, was just a natural extension. We have a really rich community of writers in the Greenville-Spartanburg area. It all came together in a very natural way.” Toward the back of the store is a community room. “This iconic building is a huge space, so we have the opportunity to host significant events for the community,” says Wallace. “We want this space to work in a lot of different ways. Books are absolutely at the heart of it all, but this is also a natural gathering space. It’s about having a space where we can bring stories to life, having a space where we can celebrate local artisans we’ve found.” “From the very beginning, we wanted this to be more than a bookstore,” says Warlick. And it is—a place not only to enjoy stories, but also to help shape the story of a community. M. Judson Booksellers & Storytellers 130 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 603-2412, mjudsonbooks.com
JOHN COLLETTE FINE ART
17 W. North Street | Greenville | 864 609-4262 | www.johncollettefineart.com
TOWN
Buzz Designing Women: Rose Ball chair Katherine Selvy (left) and decorations chair Wendy Wilson gather at the home of Lisa Tice, one of the designers of the event. The women looked to the beginning of rose cultivation for the 2015 Rose Ball’s theme. They settled on Chinoiserie, a Western interpretation of ancient Chinese aesthetics.
Eastern Eye The Rose Ball looks to its namesake flower’s origins / by Mary Cathryn Armstrong
I
// photograph by J. Aaron Greene
t started off small—just a few women from around the community, cutting their own homegrown garden roses to spruce up the scenery at a fundraising function for St. Francis Hospital. Fast-forward four decades, and the Greenville Rose Ball has blossomed into one of the Upstate’s premier charity events. Perhas more prominent than its nonpareil reputation for style, sophistication, and philanthropy is the Rose Ball’s collection of diverse, ethereal themes brought to life each year by local artists and designers. This year, the Poinsett Club will be transformed into a portal back in time to explore the origins of the event’s namesake in a unique fusion of East-meets-West known as “Chinoiserie.” “The idea of this theme has really evolved over the last two years,” says Rose Ball decorations chair Wendy Wilson. “We knew we wanted to try something different, so we started looking into the history of the rose, and all early evidence of cultivation points to China.” Though the foundation of Chinoiserie is rooted in Western culture, the aesthetic is actually a European interpretation of recurring motifs in Asian artistry: porcelain, florals, and elements of interior design. The overall result is both elegant yet whimsical, and traditional yet fun, a concept that dovetails with the ball’s decision to allow a mix of 20-plus designers to “put their own spin” on each room of the venue. 50 TOWN / towncarolina.com
“In previous years, only one person has decorated the entire club,” Wilson says. “This year, we wanted to use different colors and decorations that match the distinct feel of each room.” Katherine Selvy, chair of the Rose Ball and an interior designer herself, says that creating a sense of diversity has given the artists an opportunity to offer something truly unique. The designs will present a wide range of tastes, from crisp, clean whites to bright, rich colors and simple tableside floral arrangements against stunningly embellished golden centerpieces. “All of these artists we’ve selected have different takes on what the theme is to them,” Selvy says. “But what has been interesting is how well it all still flows together.” Decorations typically take three days to complete, with more than 100 volunteers and design professionals on hand to mold the Poinsett Club into a wonderland of beautiful blooms. Post-ball, the majority of the arrangements will be donated to local nursing homes and hospitals, where they may continue to be enjoyed. And yes, they still encourage guests to bring their own roses as tribute to the history of the “South’s Most Elegant Charitable Gala.” The 2015 Rose Ball takes place on September 18 at the Poinsett Club. For more information on tickets, sponsorships, and beneficiaries of the ball, visit theroseball.org
B E T H J OY N E R C R I G L E R
The McAfee Family
Lauren Knight
Lou Williamson
Katy Freemon
Opening Doors in Your Neighborhood. It’s about home. It’s about family.
And if there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about home and family, it’s Beth Crigler. She and husband David managed to raise such a tight-knit clan that their three children are nearly inseparable as adults. “They do everything together,” Beth says of her children and their spouses. And she does mean everything. The oldest two share a birthday, got married three months apart, and they each have three children – all born within weeks of each other. And, of course, they all live within a mile of their parents. “I’m the luckiest person in the world because I have the greatest in-law children,” Beth says. “I couldn’t have picked better spouses for my children.” They are so close, in fact, that Beth shares an office with her daughter, Carmen, and daughter-in-law, Ellis. The youngest, Ginny, doesn’t work in real estate, but she does help feed hungry agents through The Traveling Peddler, a catering company owned by her husband, Geoff.
Ellis Crigler,
REALTOR® 864.616.1348
The Bemisderfer Family From their Augusta Road office, Beth, Carmen, and Ellis help clients from all walks of life through the process of buying and selling – whether they are feathering a new nest, in search of a bigger nest, or downsizing an empty nest. Carmen and Ellis have particularly enjoyed helping their friends begin the journey of homeownership. As the daughter of the legendary C. Dan Joyner, a career in real estate may have seemed a foregone conclusion, but Beth tried her best to avoid the family business. She taught kindergarten for several years, worked in banking for a while, but ultimately realized real estate was in her blood, and there was just no getting around it. “I always said I would never be a Realtor, but one day I decided to get my license, and I’m so glad I did,” Beth says. “I love helping people find their dream homes and seeing them work towards the goal of the American dream.” Beth’s kids most likely learned the importance of family from the example she and her own siblings have set. They still honor the longstanding tradition of vacationing together at Fripp Island – a trip the family has taken since Beth was in sixth grade. Beth and her immediate family have established their own tradition at Kiawah, where she enjoys spending time with her four – soon to be six – grandchildren.
Beth Crigler,
REALTOR® GRI, CRS, Luxury Home Specialist
Carmen Crigler Feemster,
864.420.4718 bethcrigler.com
864.616.5177
REALTOR®
TOP
Bunk
Mountain Magic The Swag is a rapturous getaway near the Great Smoky Mountains
O
n a recent Wednesday morning, my husband and I set out for two tranquil days at The Swag, a mountaintop lodging in Waynesville, North Carolina. We slowly navigate the switchbacks that wind like a rattlesnake up the inn’s 2.5-mile driveway and arrive just in time for the weekly gourmet picnic on Gooseberry Knob. Atop the grassy knob, a short walk from the inn, owner/innkeeper Deener Matthews greets us warmly. She and her husband Dan, an Episcopal minister, make a point to get to know each guest, many of whom have stayed here repeatedly over the years. Deener bids us help ourselves to food—bison burgers, Kobe hot dogs, fresh side items from The Swag’s garden. We fill our plates and stake out a pair of umbrella-shaded Adirondack chairs facing the mountains. Deener and Dan discovered this 250-acre site—named long ago for the dip, or swag, between two mountains—during their search for a country getaway in 1969. To get here, they hiked 1,000 feet straight up (there was no road) and were stunned by the beauty of the land. On the bald at 5,000 feet, they built an eight-bedroom log house that Dan designed. It hosted family and friends until 1982. That year the World’s Fair was being held in nearby Knoxville, and Deener was asked if she would open her home to visitors. Thinking it was a one-time favor, she agreed. An inn was born when her World’s Fair guests expressed their desire to return the following year. “My life changed dramatically that day,” says Deener of her sudden role as innkeeper.
52 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Boundless Options: Most guests at The Swag don’t spend much time indoors. The eastern boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park borders the inn, affording access to myriad hiking trails. Every week brings a different naturalist to lead hikes, and special events feature yoga teachers, watercolor artists, and musical entertainers.
What Deener calls “a romantic hiking hideaway” now comprises 14 rooms, housed in five log structures and lovingly decorated with handmade quilts, twig headboards, wood beams, and Appalachian folk art (no TV). Our spacious Terrace Suite has a separate sitting room with wet bar, two full baths—one with a steam shower and jetted tub overlooking the woods—and a secluded stone terrace, perfect for stealing a “Swag nap.” At 6 p.m. each evening, hors-d’oeuvres are set out in the open-air dog trot. Breakfast and a four-course dinner are served at communal tables in the lodge-like living and dining rooms, where a menagerie of taxidermy—elk, bears, and foxes—hangs on walls, drapes over rafters, and peeks out from niches. Guests order lunch the night before, to be packaged in a paper bag, a backpack or an insulated bag, perfect for hiking and picnicking. On our last morning, I stand on the porch and watch tanagers, warblers, and bluebirds flit across the lawn as the fog gradually lifts from the valley below. I drink in the profound silence and reflect on what a special place this is. The Swag indeed casts a powerful spell. “I love to see what staying here does to people,” muses Deener. “When I see their faces look 10 years younger, it’s a joy.” The Swag, 2300 Swag Rd, Waynesville, NC (828) 962-0430, theswag.com. Open late April to late November. Rates, which include all meals, start at $495. Note that The Swag cannot sell alcohol, but guests may bring their own wine and spirits.
Photographs by Jumping Rocks Photography; courtesy of The Swag
/ by M. Linda Lee
Higher Calling: The Swag owners Deener and Dan Matthews discovered their 250-acre site in 1969 and built an eight-room log house on the property’s 5,000-foot-high bald. They opened the inn in the early ’80s. The Swag is named for the dip, or swag, between two mountains.
Caption Head: (clockwise, from left) text here text here
APRIL 2015 / 53
UP
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Blazing Trails Kathleen King brings art alive on Greenville’s beloved bike route / by Ruta Fox
// photograph by Paul Mehaffey
R
ecently, our very own GHS Swamp Rabbit Trail was voted No. 3 of the Top Ten Best Urban Trails in the country by a USA Today/10 Best poll. Upstate residents love the 20-mile shady, picturesque, winding route that cuts through downtown Greenville all the way up to Travelers Rest. Newly situated on the trail is a sculpture by avid cyclist and artist Kathleen King, who is also the Independent Coordinator of the Swamp Rabbit Trail Public Art Collection. We biked over to her whimsical sculpture The Runner, situated near East Bramlett Road where the trail meets the tracks, to find out more about art in public places. Why did you relocate to Greenville, after growing up and living in California? >> I was living in Santa Barbara, and I started hearing a lot about the Carolinas as a cycling hub. Back in 2007, I had friends talking about Greenville, as well as Raleigh and Chapel Hill. I was invited here to work on the public art project and moved here in 2013.Then, I was asked to do one of my “bike scribbles,” called The Tortoise Has a Spare, on the brick wall at the Swamp Rabbit Green in 2014. What formal art training do you have? >> I went to California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, to study art, but honestly, I didn’t want to graduate and end up with tremendous debt. I am completely self-taught and spent my time in Paris and Rome, observing the masters. I did the usual progression: drawing, painting, realism, photorealism, and then I kind of loosened up. Out of that came my bike scribbles.
around the Swamp Rabbit Trail is part county, part city, and partly owned by private entities, so it’s a bit more difficult to coordinate it all. How far have you gone on a bike? Are you a competitive bike racer? >> The farthest I’ve gone on a bike is 575 miles for the California AIDS ride in 2003. It took seven days. I don’t compete because I don’t want to get injured, and with competition it’s almost a sure thing. What is your favorite medium? >> The most fun are the 3-D sculptures, because I can make them kinetic, something that moves. I also love oil pastels on paper. Additionally, I have designed, executed, and coordinated over 75 murals so far. How do you feel about public art in Greenville? Is it on par with other cities? >> San Francisco, Chicago and New York, big cities, don’t need someone like me. I gravitate toward cities that are growing and reimaging themselves. I have an opportunity to expand the cultural landscape that would already exist in a larger city and open it up to local artists. I’m interested in creating a template that communities can apply to their own towns, ultimately combining greenways and public art together.
What inspires you? >> I am primarily inspired by nature.The scribble effect that I developed is all about movement. I view it as a form of “action painting,” a style that artist Jackson Pollack created. How long does it take to do a sculpture, and what materials do you use? >> It ends up taking about one year from drawing to manufacturing to completing the entire process. Skilled metalworkers use a computerized machine that plasma-cuts steel with a torch.Then, I use weatherresistant, professional-grade graffiti paint from Germany to paint and finish it. I also raise the money independently to do my own sculptures. Whose idea was it to do the trail sculpture? What are the plans in the future? >> I work directly with Ty Houck and the Greenville County Recreation Department and the Greater Greenville Parks Foundation. We are hoping to create an outdoor museum of art on the trail with a collection of pieces. Over the next two years, we will be recruiting potential Greenville County artists through a request-for-qualifications process. We have ten sites available, and artists will receive a design fee, with a jury reviewing and voting on the ideas. It will be funded by private donations from local businesses, individuals, and groups. The land
54 TOWN / towncarolina.com
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Four Michelin-starred chefs will dazzle the field at Euphoria / by M. Linda Lee
I
t’s a historic moment when four Michelinstarred chefs grace our city at the same time, and this month you will have a rare opportunity to sample their cuisine during Euphoria. On September 19, a trio of stellar chefs—Curtis Duffy, David Kinch, and Sean Gray—will join Greg McPhee in the kitchen at Restaurant 17 in the Hotel Domestique in Travelers Rest for the Coast to Coast dinner. Downtown, luminary Matthew Accarrino will create an exquisite Italian feast at Soby’s Loft alongside Charleston chef Ken Vedrinksi. Both dinners promise to leave guests starry-eyed. Heading the all-star lineup is Curtis Duffy, who earned three stars—Michelin’s highest accolade—last fall for his restaurant Grace, in Chicago. Grace is a study in comfortable elegance and superb service, a fitting stage for what Duffy calls his “thoughtful progressive” cuisine. “Having three stars is a responsibility I don’t take lightly,” says Duffy. “Every day I walk into the kitchen happy and inspired to cook.” Duffy’s experience includes working with the late Charlie Trotter and opening Alinea for wunderkind Grant Achatz, so expect great depth of flavor in his contemporary preparations and presentations that rival any modern canvas in artful aspect. Next up with two stars is David Kinch, whose restaurant Manresa, in Los Gatos, California, has garnered two Michelin stars for nine years running. How does he maintain consistency in his contemporary California cuisine? “Every day is another opportunity to learn, be inspired, and
Get Cooking: Greenville County students between the ages of 8 and 12 will compete in Kids in the Kitchen—Healthy Lunchtime Throwdown to promote healthy lifestyles for children across America. The cook-off will take place on Sunday, September 20, at 11 a.m., during the Jazz Brunch. Chefs Curtis Duffy, David Kinch, and Sean Gray will serve as sous-chefs to the four finalists, who were selected from among the kids who submitted recipes.
“Every day is another opportunity to learn, be inspired, and improve even just a little bit,” explains Chef David Kinch. “We work hard on consistency. It is the most difficult part of our job.”
improve even just a little bit,” explains the chef, who takes inspiration from beauty and color, wherever he may find it. “We work hard on consistency. It is the most difficult part of our job.” Like the other two guest chefs at Restaurant 17, Kinch will be visiting Greenville for the first time. “I’m excited about the dinner because I will be cooking with some chefs who I have never worked with before and have tremendous respect for. What could be better?” A Californian by birth, Sean Gray calls the East Coast home these days, in his role as executive chef of Momofuku Ko, a supernova in David Chang’s constellation of restaurants in New York City. Ko has had two Michelin stars since 2009, the year Sean Gray went to work there as sous chef. Gray strives to combine familiar flavors in his contemporary dishes. “We find that we often focus on the flavors of our childhoods when developing desserts,” he says, “whether that takes the form of a creamsicle reverseengineered through carrot, a pistachio sorbet that recalls a PB&J sandwich by mimicking its fat content, or a Fernet mint cookie evocative of Girl Scout cookies.” While in Greenville, Gray hopes to squeeze in a quick round of golf. Rounding off the star-studded team is Matthew Accarrino, a cyclist-turned-chef who helms the kitchen at SPQR in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. After graduating from the CIA in Hyde Park, New York, the budding chef moved to New York City and worked with a cadre of top toques, including Thomas Keller at Per Se. In 2009, Accarrino was hired as executive chef at SPQR. He won his first Michelin star there in 2013 for his Italian-inspired California cuisine, and has held it for three years now. “I focus on constantly evolving and improving,” says the chef. “Great food is in the details.”
F
red Dexheimer (aka Fred Dex) was, in his own words, “an aimless waiter living in Vermont” years ago when a friend gave him a book about wine. He quickly figured out that with some wine knowledge, he would make more money in tips and earn more respect. After garnering more experience working at wine retail stores and upscale restaurants, he eventually landed a job in the wine cellar at Daniel Boulud’s famed restaurant in New York City. That move launched his career. At age 30, Dexheimer passed the Master Sommelier exam, a rigorous process that takes about six years to complete (to date, there are only 227 Master Sommeliers in the world). These days, he resides in the Raleigh area, where he does wine consulting and plans to open a wine-oriented restaurant later this year. Dexheimer, who estimates he has tasted some 500 grape varietals, admits to being very “colordriven” when it comes to pairing wine with food. Salads and light meats go with lighter-hued wines like Sauvignon Blanc, while a Chardonnay would pair better with goldentoned meats with more caramelization. Dark roasted meats demand a darker red. It is indeed fitting that the only master sommelier in the Carolinas will be pairing the wines to courses prepared by three Michelinstarred chefs at the Coast to Coast dinner. “I want to honor what these chefs do,” the master sommelier notes humbly. “I’m just a conduit to make the food better.”
To get tickets to these dinners and additional Euphoria events, visit euphoriagreenville.com
For more than a century, the Michelin Guide (of the French tire company) has rated hotels and restaurants around the globe with its elite star-rating system. 58 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Top Toques: (clockwise from topleft) Internationally renowned, Michelinstarred chefs Curtis Duffy, Matthew Accarrino, Sean Gray, and David Kinch will be cooking at this year’s Euphoria festival on September 19 at Restaurant 17 and the Lazy Goat. To buy tickets to these special wine dinners, go to euphoriagreenville.com
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 59
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Profile
Food for Thought: Euphoria co-founders Carl Sobocinski and Edwin McCain, along with executive staff Allie Maietta and Brianna Shaw, talk with writer Mamie Morgan about the festival’s history and special touches for this year’s tenth anniversary. (Hosted by The Lazy Goat on August 7, 2015)
Eat, Drink, & Be Merry Euphoria founders and staff dish on the festival and what’s up for this year / inter view by Mamie Morgan
T
// photography by Cameron Reynolds
he beloved Euphoria food and music festival is back this month (September 17–20) for a tenth time. Writer Mamie Morgan reflects with Euphoria founders Carl Sobocinski and Edwin McCain, executive director Brianna Shaw and event director Allie Maietta about the festival’s first decade and what’s in store.
Mamie Morgan: When was Euphoria first an idea for one or both of you?
Carl and I were hanging out, talking about how many requests we both get from local charities. I said, “You know, we should combine music and food into one big event. Make an impact instead of doing a hundred little appearances.” Edwin McCain:
Carl Sobocinski: I had come back from Aspen Food and Wine Classic not too long before and said, “We could do something like that in Greenville, just scaled to Greenville’s size.” Edwin: That was back when it was called “Southern Exposure,” which sounds a lot like streaking.
[Laughter] Mamie:
board?
Brianna Shaw:
Last May.
2010.
Carl: So you don’t think we need to add something? Like an accordion player? A mechanical bull? Mamie:
Or a 10K?
Maybe pudding wrestling.
[Laughter]
Edwin:
Mamie: People are now coming from over thirty states and various countries. With that in mind, who is the most interesting person or group of people you’ve met during Euphoria?
Carl: Sounds even better than grit wrestling.
Edwin: I love to see foodies who have no clue who the musicians are, and vice versa. You have this collision of people going, “You don’t know who that artist is?” and “You don’t know who that chef is?” The foodies get to learn about music, and the music people get to learn about foie gras.
Mamie: So, Brianna, what has been your biggest challenge since coming on in May?
It’s so cool to see people using Greenville as a central place to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. We had a group of women last year that saw the piece in O Magazine and planned a girls’ trip to Euphoria. They flew in from all over the country. Allie:
And when did you ladies come on
Allie Maietta:
Carl: When we got tired and couldn’t do it out of our office, and decided to get real people to help us.
Mamie: The demographic, too, is so wide. As in, most people enjoy food, wine, and music—at least two of the three.
[Laughter, maybe one or two mildly horrified looks]
Brianna: One benefit I had was that I was already familiar with Euphoria. So really, the biggest challenge has just been answering a million emails a day. Carl: Or that we hadn’t raised one dollar or sold a single ticket. Mamie: What, since May, do you think has been most educational? Brianna: I was surprised to find out how far reaching we are. That people come from Ohio, Michigan, even Beijing.
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Euphoria: 10 Years of Food, Wine & Music September 17–20 euphoriagreenville.com
Allie: There’s so much going on during the festival that you have to experience it once firsthand before really being able to wrap your mind around it. Edwin: One of the dangers we had early on was that Greenville’s always been underestimated. But when you have people come and—boom—get an experience like Taste of the South, there’s the slingshot effect. Because of that, we all work together in this town. I’ve seen so many times— when Greenville has a goal, everyone drops everything to work together. Carl: While it was a lot of work early on, I think it’s harder now because we are getting so much better. The top fives, all the things people are saying about us—now people are coming here with expectations.
How is year ten going to be different? Mamie:
Brianna: We did a lot of soul searching, and we knew we weren’t going to take away some of the big events—Sunday Supper, Taste of the South. But we altered some. Take Traffic Jam. We’re bringing in food trucks from Columbia, Charlotte, and Greenville to be at Fluor Field. We also really wanted to do something with desserts, so we’ve added Swanky & Sweet. And the main highlight is our Michelin-starred chefs dinner at Restaurant 17. We’ve got an all-star line-up. Three Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy is driving in from Chicago on his motorcycle. Mamie: Do y’all have a moment where you thought it might all fall apart? Carl:
Rain. Weather. Outside festivals are
66 TOWN / towncarolina.com
dependent upon it. You’re making a lot of last-minute decisions. Edwin: Mine is when my mother basically molested Jim Cantore, the weather guy. He only knows me as that dude whose mom pawed him. Carl:
People love that guy.
Edwin: It’s like an estrogen hurricane around him. Allie: Mine was two or three years ago when we had a chef cancel a few days beforehand. I remember Carl calling me the night of the event—I’d forgotten to tell him—saying, “I just shook hands with a chef who’s not the one I thought was coming.” Mamie: I love mad Carl. I used to waitress at The Lazy Goat during Euphoria and my moment was the night I cocktailed the late-night VIP party and an inebriated chef accidentally knocked me down the stairs. That was my moment. Carl: [Celebrity chef] Brian Voltaggio fell down the stairs that year, too. His face was all beat up. We wanted to use a picture of him after as our Save the Date for the following year. Mamie: Is there a favorite moment you guys have? Edwin: The Will Hogue year for me. I brought him in—he was a label-mate and was getting totally ignored, which pissed me off. He came out and just slayed the entire place. It was sort of this affirmation. Carl:
Or walking up the street with Thomas
Keller, showing him the city. A year-anda-half later, he brings his whole team to Greenville for their annual culinary summit. And you just go, “This is cool.” Mamie: There’s that great double relationship of Greenville working with Greenville, but also Greenville in relationship with the outside world. What is your proudest moment in terms of charity? Carl: The amounts of money we give fulfill a need. It’s weighted toward children, the arts, culinary arts, and hunger. Edwin: Our continuing relationship with the Meyer Center, the special people we’ve worked with in non-profits—they are the health of our community. I say this all the time, but we all love artists and musicians, and yet no one wants their kids to grow up to be an artist or musician. But then there’s this ripple effect, ongoing relationships that build within the community. You go to a cooking demonstration and you see a guy on stage playing music—you think how similar songwriting is to cooking, that all artistic endeavors are recreations of your own experiences through whatever medium you’re using. And from that comes a powerful experience.
At the close of our conversation, the countdown to Euphoria is just one month and ten days, and there’s much left to do. But first, a toast—before Brianna and Allie return to emails and final details, before Edwin flies off to the Hamptons for an event, before Carl returns to overseeing Table 301 operations. It is Friday, after all, and there’s much to celebrate—but far more to come.
Team Players: Sobocinski (left) and McCain (middle) brainstormed the idea for Euphoria as a way to combine their loves of food, music, and philanthropy. McCain returns to the festival’s popular Songwriter’s Recipe event this year. Maietta (top right) joined the festival staff as event director in 2010, while Shaw (bottom right) came on board in May as the festival’s executive director.
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SEPTEMBER 2015 / 69
DRESS
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Sport Utility A fall getaway is just around the corner / by Laura Linen
// photography by Paul Mehaffey
Special thanks to model Holly Julian/Millie Lewis Greenville; hair & makeup by Matus/Capello Salon
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// photograph by Paul Mehaffey
Text here texr here
A
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SHOP
Talk
Bold Face: Jeni Kleckley, a longtime manager of Monkee’s, bought the store in 2015 and overhauled it with eye-catching patterns and citron accents to better reflect her personality.
Retail Therapy Monkee’s of the West End offers more than style makeovers
through thread after thread of conversation. There are even a few husbands seeking advice and gift ideas. Jeni’s personal growth has dovetailed with her professional development. She became the store manager in 2008, and in / by Andrew Huang // photograph by Chelsey Ashford January 2015, she bought the store. With that milestone under her belt, Jeni decided it was time for the boutique to receive an ashion and style have always been interlinked with personal update: “I wanted to put my own personal stamp on my store.” She employed the help of interior designer and friend Frances metamorphosis. There’s the visual element—a combination Kinloch Still to set in motion an interior metamorphosis. And after of silhouettes, colors, and textures that highlight physical a 10-day renovation in July, Monkee’s reopened with a look that attributes, set moods, and convey messages. But there’s matches its owner’s personality to a tee. Gold-patterned wallpaper more to apparel and shopping than its aesthetics. Jeni Kleckley is on the back wall recedes to shimmer from a distance, while citrona living example. colored dressing room curtains and bold patterns on the rugs and The Monkee’s of the West End owner got her start during a time of personal growth. She was a senior commuting to Wofford couches pop against white walls and shelving. The overall effect is vibrant and effervescent—fashion with a playful bent. while undergoing therapy for an eating disorder, and she needed And while the interior has a new look, the merchandise on a job to fill her time between appointments and classes. On a shelves and hangers retains exactly the same diverse appeal loyal whim, she applied to be a sales associate at the Augusta Road boutique. “I realized really quickly that I liked it and I was good at customers have come to expect. “Nothing makes me happier than it,” says Jeni. As she learned more about herself, the store became when you have three or four generations of women in here,” says Jeni. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have clothes for all an avenue where she could support others. different shapes and sizes.” And while fashion is fun, it’s clear that “Truly making a woman feel good about herself is a huge Jeni is committed to using it as a powerful tool for transforming thing. I went through a large progression of learning how to personal outlooks, not just personal looks. feel good about myself, and I think being able to transfer that to women on a daily basis . . . it’s amazing how many people I’ve been able to help.” Jeni’s phone is testament to the close Monkee’s of the West End relationships she’s built through this approach: “I have a texting 103-A Augusta St, Greenville relationship with the majority of my customers,” she says, scrolling (864) 239-0788, monkeesofthewestend.com
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74 TOWN / towncarolina.com
iture n r u rt F s Impo cessorie c &A
WHERE:
Trade Route Import Furniture & Accessories (located behind Haywood Mall) 1175 Woods Crossing Road | Greenville, SC | 864-234.1514 www.TradeRouteImport.com
AESTHETIC & RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY FRIENDLIEST STAFF IN GREENVILLE COMPREHENSIVE DENTAL CARE PERFORMED WITH EXCELLENCE FIVE-STAR PATIENT COMFORT AND SATISFACTION RATING
WHAT:
You’ll find a large selection of centuries-old Asian furniture and accessories beautifully mixed with one of a kind contemporary Asian home furnishings, all expertly hand crafted, painted and selected from China, Thailand, Mongolia and Tibet.
WHO:
Living and traveling in Asia for more than 15 years has instilled in owners Sherry and Fred Smid a true passion for all things Asian. Their greatest enjoyment is being able to share the beauty of Asian style and culture with their customers.
NEWEST ARRIVAL:
Anticipating new arrivals from Beijing SOON!
(864) 233-8639 7 Legacy Park Road Greenville, SC 29607 www.HollidayDentalGreenville.com SEPTEMBER 2015 / 75
MAN
About TOWN
Each month, the Man About TOWN will share his Upstate rendezvous, which may or may not involve cocktails.
Buddy System The Man delves into the art of making—and maintaining—friends
“H
ey mate, just checking in. Hope all is well.” It was a voice mail from my friend Trent, who is not only Australian and a golf writer, but also one of the few people left on the planet that still uses voice mail. Trent was one of the first friends I made when I moved down the mountain from Asheville to Greenville a few years ago. When I first met him, he was a single father, a work-at-home writer, and a temperamental curmudgeon who could quote Monty Python and Shakespeare in equal measure. To me, aside from his devotion to cargo shorts and sandals, it was like looking in a mirror. We hit it off instantly. Making new friends when you’re middle-aged takes work. Unless you move to a new town or start a new job, you tend to associate with the same people day in and day out. You fall into a sort of “friend” routine that is comfortable and predictable. Why throw someone new into the mix? On the other hand, making friends when you’re a kid is easy. In fact, it’s almost automatic. I think it has something to do with kids feeling like hostages held captive in a world ruled by grown-ups. When they see one of their own, their survival instincts kick in and they band together. Put a handful of kids who have never met
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in a room, and they’ll be laughing and playing together willingly in ten minutes. Put a handful of adult strangers together and you get the waiting room at the DMV. But making new friends as an adult is not nearly as important as keeping them. Someone once told me that friendships need to be cultivated, like vegetables in a garden. If I try hard enough, I can see many of my friends as vegetables. Some of them more easily than others. There’s Greg, the artichoke with many delicate layers. And John, the potato who prefers to stay hidden underground. And Jack, the distinctive fennel with a sophisticated flavor. Each of these three close and dear friends requires a different amount of nourishment and attention. It’s true that you have to be a friend to have a friend. I’m not sure what vegetable Trent would be. A perennial, no doubt. Something hearty and easy to grow. Kale? No, too trendy. Asparagus? No, too delicate. Maybe horseradish—pungent and best enjoyed in small doses. And sometimes, a small dose is all it takes to keep a good friendship going. A quick call, a simple “Hey mate, just checking in.” ))) Catch up on the Man at towncarolina.com/blog
An important & inspiring history of the
Tuskegee Airmen
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 77
OF OUR
CAROLINA FOOTHILLS
a Wine & Food event
Sunday Sept 27, 2015 1-5 p.m. at Overmountain Vineyards Tryon, N.C.
MAKE YO U R NEXT EVE N T G O D OWN I N H ISTO RY OVER 40 PARTICIPANTS
Enjoy specialty food from local restaurants, bakeries, wineries, distilleries. Enjoy craft beers and purchase local speciality food products. LIVE MUSIC.
Tickets online at EventBrite.com or at Stone Soup and Overmountain Vineyard locations. $45 in advance. $55 at the door. ID required.
120 SOUTH MAIN STREET GREENVILLE, SC 29601 | 864.421.9700 WESTINPOINSETTGREENVILLE.COM
78 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Four towns. Two states. One great experience.
ourcarolinafoothills.com 828.817.1079 ourcarolinafoothills@gmail.com
P i an o M a n Musically-minded scientist Thomas Strange restores old pianos—but it’s more than a matter of dust and decay. He ensures the concerto never ends, hundreds of years after it began.
b y St ephani e Trot t er p h o to graphy b y Paul Mehaffey
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Strange has a wealth of tools and piano parts in his Easley studio, including these harpsichord jacks.
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Coach Jessica Clohessy performs a box jump at Swamp Rabbit CrossFit.
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ON THE KEYS: Tom Strange's fixation on pianos began in college when he played a handbuilt clavichord of a physics professor. Strange himself built his first harpsichord at age 24.
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LIKE MANY MUSICIANS ENGROSSED IN THEIR SPECIALTY,
PIANO PLAYERS TEND TO HAVE FAVORITE PIANISTS: BEETHOVEN, RACHMANINOV, PERHAPS LISZT, OR HOROWITZ. EASLEY’S THOMAS STRANGE TAKES HIS FOCUS ONE STEP FURTHER—HE HAS FAVORITE PIANOS, AND THEY’RE ALL FROM THE EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES.
“I love their stories. History comes alive when it’s a story you can relate to,” he shares. “When you play these pianos, you’re hearing eighteenth- or nineteenth-century America, and it’s authentic. You’re hearing what they heard. It’s like you’ve turned the clock back all of those hundreds of years.” Strange, senior director of research and development at St. Jude Medical in Liberty, South Carolina, discovered this love while studying physics at the University of South Carolina. One of his professors kept a small, hand-built clavichord in his office. “I played it, and I was transfixed. It created a lifelong interest on where these sounds come in, the creation of sound and music,” he says. Science collided with art in perfect harmony, and in 1980, at age 24, Strange built his first harpsichord: a Zuckerman Flemish X. “It took about 280 hours to build. Truth be told, I met my wife Debra over that harpsichord! We were living in the same neighborhood, and she would come over and see how it was coming along. She doesn’t play, but she’s an excellent audience. She puts up with my playing and thinks it’s wonderful,” he recalls with fondness. Family and work dictated the staccato of life. Strange didn’t have time to tap into his
THE CHOPIN GRAND 1845
ORIGIN: LONDON MAKER: JOHN BROADWOOD AND SONS
hobby again until 1997. By then, the Internet was making it easier to find harpsichords, fortepianos, and square pianos, all delicatetoned predecessors to the more versatile pianos built today. With a few strokes on computer keys, he bought a 75-key Collard & Collard off eBay. “It had been stored in a barn, and when it arrived, it smelled like it,” he remembers with a chuckle. “There were nests inside. I thought, Debra is going to be mad.” Two hundred hours of learning and labor later, the piano sounded like new. Well, nineteenth-century new, with its subdued, chocolaty sound. And like a grand crescendo, his passion grew con spirito. Today, Strange owns 25 antique pianos and five harpsichords. He’s logged more than 10,000 hours refurbishing, rebuilding, and restoring what time has torn apart. Most importantly, he’s helped establish a network of fellow enthusiasts preserving these pieces of the past, before their notes fade away forever. His Web site squarepianotech.com gets up to 60,000 hits a month, as like-minded specialists share preservation tips, covering everything from how to import antique ivory (you don’t), to what new materials mimic the sound of 200-year-old vegetable-tanned, sheep leather (artisanal-tanned elk). The woodworking on these heirlooms alone entails tutorials on Brazilian rosewood and Honduran mahogany. Once the award-winning physicist’s left brain puts the 12,000-piece piano back together, the right-brained pianist takes over to use it. “I can play convincingly, but I can’t hold up against real musicians,” he admits. So, Strange invites world-renowned musicians and local groups—particularly students—to his home in Easley. “One of the rules of the house: you have to touch everything!” he announces to a young crowd from Brevard’s Music Center. The students beeline for Strange’s grand (played by master Chopin), the Tomkison, the Reuss. “You don’t learn about it until you touch it,” he explains. “You are opening the doors to imaginations of students and adults alike, to be able to take them back in an authentic way to a period they want to know more about.”
TODAY, ST R A NGE OW NS 25 A NTIQUE PI A NOS A N D FI V E H A R PSICHOR DS. HE’S LOGGED MOR E TH A N 10,000 HOURS R EFUR BISHING, R EBUIL DING, A N D R ESTOR ING W H AT TIME H A S TOR N A PA RT. 82 TOWN / towncarolina.com
KEYS: 78 HIGH NOTE: PLAYED BY FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
Sometimes a collector needs a little luck. Sometimes that luck comes with perseverance.
And that’s exactly how a piano, used by one of the great masters, arrived in Easley. When the French monarchy collapsed in 1848, Frédéric Chopin fled his home in Paris. He found refuge in England, where Henry Broadwood provided the musician with three fullconcert grand pianos. Chopin used these to prepare for large events, but he also played other pianos in private homes, earning 20 pounds for a two-hour show. In 2012, Strange was looking to acquire a piano similar to the Broadwoods Chopin used for concert practice, as only one of the three originals still existed. Strange’s representative in England found such a creature that was very dirty, but in mysteriously good shape. With an unknown history, it was relatively inexpensive. Strange bid 3,600 pounds and won. Once on U.S. soil, he began to dig into the instrument’s origin. The auction house would not reveal the seller who wanted to remain anonymous, so Strange took the piano’s serial number and cross-referenced John Broadwood & Sons record books. Using a buyer’s name from ages ago, he googled a few email addresses and sent queries into the cyber world, expecting nothing in return—but he got a response. A rather miffed Brit revealed the piano’s invaluable history. William Amory purchased the grand in 1845. Three years later, his wife hired Chopin to play in their home on this very piano. The Amory’s youngest daughter later inherited the house and piano. When she died in 1923, it sat in storage for 80 years, until Strange won it at auction. Today, due to its well-preserved, original condition, pianists performing on the Chopin grand are touching the same keys, hitting the same strings, hearing the same sounds as Chopin and his audience that May day in 1848.
Strange plays the John Broadwood and Sons grand piano that master FrĂŠdĂŠric Chopin played for a private concert in England in 1848.
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Jacob Kirkman Double Manual Marquetry Harpsichord
Tom built this 1440 clavichord himself, out of fallen Bradford Pear and short-needle pine trees.
Robert Nunns, Clark and Co.
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THE DOUBLE DECKER 1758
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WHEN IT COMES TO DOORS, THE STRANGE HOUSE MIGHT AS WELL FEATURE ONLY THE REVOLVING KIND, WITH AS MANY AS 12 GROUPS CROSSING THE THRESHOLD EACH YEAR. IN ADDITION TO STUDENTS FROM BREVARD, YOUNG MUSICIANS FROM FURMAN UNIVERSITY, THE GOVERNOR’S SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS & HUMANITIES, THE FINE ARTS CENTER, BOB JONES UNIVERSITY, AND THE GREENVILLE MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION ALL COME TO PLAY HIS TREASURED HEIRLOOMS.
The Stranges also draw upon the collection to participate in six concerts and one large fundraiser annually. “We never charge to use the instruments,” he reveals. “The fundraisers are to help provide greater access for those who want to see them.” Last year, in a unique partnership with the Governor’s School, the Stranges helped to establish an endowment to provide buses and scholarship money for those coming to Easley to view the collection. The plan was to raise $15,000 via a series of concerts featuring the pianos. “We did it in a single blow,” Strange explains with excitement. “In one night, we raised more than $26,000!” The fund continues to grow, with this year’s charity event set for October 29. The physicist’s philanthropic work runs the scales far beyond fundraising, into education and performance, as well. He’s shared his instruments and knowledge to assist others by way of historical recordings, collection displays, and patron seminars at museums in Greenville and Columbia, Colonial Williamsburg, even the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. And while Frédéric Chopin and Muzio Clementi tickled these ivories, as well as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Raymond Leppard in the 1970s, Strange recently has hosted Vadym Kholodenko, winner of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and renowned composer and pianist Inessa Zaretsky to inspect and utilize the antique pieces.
ORIGIN: LONDON MAKER: JACOB KIRKMAN DOUBLE MANUAL MARQUETRY HARPSICHORD KEYS: 120 HIGH NOTE: TOURED WITH A TOLSTOY IN A VW BUS
It’s not the summer of love, but the hippie counter-culture is in full swing.
In 1966, about the last thing you’d expect to see spilling out of a VW Microbus is an eighteenthcentury harpsichord. But that was the scene in Mexico, as Paul and Christy Tolstoy unloaded not only their Kirkman double decker, but their friend Randy Mickelson’s as well. Paul was an anthropologist with interests pulling him to Central America. While he worked, Christy and Randy played their vintage harpsichords under the Mexican sun. The Tolstoys lived in New York, descendents of those who fled the Russian Revolution. Paul purchased the harpsichord for Christy in 1965. It’s one of only 17 Kirkmans with elaborate marquetry that exists today, and one of only four produced with this particular, rich design, the most elaborate ever made. (King George III gave his new bride Charlotte one of the others.) These Kirkman harpsichords were typically used in wealthy English manor houses. Tolstoy purchased his gift for Christy from such a house, The Bower House, and had it shipped to the States. The double decker eventually landed in a Manhattan townhouse where it sat unattended for two decades without air conditioning. Once Strange acquired it in 2012, he polished off years of neglect and installed new iron and brass strings to replicate the original, buttery, articulate sound.
Strange’s long-term goal is to move the collection to a permanent venue in the Greenville area, with a curator to keep the pianos playing, and the audible history alive. “When you touch these keyboards, when you play, you hear something different. Some of them still have their odor about them—it touches all the senses,” he says. “Sharing these pianos is more valuable than anything I do. It’s about as fulfilling as it gets.”
“W HEN YOU TOUCH THESE K EY BOA R DS, W HEN YOU PL AY, YOU HE A R SOMETHING DIFFE R ENT. SOME OF THEM STIL L H AV E THEIR ODOR A BOUT THEM— IT TOUCHES A LL THE SENSES.” — TOM STRANGE
TIME & TREASURE Strange's collection attracts world-class musicians and gifted students from area schools, such as Greenville's Fine Arts Center and the Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities. The Stranges host a fundraiser each autumn to provide scholarships for Governor's School students and to allow them access to the pianos.
THE FAMILY HEIRLOOM 1834
ORIGIN: NEW YORK MAKER: ROBERT NUNNS, CLARK AND CO. KEYS:73 HIGH NOTE: SAVED THE FAMILY FROM YANKEE SOLDIERS
Cue “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Unger with a sweeping pan of Ivy Hall Plantation in Fairfield County, South Carolina.
Drunk Union soldiers have already lit one plantation on fire, and now they are storming Ivy Hall, ready to loot and pillage. As they’re threatening the family, taking the sugar, preparing to destroy the piano, the lady of the house calmly says, “Come. Sit down and let me play it for you before you do.” She entertains them with a spirited mix of songs, and the Yankees are so moved that they leave everything unscathed and head down the road. The family heaves a sigh, as the Nunns & Clark remains standing for another day. The nineteenth-century piece was built in New York and shipped to Charleston, where Austin Peay bought it for his daughter Eliza. The piano’s unichord, or single-string-pernote structure, was popular from 1829–1835 in rural areas where tuners were hard to find. After the Civil War and Eliza’s eventual passing, the antique went to her daughter Carrie, and then stayed in the family and South Carolina, eventually making its way to Greenville. Strange was visiting a local home to purchase a piano, when he spied the Nunns & Clark. He valued it for its rare, unichord feature and bought it instead of the one he’d come to inspect. The piano’s owner had been the family historian and held paperwork that sent Strange climbing up a family tree rooted at Ivy Hall. It turns out Eliza’s sister married a Myer, and Strange’s mother came from the Myers. After consulting with the curator of the Fairfield County Museum, Strange can say with certainty he now owns the piano his great-great-great grandfather bought for sweet Eliza.
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GREENVILLE BUSINESSMEN AND LONG-TIME FRIENDS WARD STONE AND DOUG HARPER FLEW ACROSS THE GLOBE FOR AN EPIC, LIFE-AFFIRMING ADVENTURE
O, BROTHER
Photograph by Paul Mehaffey
by JOHN JETER
86 TOWN / towncarolina.com
MEETING OF THE MINDS:
Real estate executive Ward Stone (left) and Doug Harper (right), chairman of Harper Corp. General Contractors, built on a childhood bond with a trek across Nepal to the foot of Mount Everest.
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IN LOSING THEIR BROTHERS TOO SOON, DOUG HARPER AND WARD STONE FOUND SOMETHING AKIN TO A BROTHERHOOD OF THEIR OWN. THEY CREATED A MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCE, SHARING AN UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE NEAR THE ROOFTOP OF THE WORLD. “We talked about them a lot,” Harper recalls. “We were crossing a glacial river—all these beautiful rocks and everything. And, remember?” He turns to the man he’s known since elementary school, “We both had a stone that we picked out. And we said a prayer and placed ’em in the river. We had a moment of silence, had a prayer for our brothers. That was a meaningful time.” A poignant pause steps into the corner office, brilliant with windows, perched on the fourth floor of Harper Corp. General Contractors building downtown. Harper, 63, is chairman of the fourth-generation company that, among other landmark projects, renovated the Poinsett Hotel. Today, he wears navy slacks and a blue business shirt, though he’s semi-retired from the 60-year-old company. Stone, 68, sitting quietly nearby, wears a white beard, hiking shorts, and a T-shirt that bears an esoteric, ubiquitous Tibetan mantra. Of the two men, Stone’s the quieter. You can see in his ruddy cheeks and deep blue eyes that he’s seen most of the world. Harper seems like the restless younger sibling, anxious for another go. Their Nepal adventure started one evening a few years ago at Doug and Ren Harper’s home. Cathy Stone, Ward’s wife of 37 years, says Harper pulled her aside. “Before he even mentioned it to Ward, he came up to me and said, ‘I would like to invite Ward to go trekking in Nepal,’” she says. “We have the kind of marriage, I think, as do Doug and Ren, where everybody
encourages each other to do whatever makes them happy. Doug and Ward had talked about doing a big adventure for years, and I thought, wow, what a great opportunity.” Harper then told his friend about a retreat he’d just attended. “We had to do a list of our—I don’t like the words ‘bucket list,’ because it sounds like you’ve got to kick the bucket to do it—but your lifetime goals, let’s just say, and one of those I’d had on my list: I’ve always been intrigued by Everest.” “From there,” Harper goes on, “we just jumped right in.” Harper trained with weights in a backpack, hiking his steep driveway and around the neighborhood. He’s also a cyclist; a couple of bicycle jerseys are framed on the walls of his offices. Stone, having wandered around the world a couple of times, hired a personal trainer, Cathy says. The older of the men has always been something of a . . . rolling Stone. He’s traveled to at least 70 countries, he says: contracted dysentery in Korea and malaria in the Philippines, rode the Trans-Siberian Railway, climbed Kilimanjaro. He’d even met one of the holiest men of Tibetan Buddhism’s “Red Hat” School in Nepal on his first trip to the Himalayas in the early ’70s. “Ward was a celebrity on our trip because at night, we’d sit around, and Ward would tell stories about being back and the day he first came. That was a really great perspective to have on the trip, that he was there before.” So Stone was familiar with the terrain, rocky escarpments on top of the world, a place as remote as just about nowhere else on Earth. T H E I R 2 1 - D AY T R E K T O O K T H E M F R O M N E PA L’ S C A P I TA L , K AT H M A N D U , T O NAMCHE BAZAAR, THE STEPPING-OFF POINT I N T O S A G A R M AT H A N AT I O N A L PA R K .
“The park protects an area of great environmental, religious, and cultural importance, and is the gateway to the mightiest peaks of the Himalayas,” says a booklet from Wilderness Travel, the Berkeley, California, outfit that Harper and Stone used for their trip. Day 14 brought them to the highest point in the trek. “We hike up Kala Patthar for the classic close-up view of Everest,” the booklet says, “the best view you’ll get of Everest without climbing it!” By then, their group of 12—down to 11 after one had succumbed to altitude sickness—had reached 18,365 feet. Mount Everest sits at just higher than 29,000 feet above sea level; Greenville, by comparison, rises to nearly 1,000 feet.
The friends trained for their expedition to Nepal. Stone hired a personal trainer, while Harper cycled and hiked with a weighted backpack.
Plus, the Khumbu region in northeastern Nepal is glacial, believed to be a remnant of the Ice Age, roughly half a million years ago. While our heroes didn’t climb Everest, they did get closer than most of us to the place that Jon Krakauer calls in his book Into Thin Air, “a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics, and others with a shaky hold on reality.” “WT’s Ultimate Everest is no walk in the park,” says Wilderness Travel’s Barbara Banks, director of marketing and new trip development. “You spend two weeks above 17,000-feet elevation, trekking as high as 18,200 feet to summit Kala Patthar—1,000 feet higher than Everest Base Camp. It is a spectacular trip, but not something to be undertaken without much thought. To see a couple of friends in their 60s take on this challenge was just fantastic.” Though not without its dangers. hile ascending, Harper and Stone learned that the party just behind them had lost a climber, a man in his 20s who’d died from the elevation and overstrenuous effort. The young man’s body had been taken down the mountain just before Harper and Stone’s party returned from their summit. For Harper, the hairiest moment came when a fellow hiker had fallen into one of the topography’s notorious ice- and snow-covered abysses that swallow and kill unsuspecting trespassers. When a trekker behind Harper had stepped off the trail, he fell into a crevasse. Harper went to get him, and the white floor collapsed under his boots. He throws his hands up to his armpits. “And I couldn’t feel anything underneath me.” But it was the daily exertion and thin air that took the biggest tolls. “The time I felt most stressed was the final couple hundred yards going up Kala Patthar,” Harper says, “because it was truly: take a step, breathe three or four times, and then at times you felt like you’d never catch your breath. And even though we’d acclimated for going on close to two weeks by that point, it was still physically struggling. That was SEPTEMBER 2015 / 87
CULTURAL HEIGHTS:
(left) Trekkers on the way to Ama Dablam base camp allow yaks to pass on the trail that delivered supplies up the mountain; (top right, from left) Ward Stone standing before Mount Everest; a hand-chiseled stone temple under construction; Doug Harper standing above Namche Bazaar, an ancient Sherpa trading village, on trek to the Ama Dablam base camp at 15,013 feet; the trek introduced Harper and Stone to locals of nearby villages
tough. I feel like I was a pretty tough guy, but I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it.” “There were days when I didn’t know if I had any steps left in me,” Stone says. “I remember standing there trying to get my breath, and our Sherpa guide comes up to me and says, ‘Ward, you need to pull your pants up,’ and he pulls my pants up. And I thank him for that.” The scenery took their breaths away, too. They tell of the small huts, dark and smoky, where the party would crash for the night, after hiking from 7 in the morning until dark. “All the places we stayed in were typically a room with a pot-bellied wood stove, where they’d burn yak dung,” Ward says. And they tell of the colors splashing all over the awe-inspiring landscape, from the locals’ wardrobe to their ancient customs. And they tell of their good fortune with crackling-good weather. “Oh, it’s spectacular,” Harper says. “We had 21 straight days of crystal-clear blue skies in the morning. And that’s one of the reasons we went that time of the year, because there are parts of the year where monsoons are coming through and dumping all that snow, you don’t even know you’re up there.” “ T h e t h i n g a b o u t t h e H i m a l aya s i s t h at yo u f e e l s o s m a l l , ”
Stone says. “Like Doug was saying, we had 21 days of perfect weather in the mornings, and you could go out, and you could look up and down in every direction, and it was just humbling.” “You were never out of sight of the high peaks with snow on ’em,” Harper says. “It was just, to me, a magical time. This is like the magic kingdom. It’s almost a spiritual journey because of the devotion: The Sherpas are very devout Buddhists. You were always in sight of a prayer flag, a mani stone, a gompa, or temple.” he Sherpa consider the dwelling place of the Holy Mother sacred. Of Sagarmatha, the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) lists the region as a World Heritage Site. “The park is also of major religious and cultural significance in Nepal as it abounds in holy places,” UNESCO says. You see that everywhere. “So many relics,” Stone says, in homes, bazaars, everywhere. “Colors and beautiful paintings and various Tibetan gods.” “You were in a holy place,” Harper says. “That’s why it was so magical. It exceeded my expectations: in beauty, in the cultural side of it, going into old temples, going into family homes.” They were, in fact, welcomed into homes, including the ancestral abode of their Sherpa guide, Pasang Temba Sherpa. (These are a pastoral and 88 TOWN / towncarolina.com
trading people who share the “Sherpa” surname.) “A beautiful rock home,” Harper, the longtime builder, says. “It’s like a museum,” Stone, the longtime real estate man, adds. But the home, like much of the Khumbu Valley, suffered extensive damage in the earthquake that struck Nepal two years after their trip. The temblor, with a violent magnitude of up to 8.1, killed more than 9,000 people, including 19 at Everest Base Camp, making April 25 of this year the deadliest day in mountain history. “We were right there where the avalanche was,” Stone says. *** “Do I remember Doug Harper and Ward Stone? Absolutely!” says Lisa Filippini, the Asia expert at Wilderness Travel. “They were so appreciative of
PEAK PERFORMANCE:
(above) Himalayan peaks tower above the village of Tengboche; (opposite) Ama Dablam base camp, with tents and prayer flags in the foreground, located at 15,013 feet above sea level.
PARKS & RECREATION:
The Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal covers 443 square miles and includes Mount Everest. It has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Photographs courtesy of Doug Harper and Ward Stone
Stone and Harper’s trek took them to Kala Patthar, located at an elevation of 18,365 feet. By comparison, Mt. Everest’s peak is 29,029 feet high, while Greenville is only 1,000 feet above sea level.
having this opportunity to take on a major challenge and to weave in their personal story into the trip. To see these two friends head up into such an extreme environment at their age—they had prepared well— was awesome, and a very appropriate setting for the time they wanted to give to remembering their brothers. It is a tremendous accomplishment to do this trek, and these two did it in such a meaningful way.” Harper lost his younger sibling when John Harper III died of pulmonary fibrosis at 53. Stone’s younger brother, David, was 57 when he lost his life to “something heart-related,” a culprit no one knows still, Stone says.
“ T H AT’S PA R T O F T H E B O N D , O U R S H A R E D EXPERIENCES WITH OUR BROTHERS, OUR LOVE O F A D V E N T U R E T R AV E L , ” H A R P E R S AYS .
“We have lot of things in common, we like to do the same things, we like to explore and see new stuff, be open to new cultures and ideas. And we like to have a nice drink or two whenever we get the chance. Good food, good fellowship.” Brotherhood. “We sort of took care of each other,” Stone says. “It was nice to be there with somebody you had an old connection with. There are all kinds of things that could go wrong, and we all had our
days where somebody didn’t feel good, so we looked out for each other.” So, what’s their next big adventure? Harper’s heading to Patagonia, the southern tip of South America. Stone’s likely going to another glacier: Glacier National Park in Montana. “I plan to do a lot more traveling in the next 10 years just because we’re at that stage. You’ve got a window here in your life where you’re still young enough to do what you want to do, but you’re beyond career mostly,” says Harper. He’s also eyeing a trip to southern Utah. “Come to Escalante,” he urges. To which Stone says, “I’ll do that.” SEPTEMBER 2015 / 89
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8/17/15 4:35 PM
4th Annual Benefit
Greenville Polo Classic
GHS Neurological Institute Offering New Help and Hope Sunday, October 18 • 2:00 p.m. Historic Hopkins Farm, Simpsonville Tickets $25 • Tailgating packages available For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit greenvillepoloclassic.com.
ghs.org
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“Larkin’s Loves Locally Grown” Dan Weidenbenner, Director of Mill Village Farms Dan’s Favorite Menu Item at Larkin’s: “The new Rooftop Farm Caesar salad!”
If you don’t see Dan on a farm or rooftop, he’s probably:
“Traveling to new cities and playing tennis or spikeball with friends on the weekends.”
Mill Village Farms in a Nutshell:
“Mill Village Farms began in 2013 through a partnership between two churches in Greenville with a mission to transform our community by growing fresh foods and developing successful youth entrepreneurs. Our partnership with Larkin’s has been a game-changer for our organization. Larkin’s has been an invaluable partner to further the mission of Mill Village Farms through their help in hosting fundraiser events and helping us make connections within our community.“ 318 South Main Street, Downtown Greenville ~ LarkinsOnTheRiver.com • 864-467-9777
EAT&
Drink
OPEN BAR / KITCHEN AID / DINING GUIDE
Ale of a Good Time
Photograph by Paul Mehaffey
South Carolina’s Blenheim Ginger Ale is a game-day game-changer
A Drink with Bite: Blenheim Ginger Ale puts the heat in a cold beverage. For more, see page 94.
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 93
OPEN
Bar
Hot Little Number Blenheim’s Old #3 is a force to be reckoned with
SOUTH CAROLINA’S VERY OWN GINGER ALE IS TOUTED NATIONALLY AS ONE OF THE BEST.
/ by Steven Tingle // photograph by Paul Mehaffey
B
lenheim Ginger Ale is not for everybody. If you come across a six-pack at the Fresh Market or at the Swamp Rabbit Café & Grocery, or in an old RC cooler at Mast General Store, pay careful attention to the color of the cap—it makes all the difference in the world. Blenheim comes in three varieties, each designated by cap color. The white cap is “#9 Diet,” the gold cap is “#5 Not As Hot,” and the red cap is “Old #3 Hot.” The diet is best left untouched, and while the #5 packs a powerful wallop of ginger, it doesn’t hold a candle to the Old #3, a drink that beverage connoisseurs, innovative bartenders, and sweet-toothed masochists worship and adore. Unlike most ginger ales, Blenheim’s Old #3 cannot be described as refreshing. It’s not thirst-quenching nor is it a cold soda that you hand a child on a hot day. That is, unless, you are punishing said child. No, Old #3, despite being non-alcoholic, is a
SOB (SOUTH OF THE BORDER) INGREDIENTS 1.5 oz. Anejo Tequila 4 oz. Blenheim Old #3 Hot 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice Add ingredients to an oldfashioned glass filled with ice. Stir gently as to not disturb the bubbles. Garnish with lime wedge. DARK & STORMY INGREDIENTS 1.5 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal Rum 4–5 oz. Blenheim Old #3 Hot 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice (optional) Add rum to a tall glass filled with ice. Fill with Old #3 Hot. A bit of fresh lime juice may be added to lessen the bite of the Old #3.
))) FOR MORE COCKTAILS TOWNCAROLINA.COM
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decidedly adult beverage. It’s nothing short of gold-hued liquid fire. Drinking Old #3 is an experience. It’s like making out with a cactus. Or gargling with fire ants. But after the initial surge of heat that clears your sinuses and turns the back of your throat raw, there is a mineral-heavy sweetness. While it doesn’t exactly cool things off, it produces a depth of flavor not generally associated with soft drinks. There has to be something more than ginger in this powerful concoction. Red pepper? Cayenne? Those who know aren’t talking. Like Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken, two other Southern-born delicacies, the recipe for Old #3 is a closely-guarded secret, most likely locked away in a vault somewhere South of the Border. Meaning, that’s where Blenheim Ginger Ale is bottled, at the South of the Border tourist “destination” next to I-95 in Hamer, South Carolina. Blenheim Bottling Company was founded in Blenheim, South Carolina, in 1903 by Dr. C.R. May who blended mineral-heavy water from the Blenheim Mineral Springs with Jamaican ginger to produce a curative tonic (this was the “Not So Hot” version). The bottling continued in Blenheim for more than eight decades until 1993 when the company was purchased by Alan Schafer, the man who opened South of the Border in 1949. Schafer immediately moved the production to a facility next to his tourist trap, where today the demand for Old #3 steadily outpaces the other two varieties. With its surprising heat and sticky sweetness, Blenheim’s Old #3 is arguably best enjoyed as a mixer. It makes a wonderfully wicked Dark and Stormy and adds a sweet yet fiery kick to tequila- and whisky-based cocktails. But use Old #3 with caution: at 41 grams of sugar per serving, if the heat doesn’t get you, the carbs will.
STAY TRUE TO THE SOUTH: ADD A SPLASH OF BLENHEIM TO YOUR FAVORITE BOURBON FOR A REFRESHING KICK.
KITCHEN
Aid
96 TOWN / towncarolina.com
T
Game On Score points at the tailgate with sweet, spicy chicken wings / by Kathryn Davé // photograph by Jivan Davé
his tailgating season, you may find yourself wondering why you shouldn’t just leave the chicken wings to the professionals (read: the takeout joint down the road). But if you entertain that line of questioning too long, you may fall down an existential rabbit hole of sorts: why bother tailgating? why bother cooking? why bother doing any work at all when you could just order pizza, crack open a beer, and put your feet up to watch the game? There’s a time and place for takeout and beer (always a time and place for beer), but the reason to make your own chicken wings is the same reason to paint your face or wear your lucky jersey or set out for the stadium at some ungodly morning hour. Effort makes sports interesting—on the field or on the sidelines. So whip up your own wings this season. Commit, really commit. Making wings is an investment that delivers generous returns. You come out looking like a champ; your wings come out tasting better than any sticky, styrofoam box has ever proffered. And no matter what your team does on the field—crisp, sticky, sweet, spicy wings are always a win.
SAUCY KOREAN CHICKEN WINGS Serves 12–14
(Based on a recipe by Lisa Chin) INGREDIENTS 6 lbs. chicken wings (tips discarded; wings split) 1/4 c. canola oil Kosher salt & pepper to taste 1/3 c. gochujang (Korean chili paste) 1 T. chili powder 1 T. red pepper flakes 2 T. sugar 1 T. toasted sesame oil 1 T. water 2 tsp. rice vinegar 2 tsp. soy sauce 2 tsp. minced ginger 1 tsp. minced garlic Sesame seeds and scallions to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Effort makes sports interesting—on the field or on the sidelines. And making wings is an investment that delivers generous returns.
Preheat oven to 450º. Line baking sheets with foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, toss wings with canola oil, salt, and pepper. Spread on trays and roast for 50 minutes, or until crisp. If wings are not crisping, raise oven to 475º for the last 15 minutes of cooking. In another large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients, except the garnish. Add the crispy wings to the bowl, toss well to coat, and serve hot with sesame seeds and sliced scallions. ))) FOR MORE RECIPES TOWNCAROLINA.COM
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 97
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8/4/15 9:40 PM
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DINING
Guide
BARS, CAFÉS, & RESTAURANTS
DA VINCI’S RESTAURANT Chef Carlos Eccheverri may hail from Colombia, but the menu at Da Vinci’s is a unique blend of Italian ingredients paired with French flavors. For starters, the soft egg yolk ravioli is a must—truffle butter, a soft-cooked yolk, ricotta, and spinach. The pappardelle chiantigiana is similarly savory: wild boar ragu with San Marzano and Chianti sauce, topped with chocolate shavings. $$$-$$$$, L, D, Closed Sunday. 27 S Pleasantburg Dr, Ste 160, Greenville. (864) 241–8044, davincisristorante.com
AMERICAN AMERICAN GROCERY
American Grocery offers refined American cuisine and a changing menu that emphasizes quality ingredients from local, regional, and national producers. Try the smoked trout croqueta with creamed corn and pickled vegetables before an entrée of confit of local rabbit with baby carrots, house-made gnocchi, wild mushrooms, and arugula with sauce moutarde. Finish with a lemon chiffon pie, or a trio of house-made sorbets. $$$-$$$$, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 732 S Main St. (864) 232-7665, americangr.com
Photograph by Paul Mehaffey
AUGUSTA GRILL
The unassuming Augusta Grill is home to owner Buddy Clay’s vision of upscale comfort food. From cozy booths and the intimate private dining room, patrons can enjoy dishes such as breaded artichoke and leek stuffed chicken breast with roasted tomato vinaigrette. The lineup of entrées and appetizers changes daily, but regulars can always get Chef Bob Hackl’s highly sought-after blackberry cobbler. $$$-$$$$, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 1818 Augusta St. (864) 242-0316, augustagrill.com
BACON BROS. PUBLIC HOUSE
You might have an inkling of what a meat lover’s heaven looks like, but if you show up at Chef Anthony Gray’s gastropub, you’ll know for sure. From the board of house-cured, smoked, and dried meats, to the glass-walled curing room on display, there’s no shortage of mouthwatering selections. The menu’s flavor profiles extend to the cocktail list, which heavily features whiskeys, bourbons, bacon-infused liquors, and even smoked sorghum syrup. $$-$$$, L, D. Closed Sunday. 3620 Pelham Rd. (864) 297-6000, baconbrospublichouse.com BREAKWATER RESTAURANT
Breakwater is a hotspot that serves beautiful food (Ahi tuna marinated in lime, soy, and chili topped with avocado salad, wasabi aioli, soy syrup, and wonton crisps) and creative drinks. Candy apple red accents (the bar, dining room chairs, and wall decorations) meld with mirrors and glass to produce a uniquely New York Citymeets-Lowcountry vibe. $$$-$$$$, D. Closed Sunday. 802 S Main St. (864) 271-0046, breakwatersc.com HENRY’S SMOKEHOUSE
Though this barbecue joint has since branched out, Henry’s original location has long set the standard. A Greenville institution, the Smokehouse specializes in slow-cooking meat in open pits over hickory logs. Sure, there are other things
on the menu, but a rack of Henry’s succulent ribs with sides of beans and slaw will transport you to hog heaven. $, L, D. 240 Wade Hampton Blvd, Greenville. (864) 232-7774, henryssmokehouse.com HIGH COTTON
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook picturesque Falls Park for an airy and relaxed dining room. The menu, steeped in locally-sourced ingredients, features fish, game, and steaks prepared with a Southern flair. Staples include the peachmustard-glazed pork chop (paired with blistered okra and bacon-bourbon jus) and the Maverick Shrimp & Grits (featuring Andouille sausage, stone-ground yellow corn grits, and tomato-scallion pan sauce). $$$-$$$$. D, SBR. 550 S Main St. (864) 3354200, highcottongreenville.com LARKIN’S ON THE RIVER
Located between the Peace Center and the Reedy River, Larkin’s seeks to balance upscale dining with comfort. Start with shecrab soup, then an entrée from the day’s selections—or opt for an aged filet mignon with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Dine in the enclosed outdoor patio to enjoy the river view, and polish off your meal with a selection from the extensive wine list. $$$-$$$$, L (Mon–Fri), D (Daily), SBR. 318 S Main St. (864) 467-9777, larkinsontheriver.com
NANTUCKET SEAFOOD GRILL
Greenville may be landlocked, but Rick Erwin’s restaurant brings us closer to the sea. The day’s fresh catch tops the menu, grilled, seared, broiled, blackened, or in chef-designed specialties. Try the blue-crab hushpuppies with a drink at the elegant bar, pre- or post-Peace Center performance. A destination for a group dinner or a quiet date night, Nantucket offers both an intimate and entertaining atmosphere. $$-$$$$, D, SBR. 40 W Broad St. (864) 5463535, nantucketseafoodgrill.com NOSE DIVE
The Nose Dive is city bar meets corner bistro. A wide range of beer, wine, and an ambitious menu that hits nearly every continent make it hard not to dive in. Look for an elevated gastropub experience at every meal, from fried chicken and waffles to Thai chili rubbed tuna, to a customized grits bar at brunch. Located right on Main Street between ONE City Plaza and the Peace Center, this gastropub is downtown hotspot and neighborhood hangout, all in one package. $-$$, L, D, SBR. 116 S Main St. (864) 3737300, thenosedive.com RESTAURANT 17
Tucked away in the hills of Travelers Rest, Restaurant 17 blends the atmosphere of traditional European bistros with that of the Blue Ridge foothills. The sleek,
KEY: Average price of a dinner entrée (lunch if dinner isn’t served): Under $10 = $, $10-$15 = $$, $16-$25 = $$$, $25+ = $$$$ Breakfast = B Lunch = L Dinner = D Sunday Brunch = SBR SEPTEMBER 2015 / 99
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land on display, with particular emphasis on locally-sourced ingredients. Pick up a fresh-baked loaf of bread from the café (open daily) or peruse the wine selections at their market. The menu changes daily, but expect dishes like Peking duck breast with potato gnocchi, foraged mushrooms, charred fennel, and golden crisp apples.
Belgian inspired cuisine and over 150 belgian beers
$$$-$$$$, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 10 Road of Vines, Travelers Rest. (864) 5161715, restaurant17.com
TRAPPEDOOR.COM
RICK ERWIN’S WEST END GRILL
864-451-7490
Traditional surf-and-turf meets upscale dining at Rick Erwin’s. The dining room is decorated in rich, dark woods that, along with low lighting, create an intimate, stylish atmosphere. Entrées range from sashimigrade tuna and pan-seared sea bass, to certified Angus beef. À la carte sides round out any entrée. $$-$$$$, D. Closed Sunday. 648 S Main St. (864) 232-8999, rickerwins.com SMOKE ON THE WATER
Located in the West End Market, Smoke on the Water has a homey feel, with a separate street-side dining area and covered patio tables overlooking Pedrick’s Garden. Choose something from the smoker (beerbutt chicken), or pick from sandwiches, burgers, or salads. Sides vary from mac ’n’ cheese to a bowl of greens, and even spinach casserole. $-$$$, L, D. 1 Augusta St, Ste 202. (864) 2329091, saucytavern.com SOBY’S
Pure Italian. Pure Delicious. Pure Value.
Trappe 4thS TOWN July15 vRed.indd 1
Local flavor shines here in entrées like the crab cakes with remoulade and sweet corn maque choux, mashed potatoes, and haricot verts. With an astonishing selection of 700 wines, you can’t miss the perfect complement to your meal. Featuring different selections every week, the Sunday brunch buffet showcases the chefs’ creativity.
or vegetarian dishes, while the chef’s specialties offer even more choices. $$, L (Mon–Fri), D (Mon–Sat). 106 N Main St. (864) 241-9988, lemongrassthai.net KIMCHEE KOREAN RESTAURANT
Kimchee’s kimchi has locals coming back for seconds. Try the Kalbi short ribs (marinated in soy sauce, onions, and sesame seeds) or bibimbap (served in a hot stone bowl for crispy rice). All dishes come with ban chan, side dishes that include kimchi, japchae (glass noodles), marinated tofu, and more. $$-$$$ L, D. Closed Sunday. 1939 Woodruff Rd Ste B. (864) 534-1061, kimcheekoreanrestaurant.com MEKONG
Chef Huy Tran delivers the nuances of fine Vietnamese cuisine at Mekong. Among favorites is the grilled pork vermicelli, featuring marinated pork, lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, mint, cilantro, peanuts, crispy shallots, and a chili-garliclime sauce. Or for some textural variation, try the broken rice platter, which puts julienned pork, a grilled pork chop, and a steamed pork omelet over broken rice. $, L, D. 2013 Wade Hampton Blvd, Greenville. (864) 244-1314, mekongrestaurantsc.com PURPLE INTERNATIONAL BISTRO & SUSHI
A stone’s throw from Fluor Field, this place serves an Asian mix. There are Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Asian-fusion entrées, but sushi is a strong suit. The udon with Prince Edward Island mussels, mahi-mahi with a spicy crawfish glaze, or roasted duck are worthy options. The latter, perfumed with star anise, is roasted to order—and worth the wait. $$-$$$, L, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 933 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 232-3255
6/11/15 8:05 PM
Pure Love.
$$$-$$$$, D, SBR. 207 S Main St. (864) 232-7007, sobys.com
ASIAN & INDIAN BANGKOK THAI CUISINE
Bangkok Thai makes a standout version of everyone’s favorite noodles, Pad Thai. The curries are also a surefire hit, though the green curry is of particular note: it is the only one made from fresh chilies. For a different dining experience, take a seat on the floor pillows in the back room.
Authentic Italian Cuisine 2660 Poinsett Hwy., Greenville 864.271.7877 | www.boccapureitalian.com Wine List • Nightly Chef’s Specials • Open for Dinner at 5 pm Monday - Saturday 100 TOWN / towncarolina.com
TSUNAMI
HANDI INDIAN CUISINE
$-$$, L (Mon–Fri), D. 106 E North St. (864) 467-1055, tsunamigreenville.com
IRASHIAI SUSHI PUB & JAPANESE RESTAURANT
BOCCA PURE ITALIAN RISTORANTE
$-$$, L, D. Closed Monday. 247 N Main St. (864) 631-1145
$$, L (Mon–Fri), D (Mon–Sat), Closed Sundays. 1440 Pelham Rd, Ste M. (864) 4587866, bangkokgreenville.com
$$-$$$, L, D. 18 N Main St. (864) 241-7999, handiindiancuisine.net
• Intimate Rehearsal Dinners (on premises for up to 55 guests)
Sushi Koji flaunts a contemporary air. Chef Koji Fujikawa presides over the five-seat sushi bar. If you order one of the two omakase menus, you’ll be treated to the chef’s choice of the freshest fish flown in from markets in Japan and the United States.
Come here for fresh fish, sure, but if you’re in the mood for something hot, try one of the many hibachi selections, including filet mignon, or the teriyakis, stir-fries, and soups—steaming bowls of fresh udon or soba noodles. Perfect for slurping.
At lunch, sample items from a reasonably priced buffet with plentiful choices that change daily. From the menu, try the Handi Special: a sampler of tandoori chicken, lamb kabobs, lamb or chicken curry, and vegetable korma, served with basmati rice, naan, condiments, and dessert.
• Full Service Catering • Full Bar • Private Cooking Classes Available
SUSHI KOJI
Splashes of red and lime green play off the blend of traditional and modern influences at this sushi restaurant. Chef and owner Keichi Shimizu exhibits mastery over his domain at the bar, but also playfully blends modern-American elements into his menu. $$, L (Closed Sat), D (Daily). 115 Pelham Rd. (864) 271-0900, irashiai.com
BEER & PUBS DIVE ‘N’ BOAR
A traditional dive-bar atmosphere with an inventive menu, Dive ‘N’ Boar caters to the barbecue-loving Southerner. This spin on the neighborhood gastropub has 25 different local beers on tap in a laidback atmosphere. The bar specializes in house-infused liquors and cocktails using local herbs and ingredients. Stop by on the weekend for live music and a meal, or meet up with friends for drinks on their screened-in patio. $-$$, L, D, SBR. 2541 N Pleasantburg Dr. (864) 509-0388, facebook.com/divenboar
LEMONGRASS
LIBERTY TAP ROOM BAR & GRILL
The airy dining room at Lemongrass is perfect for a quiet lunch or dinner date, while the kitchen brings flavor to please. Choose from curry, noodles, fried rice,
Located next to Fluor Field, Liberty Tap Room Bar & Grill is both pre-game watering hole and after-work hangout. Dinner choices range from the classic
$-$$$, L, D, SBR. 941 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 770-7777, libertytaproom.com MAC’S SPEED SHOP
Across from Liberty Taproom, Mac’s looks to be family friendly for both the Harley-set as well as the post-Drive-baseball crowd with plenty of brisket, ribs, and beer-can chicken. “Start your engine” with a plate of Tabascofried pickles, washed down (quickly, no doubt) with one of the 50 craft beers on tap. With outdoor seating, you’ll likely want to lay some rubber on the road to grab your spot. $-$$$, L, D. 930 S Main St, (864) 239-0286 macsspeedshop.com
menu. Or don’t pick—get the Mega Breakfast for a hearty menu sampling. For something later in the day, Mary Beth’s also has lunch and dinner menus that include sandwiches, rack of lamb, and salmon. $$-$$$, B, L, D (Thurs–Sat). 500 E McBee Ave, Greenville. (864) 242-2535, marybethsatmcbee.com MARY’S RESTAURANT AT FALLS COTTAGE
Located in historic Falls Cottage, Mary’s offers brunch and lunch with a charming atmosphere perfect for leisurely weekends. The menu includes the Ultimate Reuben and Chicken Salad Croissant, as well as Southern comfort favorites such as the black-eyed-pea salad and Mary’s Pimiento Cheese. $, L, SBR. Closed Monday. 615 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 298-0005, fallscottage.com
UNIVERSAL JOINT
THE GREEN ROOM
Everyone needs a neighborhood bar. Where better to join cheer with (or heckle mercilessly) your friends? This hangout is within walking distance of the North Main area and features an outdoor patio and roll-up garage doors—perfect for summer. Rotating bottle and draft selections and plenty of outdoor seating keep things fresh.
Like a European brasserie, the Green Room’s diverse menu features standout dishes that change with the time of day. Enjoy brunch any day with eggs Benedict or the mini crab cakes topped with chipotle cilantro lime remoulade. For dinner, the melt-in-your-mouth, sweet chipotle meatloaf is the ticket. Wash it down with selections from the tap and a premium beer list that leans toward the Belgian and German end of the spectrum.
$-$$, L, D. 300 E Stone Ave, Greenville. (864) 252-4055, ujgreenville.com THE VELO FELLOW
Cozy in a funky way, the Velo Fellow is a hip pub under the Mellow Mushroom. Burgers and sandwiches form the core of the menu, which includes fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, and—in a twist—tofu Marsala. In addition to the craft brews on tap, the Velo Fellow offers traditional absinthe service, complete with a silverplated brouilleur. $-$$$, L, D, SBR. 1 Augusta St, Ste 126, Greenville. (864) 242-9296, thevelofellow.com
BREAKFAST/BRUNCH THE BOHEMIAN CAFÉ
Treat your taste buds and ears at the Bohemian Café, side-by-side with the legendary Horizon Records music store. This eclectic café with an international flair serves up daily specials for curry and pasta. For Sunday brunch, treat yourself to a Bloody Mary bar, or indulge your sweet tooth with a slice of homemade rum cake. $$, L, D, SBR. Closed Monday. 2 W Stone Ave, Greenville. (864) 233-0006, thebohemiancafe.com CHICORA ALLEY
Chicora Alley’s Caribbean riff on traditional Mexican and Southern fare offers signature crab cakes or mountain-high nachos, shrimp and chicken burritos, quesadillas, and more. Drop by on Sundays for brunch on the outdoor patio. $-$$$, L, D, SBR. Closed Monday. 608-B S Main St, Greenville. (864) 232-4100, chicoraalley.com EGGS UP GRILL
If your name has “eggs” in it, you’d better know your eggs. Eggs Up Grill doesn’t disappoint. From classic over easy eggs, to eggs Benedict, all the way to Patty-o-Sullivan omelets (grilled corned beef hash with melted swiss cheese), this breakfast joint has you covered. Not a fan of eggs? Eggs Up also serves breakfast fare like pancakes, waffles, and French toast. $-$$. B, L. 31 Augusta St, Greenville. (864) 520-2005, eggsupgrill.com MARY BETH’S AT MCBEE STATION
Breakfast is an essential meal, and Mary Beth’s treats it accordingly. Take your pick: biscuits, omelets, eggs Benedict, waffles, crepes, and pancakes populate the breakfast
$$$, B, L, D, SBR. 116 N Main St, Greenville. (864) 335-8222, thegreenroomupstate.com SOUTHERN CULTURE KITCHEN & BAR
Expect an uptown spin on comfort food classics like tater tots served in a parchmentlined Chinese takeout container with pimiento cheese fondue. For something a little sweeter, don’t miss the weekend brunch. The apple-stuffed French toast (adorned with melted goat cheese, maple syrup, and applewood bacon) will send you into a contented slumber.
Sunday Brunch both locations 11 am - 2:30 pm GREAT Burgers, Crab Cakes, Shrimp & Grits, Cubans, Salads, Nachos, Cold Beer, Sunday Brunch, and More! Book your private party with us! Up to 75 people in Greenville • Up to 100 people in Mauldin • No rental fees on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
116 North Main · Mauldin · 864.991.8863 608B South Main St. · Downtown Greenville · 864.232.4100 Hours: Sunday Brunch 11 am till 2:30 pm; Tuesday–Saturday 11:30 am ‘til late; Closed Monday
www.ChicoraAlley.com
2MA15
Dinner choices range from the classic burger and juicy steaks to spinach pizza. Gather with friends around the long bar to enjoy one of the nearly 50 brews on tap.
$$, D (Mon–Sat), SBR. 2537 N Pleasantburg Dr, Greenville. (864) 552-1998, southernculturekitchenandbar.com TANDEM CREPERIE & COFFEEHOUSE
Tandem lures Swamp Rabbit cyclists with the aromas of Counter Culture Coffee and guarantees of a happy stomach. Try the Fiesta crepe (shredded chicken, cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, and sour cream) or satisfy your sweet tooth with the Banana Nut crepe. If you can’t choose between savory and sweet, split one of each with a friend and enjoy in the spirit of Tandem’s motto: “Together is best.” $, B, L, SBR. Closed Monday. 2 S Main St, Travelers Rest. (864) 610-2245, tandemcc.com TUPELO HONEY CAFÉ
Big Southern charm comes in the form of a steaming hot biscuit at Tupelo Honey. Indulge in the famous sweet potato pancakes (topped with pecans and peach butter of course) any time of day, or try one of the mouthwatering sandwiches like the Southern Fried BLT with maple-peppered bacon. The Southern small plates are built for sharing: baked macaroni-and-cheese with Cajun blackened shrimp, for instance.
Delicious Thin Crust Pizza * Fresh Salads Homemade Ice Cream * Craft Beer & Soda
FREE PIZZA
Purchase any 14” pizza and receive a FREE pizza of equal or lesser value. Coupon must be present at time of order. Dine-in Only Expires 9/30/2015
$$, B, L, D. 1 N Main St, Suite T, Greenville. (864) 451-6200, tupelohoneycafe.com
CAFÉS COFFEE TO A TEA
This quaint spot with a focus on local products and healthy options makes any day better. Mornings shine with a breakfast sandwich or fresh-baked cinnamon roll. Lunch offers a variety of soups, salads, and sandwiches (we recommend their signature: hormone-free chicken salad on house-baked bread). For dessert, try a slice of cake from
35 S. Main St. Downtown Travelers Rest 864-610-1406
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the rotating counter selection. Gluten-free options abound. $-$$, B, L. Closed Sunday. 1 Augusta St, Ste 101, Greenville. (864) 373-9836, coffeetoatea.com COFFEE UNDERGROUND
Coffee Underground boasts a wide selection of specialty coffees, adult libations, and dreamy desserts like the turtle cheesecake with vanilla and chocolate swirl, caramel, and pecans. If you’re craving more substantial fare, choose from a splendid breakfast-anytime option, sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries, and desserts. $-$$, B, L, D, SBR. 1 E Coffee St, Greenville. (864) 298-0494, coffeeunderground.info METHODICAL COFFEE
Between the white marble countertops, the gleaming chrome Slayer espresso machine, and the white-tiled loft, Methodical is a coffee bar built for Instagram. It’s no surprise, considering tastemakers such as the Vagabond Barista Will Shurtz, designer Marco Suarez, and hotelier David Baker are the forces behind Methodical. Even better: there’s plenty of substance to go with style. Single-origin espressos, housemade shrubs (showcasing unconventional pairings), and homemade treats ensure there’s plenty to rave about. $-$$, B, L, D. 101 N Main St, Ste D, Greenville. methodicalcoffee.com O - CHA TEA BAR
A trip to O-CHA will have you considering tea in an entirely new light. This sleek space, located right on the river in Falls Park, specializes in bubble tea (flavored teas with chewy tapioca pearls) but also offers a large assortment of loose-leaf teas,
cold drinks, and snacks.
like a snare drum cadence, forms a base upon which buttery avocado, fresh feta, and other flourishes rest. Make sure you sample some of the homemade pita bread seasoned with fresh garlic and olive oil.
TEALOHA
$, L. 19 Augusta St, Greenville. (864) 2509650, greenlettuceusa.com
$, B, L, D. 300 River Place, Ste 122, Greenville. (864) 283-6702, ochateabaronline.com
As the weather warms up and Main Street fills, it pays to have a cool, quiet escape. Tealoha’s blend of raw and refined fills the bill. Recycled barn-wood panels and earthy brown and green tones impart the feel of a subdued oasis, while sleek, modern furniture is decidedly comfy and urban. A menu of exotic loose-leaf teas is fleshed out by smooTEAS (tea-infused smoothies) and specialTEAS (tea-based lattes). $, B, L, D, Closed Sundays. 131 E McBee Ave, Greenville. (864) 509-1899, tealoha.com THE VILLAGE GRIND
Tucked between art galleries in the heart of Pendleton Street, the Village Grind is an essential destination for Greenville coffee lovers. With its emphasis on community, the coffeehouse uses only local ingredients—from milk and syrups to beans from Due South Coffee—to create one-of-a-kind beverages to be enjoyed with friends on the mid-century couch or solo at the pallet-inspired window bar. $, B, L. Closed Sunday. 1263 Pendleton St, Greenville. (864) 915-8600, facebook.com/thevillagegrind
DELI & SANDWICHES GREEN LETTUCE
Rough-hewn, knotty wood planks and an airy, sunlit interior give Green Lettuce a Mediterranean vibe fully matched by its menu of hearty salads. Fresh lettuce, crisp
SOBY’S ON THE SIDE
Located just around the corner from Carl’s eponymous restaurant, Soby’s on the Side adds speed and efficiency to Soby’s reputation for high-quality food. Pick from their regular menu or try one of their chalkboard specials that change with each day of the week. From BBQ Monday to Grilled Cheese Wednesday, add a spontaneous element to your lunch, or enjoy a hot breakfast. $$. B, L. Closed Sunday. 22 E Court St, Greenville. (864)-271-8431, sobysontheside.com SULLY’S STEAMERS
When considering the ingredients for the perfect sandwich, steam isn’t often the first (or even last) thing to come to mind. For Robert Sullivan, hot air is the key to handheld nirvana. With a smorgasbord of ingredients like cut meats, veggies, and homemade cream cheeses, Sully’s stacks up custom bagel sandwiches served piping fresh. There are countless combinations, so plan on more than one visit to turn up the heat. $, B, L, D (closed Sunday evenings). Open until 3am on Friday & Saturday. 6 E Washington St, Greenville. (864) 509-6061, sullyssteamers.com SWAMP RABBIT CAFÉ AND GROCERY
Downtown Greenville, Swamp Rabbit Trail. Grocery store, neighborhood café.
Local produce, delicious food. These intersections are what make the Swamp Rabbit Café a staple. Stop by for breakfast and enjoy fresh-baked scones and muffins, or enjoy their roast beef and Havarti sandwich for lunch. And for a quick pickme-up at any time of day, try the café’s organic coffee from Counter Culture. While you’re here, peruse the grocery’s inventory to continue the local trend at home. $, B, L. 205 Cedar Lane Rd, Greenville. (864) 255-3385, swamprabbitcafe.com TWO CHEFS DELI & MARKET
Count on this deli for fast, high-quality food. Hot and cold lunch fare is available, ranging from homemade soups to a traditional grinder and a turkey melt. If you’re not up to cooking, there’s a case of “crafted carryout” entrées and sides to go. Impress last-minute guests with the likes of roasted turkey and Parmesan potatoes. Choose from the many options on the daily menu, or check back for daily specials. $-$$, B, L, D. Closed Saturday & Sunday. 104 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 370-9336, twochefsdeli.com
EUROPEAN DAVANI’S RESTAURANT
Heaping portions and a menu that mixes inventive flavors with customer favorites makes Davani’s a Greenville favorite. The friendly staff doesn’t hurt, either. Try the Muscovy duck, pan-seared with port wine and a sundried cherry demi-glace, or the veal Oscar, topped with crab meat, asparagus, and hollandaise. $$$-$$$$, D. Closed Sunday. 1922 Augusta St, Ste 111A, Greenville. (864) 373-9013, davanisrestaurant.com
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THE LAZY GOAT
POMEGRANATE ON MAIN
TRATTORIA GIORGIO
The Lazy Goat’s tapas-style menu is distinctly Mediterranean. Sample from the Graze and Nibble dishes, such as the crispy Brussels sprouts with Manchego shavings and sherry glacé. For a unique entrée, try the duck confit pizza with a sour cherry vinaigrette and a farm egg. An extensive variety of wines is available in addition to a full bar.
Pomegranate serves traditional Persian cuisine in an eclectic Eastern ambience. Attentive service, reasonable prices, and a flavorful variety, such as the slow-cooked lamb shank or the charbroiled Cornish hen kabobs, make this an excellent spot for lunch or dinner. Be sure to sample from the martini menu at the aquamarinetiled bar, or head outside to the street-side patio facing Main.
Exposed brick walls and an adjoining garden patio give Trattoria Giorgio an intimate atmosphere perfect for a romantic night out. Chef Giorgio Todisco insists on preparing all of his pastas onsite. His dedication to dining excellence shows in the Pappardelle Bolognese, a favorite of restaurant regulars. Reservations are highly recommended.
PASSERELLE
Gaze over the lush Falls Park scenery while digging into the mouthwatering French-inspired cuisine. Make a lunch date to enjoy lighter dishes like the farro and strawberry salad, or go for the bistro burger with its caramelized leeks and mushrooms, arugula, Gruyere, and garlic aioli. At night, the bistro serves up romance à la Paris, with items like escargot and Provençal lamb. $$$, L (Mon–Fri), D (Daily), BR (Sat–Sun). 601 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 509-0142, passerelleinthepark.com
$$-$$$, L, D. Closed Sunday. 618 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 241-3012, pomegranateonmain.com
$, L, D. Closed Sunday. 495 S. Pleasantburg Dr, #B, Greenville. (864) 271-9895, pitahousesc.com
PIZZA
RISTORANTE BERGAMO
Ristorante Bergamo, open since 1986, focuses on fresh produce and Northern Italian cuisine: fresh mussels sautéed in olive oil, garlic, and white wine, veal with homegrown organic herbs, and pasta creations such as linguine with shrimp and mussels. The bar fronts 14-foot windows along Main Street, making it a prime location for enjoying a glass while people-watching. $$$, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 100 N Main St, Greenville. (864) 271-8667, ristorantebergamo.com
PITA HOUSE
The Pita House has been family-operated since 1989. Inside, it’s bare bones, but the cognoscenti come here for tasty Middle Eastern fare such as hummus, falafel, kibbeh, and shwarma. And save room for baklava and other Mediterranean sweets for dessert. Also check out the little grocery in the back of the restaurant.
$$-$$$, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 121 S Main St, Greenville. (864) 271-9166, trattoriagiorgio.net
THE TRAPPE DOOR
BARLEY’S TAPROOM & PIZZERIA
Pizza and beer—flowing from more than 27 taps downstairs and another 31 upstairs—are what bring students and young revelers to Barley’s. Besides the tap, there’s a list as long as your arm of selections by the bottle. Try the classic New York-style pizzas, or go for one of Barley’s specialty pies. Afterwards, make your way upstairs to the billiards tables and the dartboard lanes. $-$$, L, D. 25 W Washington St, Greenville. (864) 232-3706, barleysgville.com
A rathskeller vibe pervades this underground tavern that boasts an incredible beer program, with 10 on tap and more than 150 bottles. Belgian specialties include waterzooi (a creamy seafood stew), and carbonnades flamandes (beef stew braised in Belgian beer). For dessert—you guessed it— Belgian waffles are the ticket.
MELLOW MUSHROOM
$$, L, D. Closed Monday. 23 W Washington St, Greenville. (864) 4517490, trappedoor.com
$-$$$, L, D. 1 Augusta St, Ste 101, Greenville. (864) 233-9020, mellowmushroom.com/greenville
Greenville’s West End outpost of this beloved pizza joint is perfect for families, parties, duos, or flying solo. Try the Kosmic Karma with sundried tomatoes, feta, and pesto, or the House Special, stacked with three meats, veggies, and extra cheese. Wash it all down with one of the artisanal brews on tap.
Located in a renovated tire shop on the main drag of Travelers Rest, this pizza joint is sure to become a favorite with its handcrafted, brick-oven pizzas made from local ingredients. Build your own or try a signature pie like the Tommy, with creamy roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, pecorino romano, caramelized onions, mushrooms, spinach, and peppadew peppers. Don’t neglect dessert, either. The homemade ice cream (in a bowl, or in a float) is a throwback treat that’ll make you forget about those fellas named Ben and Jerry. $$, L, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 35 S Main St, Travelers Rest. (864) 610-1406, sidewallpizza.com VIC’S PIZZA
The sign that says “Brooklyn, SC” at this walk-up/take-out joint makes sense when you see what you’re getting: piping hot New York–style pizza, served on paper plates. Purchase by the (rather large) slice, or have entire pies delivered (as long as your home or business is within three miles). $, L, D. Closed Sunday & Monday. 12 E Coffee St. (864) 232-9191, vicspizza4u.com
))) FIND MORE RESTAURANTS AT TOWNCAROLINA.COM TOWN Magazine accepts no compensation for Dining Guide reviews and selects entries by its editorial discretion. Reviews are conducted anonymously.
12 Sevier Street Just off Augusta Greenville, SC 864.282.8600 embassy-flowers.com
Getz Creative Photography
$$-$$$, L, D. Closed Sunday. 170 River Pl, Greenville. (864) 679-5299, thelazygoat.com
SIDEWALL PIZZA COMPANY
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Scene 1–6KINKY BOOTS
SEPTEMBER
Thru Sept 7
UPPER SC STATE FAIR There are only a few places in the world where it’s socially acceptable to stuff your face with a one pound funnel cake and eight corn dogs in less than 30 minutes. Sure, this year’s festival will be loaded with favorites like the Ferris wheel, magic shows, and a petting zoo, but the brave at heart can also take in a Bengal Tiger Encounter and the motorcyclist’s Globe of Death. So go ahead, wedge a few more wads of cotton candy in those cheeks. It is the Fair, after all. Upper SC State Fairgrounds, 3800 Calhoun Memorial Hwy, Easley. Open weekdays at 4pm; weekends 12pm. upperscstatefair.com
Cinderella and the glass slipper. Forrest Gump and those awkward leg braces. There’s just something about the right pair of shoes. When uptight businessman Charlie Price is forced to take over his father’s failing shoe factory, he enlists the help of some unexpected inspiration—a few drag queens, that is—to get things back on track. With a killer songbook by Cyndi Lauper and plenty of dazzle, don’t be surprised if you feel the urge to don some Kinky Boots yourself. The Peace Center, 300 S Main St, Greenville. Tues–Thurs, 7:30pm; Fri–Sat, 8pm; Sat, 2pm; Sun, 1pm & 6:30pm. $55-$85. (864) 4673000, peacecenter.org
2–30 FIDELITY MOONLIGHT MOVIE SERIES
Paying homage to the drive-in days of the past, Moonlight Movies showcases some of the best vintage flicks outdoors in scenic Falls Park. Snag your spot with a warm blanket or lawn chair and take in a diverse selection of family-friendly films under the stars. Adults beverages will be available for purchase, and local food
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CAN’T-MISS CULTURE / EVENTS / ATTRACTIONS sessions” to accommodate the “real fathers, real men” mentality that has made this such a popular Labor Day event. Now 24 years strong, the 2015 SpiritFest will sell out soon, so make sure to snag your passes today. Bon Secours Wellness Arena, 650 N Academy St, Greenville. Sat– Sun, 5pm. $30-$40. (864) 241-3800, bonsecoursarena.com
trucks will be curbside for your dining pleasure. And what’s a movie night without plenty of piping hot popcorn? Falls Park on the Reedy, 601 S Main St, Greenville. Wed, 8pm. Free. greenvillesc.gov
Photograph (Kinky Boots) courtesy of the Peace Center
4–7NC APPLE FESTIVAL
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then that’s logic enough to flock to Hendersonville’s North Carolina Apple Festival, heralding the forbidden fruit for more than sixty years. Enjoy four days of entertainment, including music, arts and crafts, a street fair, and, of course, irresistible apple-centric eats. But feel free to indulge in another fried pie or cider doughnut— the doc is nowhere to be found. North Carolina Apple Festival, Downtown Hendersonville, NC. Fri–Mon, Sept 4–7. Free admission. ncapplefestival.org
5–6 SPIRITFEST 2015
A winning pairing of gospel talent and spiritual discussion, SpiritFest emphasizes the power of strength through prayer and acceptance. This year’s edition features performances by Doc McKenzie, Blest By Four, Tasha Cobb, The Wardlaw Bros, and others, and will even include special “huddle
8–12SC APPLE FESTIVAL
One a day may not keep the doctor away, but this fruit of many faces is the perfect fall companion for all the pies, cobblers, and salads you can eat. A week-long affair, the festival has as many activities as there are kinds of apples: baking contests, fish fries, golf tournaments, a parade, concerts, and the crowning of one lucky lady as Miss Apple Festival. Locations vary, Westminster. Times, prices vary. scapplefestival.com
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KINKY BOOTS Sept 1–6 Tues–Thurs, 7:30pm; Fri–Sat, 8pm; Sat, 2pm; Sun, 1pm & 6:30pm
N EVENING 10 ACONVERSATION WITH
A down-at-heels shoe company owner gets a swift kick of good fortune when he enlists a group of drag queens to help turn the tides.
PAT CONROY
No, you’re not dreaming. Five of South Carolina’s most prominent literary voices, in conjunction with local bookstores like M. Judson, are coming together at Furman University for a
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conversation on South Carolinian authors and writing. The discussion, led by New York Times best-selling author Pat Conroy, will feature well-recognized authors Elizabeth Cox, John Lane, Mark SibleyJones, and Eric Morris. Book signings will take place after the discussion. Younts Conference Center at Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC. Thurs, Sept 10, 7–9pm. Free. (864) 2942390, mjudsonbooks.com/ patconroyatfurman
10–26 THE ODD COUPLE
8/14/15 11:21 AM
It’s a classic comedy formula. Take two characters with completely opposite values and lifestyles, cram them into a tiny space, and watch the hilarity ensue. Note Oscar and Felix, for instance. One is an obsessively clean, factual newsman. The other would probably eat a sandwich that had been left on the counter for two weeks. But no matter how different, they still find that their unique attributes makes them more alike in this Neil Simon original. Centre Stage, 501 River St, Greenville. Thurs–Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. $20-$30. (864) 233-6733, centrestage.org
10–27 FLY
Some of the most harrowing battles during World War II weren’t necessarily the ones overseas. Many of them were fought right here at home. Written by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan, Fly tells the true story of the first African-American pilots in the U.S. military, a group better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The introspective plot follows a group of four young men from different backgrounds forced to deal not only with the fears of impending war but also racism on the home front as they complete flight training in Alabama. Flat Rock Playhouse, 2661 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock, NC. $15-$40. (828) 693-0731, flatrockplayhouse.org
106 TOWN / towncarolina.com
11–27MARY POPPINS
While most kids considered themselves lucky if their babysitter let them make their own Pizza Lunchable, this eccentric English lady with a flying umbrella is the Holy Grail of in-home childcare. This adaptation of the classic film is already a Broadway smash, enchanting audiences of all ages with its tale of two not-sowell behaved children and the nanny who turns their world upside down. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, indeed. Chapman Cultural Center Theater, 200 E St John St, Spartanburg. Fri– Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Adults, $30; seniors, $27; juniors, $20. (864) 5832776, chapmanculturalcenter.org
12LADY ANTEBELLUM
The Nashville-bred trio makes an Upstate stop during their “Wheels Up” tour, joined by special guests Hunter Hayes and Kelsea Ballerini. Since kicking things off with “Love Don’t Live Here” back in 2007, Lady Antebellum has been caught in a whirlwind of success, topping the charts with hit after hit, racking up awards, and even teaming up with Darius Rucker. Now is your chance to see the country superstars live, so don’t miss out. Bon Secours Wellness Arena, 650 N Academy St, Greenville. Sat, 7pm. $33-$58. (864) 241-3800, bonsecoursarena.com
PLACE LIKE HOME: 14 NO A RUBY SLIPPER EVENT
Habitat for Humanity’s special evening of charity returns yet again, this time bringing more talent and excitement than ever before. In addition to an impressive auction including jewelry, sports items, and luxurious experiences, the event will also feature a special performance by famed local artist Edwin McCain with his Acoustic Trio. The gourmet dinner will be highlighted with a live show by the Phillis Wheatley Repertory Theatre. All proceeds will benefit Habitat for Humanity. TD Convention Center, 1 Exposition Dr, Greenville. Mon, 6pm. $75. habitatgreenville.org
Photograph courtesy of TK
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WILD HAIR UNDONE ENCHANTED 18–19 THE 17MY BOOK LAUNCH CHALICE Join the Emrys Foundation at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts as they celebrate poet Elizabeth Drewry’s new book My Wild Hair Undone. Drewry will read excerpts from her collection of poetry. The event also serves as Emrys’ annual meeting, and includes a program about the Emrys Press, which is publishing My Wild Hair Undone. Greenville Center for Creative Arts, 25 Draper St, Greenville. Thurs, 6–8pm. Free. (864) 409-3679, emrys.org
17–20
EUPHORIA
Greenville’s signature foodie festival has always celebrated the abundance of good food and wine in the Southeast. This year, it adds another noteworthy distinction: Euphoria’s 10th anniversary. The festival’s lineup matches up with the momentous milestone, starting with singer/ songwriter (and festival co-founder) Edwin McCain’s return. Our city’s finest culinary establishments are also set to welcome an impressive list of guest talent, including Michelinstarred chefs, James Beard Award winners, and a master sommelier. Join in for themed guest chef dinners, a food truck rodeo, and the festival’s signature Songwriter’s Recipe. Locations vary, Greenville. Thurs– Sun; times vary. Prices vary. (864) 233-5663, euphoriagreenville.com
18 THE ROSE BALL
In keeping with its tradition of unparalleled elegance, this year’s edition of the Rose Ball will feature the intricate work of more than 25 different Upstate designers. Centered on the theme of Chinoiserie, the ball will explore the origins of its namesake blossom, blending together elements of ancient Chinese inspiration with a modern, twentyfirst-century edge. Greenville’s longest-running charity event has handpicked 15 organizations as this year’s beneficiaries. The Poinsett Club, 807 E Washington St, Greenville. Fri. $450 per couple. theroseball.org
RENAISSANCE FAIRE
The wildly popular Game of Thrones may paint the Middle Ages as an era ripe with murder, political machinations, and dragons, however the real Renaissance is one of timeless tradition. This annual event invites guests of all ages to don their best royal duds and take in a live performance, shop in the marketplace, participate in a little swordplay, and of course, dig into some old timey grub. Fresh turkey legs included. Greenville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1135 State Park Rd, Greenville. Fri, 5–11pm; Sat, 10am– 6pm. greenvilleuu.com
CRAFT 18–20 INDIE PARADE
Join the Southeast’s vibrant community of artisans, makers, craftspeople, and tastemakers at this yearly exhibition. Browse two levels of 2D and 3D fine art, fiber and textile creations, paper goods, clothing, home goods, and more at the Huguenot Mill. Familiar names and faces—Shed Labs, Lily Pottery, BILLIAM, and Cory Godbey—make appearances alongside newcomers. For an early preview (and to skip the lines), grab tickets to the VIP Gala on Friday evening. Huguenot Mill, 101 W Broad St, Greenville. Fri, 6–9pm (VIP Gala); Sat, 9am–6pm; Sun, 11am–5pm. VIP Gala, $35; general admission, $2. Indiecraftparade.com
18– Oct 3 LITTLE WOMEN
Louisa May Alcott’s timeless novel about the challenges facing four very diverse sisters gets a makeover in this Broadway musical crafted by Allan Knee. Set during the Civil War, Little Women trails the March sisters as they grow together, each searching for their own voice and passion. No matter if they’re fighting over boys or simply trying to figure each other out, a sister’s bond is one not easily broken. Greenville Little Theatre, 444 College St, Greenville. Thurs–Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Adults, $30; seniors, $28; juniors, $20. (864) 233-6238, greenvillelittletheatre.org
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INDIE CRAFT PARADE
Sept 18–20 Fri (VIP Gala) 6–9 pm; Sat, 9 am– 6 pm; Sun, 11 am–5 pm This beloved regional crafts fair returns, better than ever. Peruse the wares of Southeastern artisans working in jewelry, clothing, food, and more.
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 107
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18– Oct 31
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Let’s do the time warp again! The Richard O’Brien musical has become a cult classic, lending itself to numerous international tours and a smash film starring Tim Curry as the “sweet transvestite” doctor himself. But you have not truly had the Rocky Horror experience until you see it live. The production relies heavily on audience/actor interaction that includes having “virgins” of the show hop on stage for the Time Warp dance. Both campy and endearing, you may never want to leave Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter’s freaky castle. The Warehouse Theatre, 37 Augusta St, Greenville. Wed–Sat, 8pm; midnight shows Fri & Sat. $35. (864) 235-6948, warehousetheatre.com
19
UPSTATE FOREVER PRESERVATION RIDE
Held on a course favored by local cycling celebrity George Hincapie, the Preservation Ride also includes two other courses that are fitting for athletes of any skill level. Other stages roam through the breathtaking pastures of the Greenspace Fairview along the North Pacolet River. Following the serene yet stimulating ride, cyclists can dig into a fully catered lunch at Strawberry Hill USA and mingle with other athletes for new tips and tricks. Strawberry Hill USA, 3097 Hwy 11, West Chesnee. Sat, 8am. $40. upstateforever.org
October 9-11
Friday, 5pm-11pm Saturday, 11am-9pm Sunday, Noon-7pm
Purchase your festival tickets early! Taste tickets available at Michelin on Main in downtown Greenville!
A portion of the Fall for Greenville proceeds will benefit 10 local nonprofits.
108 TOWN / towncarolina.com
FRESH 19–20 FARM FAIR 2015
The word entrepreneur does not typically draw to mind farmland teeming with animals and greenery. Nevertheless, the Farm Fresh Fair is dedicated to opening the door for the purveyors of handcrafted goods, homemade eats, and everything organic. Benefitting sustainable farming at Mill Village Farms, the crisp fall day will feature antique shopping, artisan crafts, farm fare, and even live music. Pick up some eats or just a home accent—it is all in the good faith of shopping local. The Farm at Rabon Creek, 125 Phillips Lane, Fountain Inn. Sat, 10am–5pm; Sun, 11am– 4pm. Adults, $5; juniors, $1. thefarmatraboncreek.com
22
WILLIE NELSON WITH SPECIAL GUEST LEVON
Country singer Willie Nelson is one of the world’s most beloved musicians. With a career spanning nearly six decades and more than 200 albums released, Nelson is a living legend. The recently released Let’s Face the Music and Dance album was a distinct blend of country-pop tunes, proving that this long-haired country boy definitely still has it. The Peace Center, 300 S Main St, Greenville. Tues, 7:30pm. $55-$85. (864) 467-3000, peacecenter.org
24
HANDBAGS FOR HOPE
Shopping, dining, and a great cause? The ninth annual Handbags for Hope event will benefit the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation, inviting guests for a fabulous evening of both silent and live auctions featuring more than 110 items. Capping off the night are plenty of flowing cocktails, delicious appetizers, and the opportunity to win gifts from local retailers. Huguenot Loft, 101 W Broad St, Greenville. Thurs, 6–9pm. (864) 373-6306, scovariancancer.org
Photograph courtesy of the Warehouse Theatre
BBQ 25–26 MAULDIN COOK-OFF
We Southerners know a thing (or ten) about appreciating barbecue, which makes the fifth annual Mauldin BBQ Cook-Off the perfect place to land on a weekend. Southern-born, Brooklyn-based bluegrass band The Lone Bellow is set to spice things up on Friday night, while Saturday features the BBQ Cook-Off judged by the SC BBQ Association. For a twist, make your way to the Anything Butt Competition, where more than 20 teams will cook anything they want— as long as its not pulled pork BBQ. Mauldin Cultural Center, 101 E Butler Rd, Mauldin. Fri, 6–9pm; Sat, 11am–3pm. Free admission; $10 tasting pass. mauldinbbq.com
25–27 SPARTANBURG GREEK FESTIVAL Some people plan their yearly
calendars around holidays like Thanksgiving or Easter. Others plan theirs around the Greek Festival. Fill your plate with favorites like spanakopita, souvlaki, and moussaka, then burn off the calories with a little horos around the dance floor to some popular Greek tunes. Pay a visit to the agora and pick up a few goods from local vendors. St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 697 Asheville Hwy, Spartanburg. stnicholasgoc.org/ spartanburg-greek-festival
26
GOODWILL MUD RUN
Dreaming of flying full-frontal into a mud pit and cleaning dirt out of your ears ’til next Tuesday? Here’s your race. Boost your ego with the same rope-climbing, wall-hopping, and belly-crawling that soldiers-intraining go through on this three-anda-half-mile course. This race may not be for the faint of heart, but athletes of almost any age and endurance are encouraged to participate and raise a little money for Goodwill Charities. SC-TAC, 5 Chapel Rd, Greenville. Sat, 8am. 2-person team, $100; 4-person team, $140. goodwillmudrun.org
26
SUSAN G. KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE
The location may be changing, but the cause is still as important as ever. The Race for the Cure is on at Heritage Park, where athletes of all ages and abilities can sign on to compete
in their choice of fun activities. In addition to the 5K race, there will also be a special Survivor Breakfast and Ceremony, a one-mile fun run, and even a special area designated just to keep your little ones busy. Money raised will directly benefit Susan G. Komen Mountains to Midlands. Heritage Park, 1123 Heritage Park Place, Simpsonville. Sat, 8am. Adults, $30; juniors, $24. komenscmm.org
27
TASTE OF OUR CAROLINA FOOTHILLS
The Blue Ridge Mountains are home to much more than fall foliage and breathtaking views. A dazzling roster of regional wineries, breweries, restaurants, and farms converges at Overmountain Vineyard in Tryon, NC. Part food and wine festival, part celebration of the foothills, there are plenty of culinary and natural pleasures in which to indulge. Overmountain Vineyard, 2012 Sandy Plains Rd, Tryon, NC. Sun, 1–5pm. $45. (828) 863-4098, ourcarolinafoothills.com
29– Oct 4
DIRTY DANCING While no summer resort you went to with your parents ever looked quite this fun (or this sexy), it’s still fun to watch. Relive the time of your life over and over with the story of a shy young girl and the hunk of a dance teacher that finally
The
Couple by Neil Simon
SEP 10-26
breaks her out of her shell. There’s plenty of ’80s music and plenty of hip-swinging—but whatever you do, don’t ever put baby in a corner. The Peace Center, 300 S Main St, Greenville. Tues–Thurs, 7:30pm; Fri–Sat, 8pm; Sat, 2pm; Sun, 1pm & 6:30pm. (864) 467-3000, peacecenter.org
Oct 2– 4
SYMPHONY TOUR OF HOMES: NOW AND THEN Normally if you want to get inside some of Greenville’s most exquisite homes, there’s a little bit of lawbreaking involved. This time, pay for it with a few bucks instead of jail time. In keeping with its “Now and Then” theme, the first half of the tour will feature a tour of two newly-built homes in the area, while the latter half will include three of the city’s most historical treasures, including a home by famed Greenville architect Willie Ward. A kickoff event at a Bennett Street residence will be held Thursday from 7–9 p.m. North Main Area. Fri–Sat, 10am– 4pm; Sun, 1–4pm. Advance, $20; day of tour, $25. (864) 370-0965, guildGSO.org
PARTY TO D
A
MUR ER MAY 5-21, 2016
JUNE 16-JULY 2, 2016 DEC 3-19, 2015
JULY 21-AUG 13, 2016 JAN 21-FEB 14, 2016
Check out our popular by visiting our website! MAR 17-APR 2, 2016
SEPTEMBER 2015 / 109
Estates Homes as distinguished as our readers.
106 Red Buckeye Trail
4BR, 3BATH, 1Hf BATH · MLS#20164864 · $1,269,000 Justin Winter Sotheby’s International Realty Justin Winter (864) 481-4444 JustinWinter.com
301 Breton Drive
206 Feather Bells Lane
4BR, 4BATH, 1Hf BATH · MLS#20162922 · $1,985,000 Justin Winter Sotheby’s International Realty Justin Winter (864) 481-4444 JustinWinter.com
115 Mist Flower Lane
6BR, 4BATH · MLS#20155837 · $995,000 Justin Winter Sotheby’s International Realty Justin Winter (864) 481-4444 JustinWinter.com
178 Chapman Road
Tamaron Parke At Thornblade
4BR, 5.5BATH · MLS#1302775 · $1,450,000
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner, REALTORS® Becky Orders (864) 270-0743
958 Cedar Rock Road
4BR, 3BATH · MLS#1290836 · $675,000 Coldwell Banker Caine Jane McCutcheon (864) 787-0007 cbcaine.com/Agents/JaneMcCutcheon
123 Grove Creek Drive
6BR, 4BATH, 2Hf BATH · MLS#1278820 · $650,000
4BR, 3BATH, 1Hf BATH · MLS#1305665 · $650,000
5BR, 4BATH, 1Hf BATH · MLS#1299166 · $549,900
108 Meilland Drive
207 Waterford Lane
8 Hidden Hills Court
The Marchant Company Valerie Miller (864) 430-6602 marchantco.com
4BR, 3BATH, 1Hf BATH · MLS#1304779 · $549,900 Open House Realty Lisa Otto (864) 991-2980 AlmostHomeGreenville.com
Coldwell Banker Caine Jane McCutcheon (864) 787-0007 cbcaine.com/Agents/JaneMcCutcheon
4BR, 4BATH, 1Hf BATH · MLS#1300599 · $535,000 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner, REALTORS® Melissa Morrell (864) 918-1734 greenvilleagent247.com
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner, REALTORS® Melissa Morrell (864) 918-1734 greenvilleagent247.com
3BR, 3.5BATH · MLS#1306689 · $429,900 Northmain Realty Tara Healy McNeil (864) 704-2636 northmain.net
TOWN Estates is a monthly feature of TOWN Magazine. To advertise your listing in TOWN Estates, contact Annie Langston at 864.679.1224 or alangston@communityjournals.com
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SECOND
Glance
Sibling Harmony
B
rothers Tom and Jesse Flowers grew up together during World War II, but became estranged after older brother Jesse returned from the war. In time, Tom became a popular art professor who taught for 30 years and retired as a Faculty Emeritus of Art at Furman University. In the same span, Jesse became more isolated, living as a reclusive artist near Fredericksburg, Virginia (he passed away in 2004). Despite their distance, Jesse and Tom continued to share their lives through visual and written correspondence. Tom’s son Mark Flowers and filmmaker Kristy Higby produced The Other Brother documentary film, which explores this family story. The film’s premiere dovetails with a Fine Arts Center exhibition that illustrates each brothers’ artistic development. Drawings cover envelopes holding their letters as an introduction to the words held within, and each of their separate sketchbooks is flooded with drawings. Their artwork highlights a variety of experiments on both canvas and paper, in color and ink, underpinning their stylistic differences. And yet, their collective works serve as a testament to personal growth and an evolving bond that withstood physical distance.—Alec Hernández
In celebration of the Flowers brothers’ work, The Other Brother documentary will screen on September 3 at 7 p.m., following a reception (6–7 p.m.) at the Sheffield Wood Gallery in the Fine Arts Center, 102 Pine Knoll Rd, Greenville. Afterwards, there will be a Q&A with Tom Flowers and the filmmaker Kristy Higby. The exhibition is on display through September 25 at the Sheffield Wood Gallery.
112 TOWN / towncarolina.com
Artwork courtesy of the Sheffield Wood Gallery at the Fine Arts Center, Greenville, SC
Parallel experiences, shared visions, and a brotherly bond
I’VE NEVER BEEN MUCH
OF A DANCER. I'M MORE OF A WALLFLOWER. BUT OUT HERE, THERE AREN’T SO MANY WALLS,
JUST FLOWERS. AND PALMETTO TREES. AND LIVE OAKS WRAPPED IN SPANISH MOSS
THAT CARRY THE HAND-CLAPPING & TOE-TAPPING
ul LOWCOUNTRY DEEP INTO THE FOREST AND FAR INTO THE NIGHT.
IT'S A MOVING EXPERIENCE.
LITERALLY. AND SOON I'M MOVING OUT OF
MY COMFORT ZONE,
AND ONTO THE DANCE FLOOR. WALLFLOWER? MAYBE. BUT OUT HERE I'M
IN FULL BLOOM.
PA L M E T T O B L U F F. C O M / m u s i c STAY THE NIGHT.
CLAIM YOUR INN EXPERIENCE PACKAGE. A THREE DAY/TWO NIGHT ESCAPE TO OUR ACCLAIMED RESORT. Obtain the Property Report required by federal law and read it before signing anything. No federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. This does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy where prohibited by law. The complete offering terms are in an offering plan available from sponsor. File no. H-110005.
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