Disc golf courses and tennis courts ................................................. 33 Swan Lake Iris Gardens

'Hello, Sue!' New book details story of friendship of Ranger Ronnie and swan Sue at Swan Lake Iris Gardens

BY BRUCE MILLS

Swan Lake Iris

Gardens offers up many sites and stories for visitors, but this story about the park is about a special friendship. Or maybe it is more a story of hope.

It's the true story of the park's full-time ranger, Ronnie Grooms, and a swan named "Sue," and it has grown in popularity in the Sumter area since a book was published in November 2021on their unique friendship and their routine walks together through the gardens.

Now, some frequenters to Swan Lake know them by name. When they spot them together, you will hear a "Hello, Sue!" greeting.

As the story goes, know this: Swans mate for life, and Sue, a Whooper swan and long-time Swan Lake resident, lost her mate years ago.

Grooms began working at Sumter's well-known family friendly park in March 2017. Within just a few weeks, he met and befriended Sue.

"I was walking the lake one day after I started working here, and I noticed this swan over on the side in the bushes," Grooms said. "I came by and looked at her, and she looked at me. About the third day, I was walking, and she came out, and she was following me. I stopped; she stopped. "Then, the next day, she started following me, and that is the way it's been ever since. For the people out here, it was entertaining for them to see a swan walking beside a ranger."

Observers can see them walking side by side on the sandy paths around Swan Lake, or at times Sue is paddling alongside Ranger Ronnie's path in the water.

Grooms is the only full-time ranger on the Swan Lake staff, and he initially thought it was the uniform he wears or his jangly keys kept near his belt that drew Sue to him. (She also befriended the three part-time rangers, he said.)

Things stayed the same for about

two years, but in June 2019, Grooms left for about 1.5 years to do contracting work through an engineering firm, he added.

About one year into that time away from being a ranger, Grooms walked the Swan Lake path one day with his grandson.

As the book, "Ranger Ronnie and Sue," written and illustrated by Grooms' niece Laurice Prince, details, his grandson asked him that day if Sue would remember him?

Grooms said he was not sure, especially because he was not in his uniform. They went to the back side of the lake where Sue generally stayed in a quiet spot.

He called, "Hello, Sue!"

She came right up to them. "I think it's the uniform," Grooms said. "But then, the main thing is when I was not in uniform she came to me. Staff here could not get over that, that she remembered me. I say now, 'I think it's my voice that she remembered.'"

One might ask just how Ranger Ronnie can identify Sue among all the swans at the lake.

That is a good question, Grooms said.

Swan Lake is home to all eight species of swans and more than 100 total. But there are only five Whoopers at the gardens, he said. Sue is also a little more petite in size than the others, he added. Also, there is at least one more identifiable physical trait that makes Sue unique, but for some general protection of privacy, we leave that one out.

In addition, another characteristic makes Sue stand out from the other swans. "She comes to me," Grooms said. "The other Whoopers don't attempt to come to me."

In his years at the park, he has never seen another swan be friendly with people. "Sue is my favorite," Grooms said. "She is unique and different."

THE STORY OF HOPE

As Grooms' contract work was winding down at the end of 2020, he said, his hope was - one day - to get back on as the full-time ranger at Swan Lake.

He said he dreamed one night back then that his former boss with the City of Sumter, Lynn Kennedy, called him and asked for him to come back on staff.

He called Kennedy about the dream, but knew someone was currently in the position.

Two weeks went by, and then Kennedy texted him that the ranger had retired. He started in January 2021.

A dream was fulfilled.

What about Sue's hope?

As the book details, Sue lost her swan mate. Then she met Grooms, a friendly park ranger with a "kind, soft voice," who she would walk and talk with daily "swan talk" and "human talk."

Later, she lost Grooms and was down on her hope again. But he eventually did return.

In the bigger picture with his job, Grooms said he loves meeting visitors to the lake from all over the world and just people in general. He considers his job a gift from God.

He can rattle off visitors to the gardens from about a half-dozen countries and thinks he has probably met people from all 50 states.

Grooms said sometimes he is asked how he got the job at the picturesque park. "I say to them, 'You really want to know?'" "They say, 'Yeah, I want to know.'" "I say, 'My Lord, Jesus Christ, gave me this job.'" "'Well, how you figure that?' they ask." "'Well, in God's word, it says, 'All good things come from above,' and this is a good thing. I love this job. "So, the Lord put me here, and when I get the chance I talk with people about the Lord."

Grooms then added to just consider everything that is going on in the world right now. "I love people, and as I am walking the park, I get to talk with people from all over the world that come here," he said. "I don't beat anybody over the head with the Bible, but at the same time, I ask the Lord every morning to give me wisdom. To know when there is someone there that I can speak to and that the Holy Spirit would give me the right words to say. "My job, I feel like, it's a job of hope," Grooms said. "People are searching, and I and others know where the hope is really at."

Get Outside Cruise, run, stroll down

Sumter’s 1st

greenway

BY SHELBIE GOULDING

Sumter is becoming an outdoor recreational playground for bikers, runners and walkers alike with the completion of a paved trail connecting a city and county park.

Shot Pouch Greenway is a 3.1mile biking and pedestrian trail between Swan Lake Iris Gardens to Dillon Park that has been in the works since late 2020 since the idea was sparked more than two decades ago.

Joe McElveen, who served the City of Sumter for 20 years as mayor from 2000-2020, advocated for the Shot Pouch Greenway since he began his tenure.

“It must have been at least 30 years ago, maybe longer ago. I was pretty active with the Chamber of Commerce at that time,” he said. “We got a group of landscape architect students from Clemson that had spent several weeks, maybe longer, just looking around and seeing things we could do. One of the things they mentioned was what they called a linear park connecting Dillon Park and Swan Lake along Shot Pouch.”

Once McElveen began serving as mayor, he had the opportunity to visit other cities across the state and observe their success. McElveen attributed that to trails, parks and businesses surrounding a major pedestrian network down the center of a city, specifically near a water source.

“Shot Pouch was about the only water we have going through the city,” he said.

The want was there, but the funding wasn’t. It wasn’t until Sumter County’s second Penny for Progress initiative, a voter-approved capital sales “You’ll see tax referendum in 2014, that the project could see movement. Shot Pouch Greenway was one of 28 projects funded by the seven-year-long program improvements connecting that raised the sales tax by 1 cent to support community improvements and government building other renovations. The project cost $4 million to connect the parks with a paved walkway alongside Shot Pouch Branch, communities in the near a small river running through the city. Construction kicked off in December 2020. future after the “We’re super excited to finally get that fully open. The community has been using it,” Mayor David actual trailhead Merchant said. “It’s a way to travel across our town that we’ve never been able to.” parks. "

McElveen said the path will be a well-used, progressive addition to the community that will be around for years to come.

“I hope it’s just the first step as we do things,” he said.

The Shot Pouch Greenway is free to use. It primarily serves as Sumter’s first walking trail with hopes to branch into an even larger bike and pedestrian network. According to Deron McCormick, city manager for the City of Sumter, this is only the beginning. Sumter is currently working on a Master Walk and Bike Plan that will serve as a guide for expanding the current, limited bicycle and pedestrian network in Sumter. The plan includes making connections to schools, parks, shopping centers, employment areas, neighborhoods and more. “You’re going to see more and more improvements,” McCormick said. “You’ll see improvements connecting other communities in the near future after the actual trailhead parks. Those will be the next things people see, and then we’ll work with existing communities and properties on ways to possibly connect them in the future. It should only get better and better, and it’s something the community is committed to.” The City of Sumter is already working on trailhead improvements at Swan Lake and at the path’s midway point on Broad Street. Both sites include creating a trailhead with parking, playgrounds, bicycle pumps and gathering spaces for parties, events and food trucks. “We’re committed to doing it. It’s just a matter of time, and hopefully sooner than later. We were fortunate to get some state grant money to do those trailheads,” McCormick said. The city is working on public and private partnerships to help ensure the improvements happen as quickly as possible. “We’re going to follow through with all of those ideas,” McCormick said. “More will be announced in the near future.”

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