Celebrating its ninth anniversary and moving to a new location for its grand final day celebration, Irish Fest Camden, the premiere Irish festival of the southeast, will be celebrated on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at the Kershaw County Airport in Camden.
Throughout the week of the festival, Camden businesses are invited to help join in the festivities by decorating their storefronts in an Irish theme. A committee will visit the locations with the winner receiving a unique award.
Here is a listing of the event’s festivities:
Irish Trivia returns to Broad & Vine wine bar on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $25 and includes a glass of bubbly and an appetizer. Prizes every round! Visit www.broad-and-vine.com for more info.
For the second time in as many years, the Black Box Theater, located inside the Wood Auditorium on the grounds of the Arts Center of Kershaw County will host an Irish Pub Night on Thursday, Feb. 27 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The evening will feature a traditional Irish dinner, drinks, live music and stories about traditional Irish music and the instruments used to create it. More information may be found on www.artscenterkc.org
Returning to the festivities for the seventh year is the Friday night Downtown Camden Pub Crawl on Friday, Feb. 28. The evening is a night of live Irish music at various venues in Camden from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
One of the most popular events of the festival is the eighth annual Lucky Leprechaun 5K race/walk to be run at 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 1 at the Town Green in Camden. Registration is currently taking place online at: www.strictlyrunning.com/LL5k
The week of festivities leads up to the grand celebration at the Kershaw County Airport at 2203 Airline Drive, Camden, SC. The celebration is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets are now on sale online with an early bird price of $15 for adults and $5 for children. Tickets will be $20 and $7, respectively, cash-only at the gate. Tickets are available now at the Irish Fest Camden website.
The day-long, family friendly event features food and beverage vendors throughout the expansive grounds including an authentic Irish pub featuring Shepherd’s Pie. The Highland Games, a staple of the festival since its start, brings together athletes from throughout the Southeast to compete in such events as the open stone throw, the Braemer Stone throw, the Sheaf, and the light and heavy hammer toss, which have piqued the interest of festival-goers, many of whom are getting their first look at these unique athletic events.
Stations featuring soda, water, Irish and green beer, coffee and Irish coffee, along with a whiskey-tasting tent will be part of the festivities as will a kids’ zone. An Irish historian will return to share stories of folklore and history. There will be more than 40 food vendors offering a multitude of options and more than 100 retail vendors.
One of the main attractions of the day is live music and this year the headliners are the Screaming Orphans, a four-sister group from County Donegal, Ireland, who are making their second appearance at Irish Fest Camden, and Columbia’s own and festival favorite, Syr who returns to the festival for the ninth year. In addition, there will be other musical acts spread out among three stages during the course of the day.
Excitement! Excitement is what I feel in taking the reins as Camden’s new mayor. What a great honor to lead the city I love so dearly. First, thank you to all my friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens for trusting me in this new role. Second, I pledge to each of you that I will do my utmost to be the best mayor in America and to help make Camden the best City it can be.
We all should know how lucky we are to live in this great City, where neighbors still know neighbors, people still treat others with respect, and families can grow surrounded by love and support. My goals as Mayor are to continue the good traditions we have and make changes to improve our City even more. We can do this!
Camden has been blessed with strong leadership, including our outgoing mayor and council. We owe them our thanks for their willingness to take on tough matters simply because of their love for our City. We also owe our thanks to our City employees for their dedication and hard work.
Here are a few of my top priorities to get working on right away: recruit new grocery stores to our City; explore innovative ways and modernization efforts to stabilize customers’ utility bills; engage with our citizens to guide development within Camden and preserve our heritage; make Camden a top destination for weekend visitors and tourists, help small businesses grow and prosper; the homelessness issues that have arisen in our downtown. Of foremost importance is improving the communication between our City government and our citizens.
There are other issues to take on, too many to list, but they include improving employee morale, cleaning up our City, modernizing facilities, removing large truck traffic downtown, and making our streets more walkable. I am committed to tackling these issues facing us with the support of our community.
Here are a few concrete steps I plan to implement immediately: regularly issue a newsletter to Camden’s citizens, updating them on what’s happening in the City; create a Mayor’s Cabinet of select nonprofits in the community to coordinate and provide critical services; the appointment of task forces made up of citizens and Council members to make recommendations on specific areas that need improvement in the operation of our City.
Growth is coming to Camden and we don’t have to be beggars anymore; we can be choosers. Together we should determine what Camden’s future will be and what environment our children and grandchildren experience. We hold a sacred trust to the generations that follow us to make Camden a better place than we found it.
Finally, I have decided to donate my Mayor’s salary back to the City of Camden, for the specific purpose of rewarding employees who go above and beyond the call of duty in their work. This decision is not to say that the Mayor and City Council members do not deserve a salary – in fact they deserve more than they receive for all the work they do. However, I am in a unique position after having served in many roles in our state and community and feel like it’s time for me to also give back in this way. My hope is that our City employees take this decision as a manifestation of my commitment to and confidence in them.
The African American Cultural Center of Camden will start Black History Month by hosting a “Let’s Talk About…” symposium on Saturday, February 1st at 1:00 pm in Liberty Hall at the Revolutionary War Visitor Center, 212 Broad Street.
The symposium, “Artists: Gatekeepers of the Human Experience” will feature ethnomusicologist and associate professor Dr. Birgitta Johnson of the University of South Carolina School of Music. Dr. Johnson will explore the field of musicology, its function in society, and what musicologists do in the cultural context, and how that has changed over time.
Light refreshments to be served following the symposium. Registration is not required, but encouraged by calling 803-432-2421 x1153 or emailing kspadacenta@camdensc.org.
The African American Cultural Center will also add additional hours beginning in February, open Fridays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm and Saturdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, at 517 York Street. An exhibit featuring some of Camden’s notable African Americans throughout history is on display, and will be added to throughout Black History Month.
The African American Cultural Center of Camden encourages an understanding of and an appreciation for the history and culture of people of African descent through discussions, exhibits, tours, lectures, and genealogical activities. A basic tenet of the African American Cultural Center is that we all are connected and have shared links through places, people, passions, and stories, making a stronger, more united city, state, region, and nation. The African American Cultural Center preserves documents and artifacts which reveal the stories and legacies of the Camden community of African descent.
As snow accumulates and/or turns to ice in the evening hours, we advise residents to avoid driving, if possible, during evening and overnight hours. If you experience a power outage or require any other City service during the winter weather, please call 803-432-2421 or 803-432-0009. City facilities will delay opening until 10:00 am on Wednesday, January 22. All Municipal Court cases scheduled for January 22 are canceled and reschedule notices will be sent via mail.
Here are some winter weather tips for residents and utility customers:
Insulate exposed pipes or faucets to prevent freezing, using foam sleeves or wrapping layers of material.
Close off vents and seal or repair any cracks and openings in doors and windows.
Know where the main water valve is for your home, in case of a pipe burst during freezing temperatures. Please be aware it is not in your water meter box. Should you have an emergency and require city crews to respond to a water leak, please call 803-432-0009.
Turn off your sprinkler or irrigation system, to avoid a rupture or break.
Opening cabinet doors under the sinks in your home, to allow for warm air to reach the pipes. Leaving each faucet on, with a small trickle, to prevent freezing.
If you must be out on the roads during winter weather conditions, please drive with caution, particularly over bridges and low-lying roads where water may pool and freeze. Black ice cannot easily be seen while driving, and is most common during early morning hours or when temperatures fall below freezing.
Stay tuned to your local news outlet for updates and changes as this system approaches. Be safe out there!
The City of Camden, South Carolina (hereafter, the “City”) invites registered architects with historic preservation experience to submit their qualifications to be considered for a historic preservation planning project for Aberdeen, Camden, South Carolina. Shawn Putnam (Planning and Development Director) will receive qualification statements until 12:00 noon on February 14, 2025, via email ONLY at putnam@camdensc.org. Questions should be directed to Mr. Putnam at the email listed above.
Aberdeen is located at 1409 Broad Street, Camden, South Carolina. The Samuel Mathis House, known as “Aberdeen, was built ca. 1805 and is a contributing resource to the National Register of Historic Places-listed City of Camden Historic District. Built by prominent Camden residents Samuel and Margaret Mathis, Aberdeen remained in the family until the 20th century and has been continuously occupied as a family home until it was gifted to the City of Camden in 2021. Originally a simple one-story frame house built over a raised basement, the house sat on 273 acres close to the Mathis Store and a mile from the center of town. As the town grew, the acreage was subdivided and other homes built into one of the first neighborhoods in Camden. Even with the increased size from a ca. 1850 renovation, Aberdeen remains unique as a folk cottage style home in a neighborhood filled with typical antebellum two-story homes. It is also one of the few homes in Camden with Gothic revival elements. Currently managed by the City of Camden, Aberdeen is the only historic home open for tours in Camden. The City seeks the services of a registered architect or team of architects experienced in historic preservation to assess the existing conditions and produce plans and specifications for the stabilization and weatherization of Aberdeen.
The project has been funded by a state historic preservation grant, administered by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH). The conditions assessment and plans and specifications will be reviewed by SCDAH for compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
