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.
Nearly 200 walkers and over two dozen pets participated in the First Day Hike at Goodale State Park on New Year’s Day. John Wells, Park Manager at Goodale, led the group on a 2.4 mile hike, previewing new trails under development.
Wells said, “Today, we’re walking in an area of the park that we hope to transition to a new trail system. We just did a thinning of the forest. This forest was very thick and very overgrown and had not been thinned in decades.”
“The First Day Hike,” Wells said, “is a great way to get outside and walk off the collard greens and macaroni and have a good day, spending the first day of the year out in nature, out walking around.” Goodale State Park participates in a nationwide program called First Day Hikes.
The free event was hosted by KC Trails, Friends of Goodale, and Goodale State Park. For more outdoor opportunities in Kershaw County, follow KC Trails and Friends of Goodale on Facebook.
Camden feels extra special during the holiday season, with our lights and decorations, events and activities and the general small town charm. Parades, performances, markets and other holiday fun abound and shops and restaurants are bustling with good cheer and great gift ideas.
Make plans to join in on some of these special holiday events and activities, starting with the City of Camden’s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, December 5 at 6:00 pm at Broad Street Park, at the corner of Broad and Rutledge Street. The Tree Lighting Ceremony is a part of the Downtown Camden Cultural District’s “Christmas Wonderland”, where you’ll find a variety of activities and merchants will have extended shopping hours on the three Thursdays leading up to Christmas, December 5, 12 and 19. It also kicks off the “12 Days of Christmas”, highlighting community events taking place in and around Camden between December 5 and December 16, plus some bonus events leading up to Christmas. In addition to traditional holiday events, many local businesses will host open houses, pop-up shops, visits with Santa, and more fun and festive ways to help you complete your holiday shopping with less stress.
Here’s a listing of events taking place during the 12 Days of Christmas. Check back often, as more are added each week. We hope to see you out there!
Thursday, December 5
Holiday Market – 11:00 am – 6:00 pm – Arts Center of Kershaw County, 810 Lyttleton Street
The Kershaw County 250th committee, along with several organizing partners, is sponsoring a “Revolutionary November” from November 1 through November 21st.
This upcoming “Revolutionary November” will highlight Camden and Kershaw County’s importance to the outcome of the American Revolution. Local residents and vistiors alike are invited to enjoy and explore more than a dozen events throughout November, showcasing the area’s history, heritage and culture.
The month begins on November 1 with a commemorative program on the 250th anniversary of the Camden Distrct Resolves (Nov. 5, 1774), a document that set out the argument for independence later articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Other events include the Carolina Revolutionary War Weekend & Batte Reenactments on November 8-10, Colonial Cup Weekend on November 15-17, and a variety of other programs throughout the month – from tours, to presentations, to trivia night. Visit Kershaw250.com for a complete list of programs.
November 1-3 – Camden District Resolves On November 5th, 1774, Justice William Henry Drayton delivered a speech on the “Rights of Man under the Law”, arguing that there should be no taxation without the consent of the citizens, to the Camden District Grand Jury. His words resonated throughout the back country of South Carolina, and a “mini Declaration of Independence” was submitted to colonial legislature. Witness the reenactment of the 1774 Grand Jury Presentment, beginning at 12:00 pm on Friday, November 1 at the Revolutionary War Visitor Center, 212 Broad Street. Afterward, explore the Historic Camden Colonial Village and enjoy an afternoon at McCaa’s Tavern, visit the “Horses at the Battle of Camden” exhibit at the National Steeplechase Museum, or take a self-guided tour among fallen heroes at Quaker Cemetary, before embarking on a drive to see historic landmarks throughout Camden and Kershaw County.
November 8-10 – Carolinas Revolutionary War Weekend & Battle Reenactments Join the Southern Campaign 1780 for two whole days of life in the 18th century, featuring daily mock battles complete with cavalry, cannons, and cracking muskets. This is over a half century old Kershaw County tradition, bringing in reenactors and spectators as far away as the Midwest, New England, and the Deep South. The annual Carolinas Revolutionary War Weekend and the Battle Reenactment events will be held from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday, November 9th and from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm Sunday, November 10th at The Meeting Place, 1208 Keys Lane in Kershaw, SC. Afternoon battle reenactments are scheduled for 1:00 pm each day.
This all outdoor, family-friendly event is the largest annual force-on-force Revolutionary War Reenactment in the nation, and this year has been named one of two national events by the Brigade of the American Revolution, British Brigade, and The Continental Line, all three premier national Revolutionary War Reenactment organizations. It is thrilling to win this trifecta designation and will mean increased reenactor participation and a bigger and better event for participants and visitors alike. You will see hundreds of Crown and Patriot reenactors, civilian reenactors, 18th C. craftsmen and merchants. Heavy rain may force a “rain delay” for battle reenactments, but the event is rain or shine. For more information, visit southerncampaign1780.org.
Also on this weekend, you can sample “revolutionary” BBQ during the aptly named Battle of Camden BBQ Festival Friday evening and Saturday, November 8th and 9th, hosted by the Camden Jaycees on the Historic Camden Foundation campus. Featuring two days of South Carolina’s best pit masters smoking up amazing barbecue for you to sample, Friday night is all about the chicken wing, starting at 6:00 pm, and Saturday is when you find out who will win it all in their pulled pork competition, beginning at 11:00 am. Free entry, tickets for samples. Learn more at www.facebook.com/battleofcamdenbbq.
November 15-17 – Colonial Cup Weekend Experience Camden and all it has to offer, as we celebrate the return of the Colonial Cup, one of the premiere steeplechase races of the season. The 49th running of the Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup Races will take place on Sunday, November 17th. The Colonial Cup, starting in 1970, was Mrs. Scott’s idea, and it became the first international steeplechase run in the United States with a purse of $100,000. Get ready for race day with a Pre-Cup Cocktail Party on Saturday evening. Learn more at carolinacup.org/colonialcup.
Get into town early to enjoy events in the Downtown Camden Cultural District leading up to the Colonial Cup, including a “Party at the Pavilion” Thursday, November 14th, hosted by the Kershaw County Young Professionals at the Arts Center of Kershaw County. And experience the first ever Silver Leaf Cigar Street Festival on Commerce Alley, beginning at 11:00 am on Saturday, November 15th behind Silver Leaf Cigar Lounge, 1015 Broad Street. Enjoy shopping and dining all day long in the cultural district. Learn more at www.facebook.com/Silverleaflounge.
More events are being added weekly to make this a simply “Revolutionary November” in Camden and Kershaw County. Keep up to date at Kershaw250.com.
The African American Cultural Center of Camden, located at 517 York Street, will kick-off its 2024-2025 season with the theme, celebrating community. The public is invited to enjoy a number of events from September 14th through 22nd.
The opening event will be held on Saturday, September 14th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm with its symposium, “Let’s Talk About…Healing through Reconciliation?”, featuring Bishop Gary Rivas of Lyttleton Street United Methodist Church and Dr. James Coleman as moderator. The event will take place at the Revolutionary War Visitor Center, 212 Broad Street. Admission is free, but registration is encouraged by calling 803-432-2421 x1153 or emailing kspadacenta@camdensc.org.
On Tuesday, September 17th, the African American Cultural Center partners with Gallery 537 to present “Prose, Poetry, Etc.”. This event will provide an opportunity to strengthen community ties by sharing commonalities through poetry, prose and music. All are welcome to share their voice at the open mic. Doors open at 5:00 pm; light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Open mic will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The Gallery is located at 537 East DeKalb Street. Admission is free, but registration is encouraged by calling 803-432-2421 x1153 or emailing kspadacenta@camdensc.org. Performers for open mic may sign up at the door or call in advance for more details.
The highlight of the week-long celebration, Community Day at the Center, will be held on Saturday, September 21st from 11:00 am to 3:30 pm in partnership with Concerned Citizens of Kershaw County and will take place at the African American Cultural Center and the Price House. This day will be an opportunity to learn more about the Cultural Center and its role in the community. Those interested in preserving their family history are encouraged to bring family photographs and documents to be scanned. There will also be a variety of entertainment for both children and adults, storytelling, games, bounce house, the Kershaw County Library Book Mobile, informational tables and vendors. This day will also be an opportunity to meet some of the 2024 candidates, who will speak briefly about their platform for the upcoming November election. Designated parking will be available.
The celebration concludes on Sunday, September 22nd at 2:00 pm with “Artists in the Sanctuary”. This event is in partnership with Camden Second Presbyterian Church and co-sponsored by the Althea J. Truitt Memorial Fund. The Community is invited to enjoy an afternoon of live jazz and blues. The event is free. Seating is limited. Registration is encouraged by calling 803-432-2421 x1153 or emailing kspadacenta@camdensc.org.
The African American Cultural Center of Camden exhibits artifacts and documents that examine and celebrate the lives and contributions of Camden’s African American community. The Center’s exhibits relate the stories of the African American experience in Camden. The African American Cultural Center of Camden, located at 517 York Street, is currently open on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
As residents and visitors across the state begin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we cannot overlook the Camden Resolves, sometimes known as the “Little Declaration of Independence.” Signed on 5 November 1774, this document will be remembered at events in Camden during the first weekend in November.
So exactly what is this document? How did it come about and what did it mean? Before we can begin to understand the document, we must understand what was happening in Camden that brought about its creation.
By 1770, Camden was the only town located within the expansive Camden District, one of seven districts in the colony. The district was bounded by the Lynches River on the east and by the Congaree and Broad Rivers on the west. It extended from present-day Manning to the North Carolina state line and included what are now nine of the state’s counties: York, Chester, Fairfield, Richland, Clarendon, Sumter, Kershaw, Lancaster, and Lee. Also by this time, the colony was sharply divided between those who supported independence from Great Britain and those who remained loyal to the king. While support for independence was strong in South Carolina’s lowcountry, residents in this part of the colony were more focused on their “farms, orchards, herds, mills, and stores,” working hard to improve their circumstances from that of subsistence farmer to substantial planter (Partisans and Redcoats p 20).
By 1771 a courthouse and a jail had been constructed in Camden to serve the entire district. The first judges and sheriffs were British, appointed by British officials. By 1774, however, Judge William Henry Drayton of Charleston District had been named an assistant judge for the Northern Circuit of South Carolina, which included the Districts of Camden, Cheraw, and Georgetown.
On 5 November 1774, Judge Drayton came to Camden to preside over the grand jury as part of his routine tour of the judicial circuit. Over the previous decade Drayton had been more of a Loyalist than a Patriot, having served in the South Carolina Royal Assembly and on the Provincial Council in Charleston. In 1774, however, his allegiance shifted as British Judge William Henry Drayton (1742-1779) officials repeatedly appointed Englishmen to government posts that Drayton wanted for himself. This practice of the British appointing fellow Brits to American positions was problematic not just for Drayton but for many colonists, as the men who were being appointed had little knowledge or understanding of colonial affairs before arriving in South Carolina to fill a particular vacancy.
Finally, in 1774 Parliament’s passage of the Coercive Acts (known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies) convinced Drayton that the “liberty and property of the American [were] at the pleasure of a despotic power” (South Carolina Encyclopedia p 274). In his charge to the grand jury at Camden, Drayton urged the jurors to defy British authority: “By as much as you prefer freedom to slavery, by so much ought you to prefer a generous death to servitude, and to hazard every thing to endeavor to maintain that rank which is so gloriously preeminent above all other Nations” (South Carolina Gazette, 12 Dec 1774). Drayton’s instructions to the grand jury were clear: “By the lawful obligations of your oath, I charge you to do your duty: to maintain the laws, the rights, the Constitution of your country, even at the hazard of your lives and fortunes.”
Judge Drayton’s charge led the twenty-two members of the grand jury to issue the presentments that we will be remembering in November. The document begins with three grievances: (1) that the extensive size of St. Mark’s Parish, in which Camden District was located, hindered the “propagation of the Gospel in the back parts of said Parish;” (2) that there was no law in place to standardize the “prices of Entertainment at public houses, there being a great number of them in Camden District;” and (3) “as a grievance of the most dangerous and alarming nature, the power exercised by the Parliament to Tax and to make Laws to bind the American Colonies in all cases whatsoever.” The signers went on to declare the following:
“We conceive such a Power is destructive of our Birth-Rights as FREEMEN — descended from English Ancestors — Seeing such Free men cannot be constitutionally taxed or bound by any Law without their Consent, expressed by themselves or implied by their Representatives of their own Election; a consent which the good People of this Colony have never signified . . . So now, that the Body of this District are legally assembled . . . we think it our indispensable Duty clearly to express the very imminent Danger to which [the people of this District] are exposed from the usurped Power of the British Parliament.”
Published in the South Carolina Gazette on 12 December 1774, Camden’s presentments were followed by similar documents from Cheraw, Ninety Six, Georgetown, and other districts in South Carolina. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence followed in North Carolina on 20 May 1775, and the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and signed by members of the Continental Congress came the following year. While all of these documents express similar sentiments about freedom, liberty, and tyranny, Camden’s was the first!
