Columbia County Magazine

Category: LIFE + STYLE

  • Paddle, Play, Party

    Paddle, Play, Party

    fifth annual Betty’s Bash Paddle Race & Music Festival at Riverside ParkPaddle in the morning, play at the park in the afternoon and party into the night. It’s another fun-filled lineup for the fifth annual Betty’s Bash Paddle Race & Music Festival at Riverside Park.

    “It’s a chance for us to give back to the community and thank everyone for supporting us,” says event organizer Andy Colbert, who owns Outdoor Augusta. “It’s also a celebration of the park.”

    The race will begin at 9 a.m. at Betty’s Branch after racers unload at the park and then paddle out to the train trestles on the Savannah River. Looping around Germany Island on a 6.2-mile course, the competition will begin and end at the train trestles.

    fifth annual Betty’s Bash Paddle Race & Music Festival at Riverside ParkThe race is open to kayaks, canoes and standup paddleboards in several categories, and trophies will be awarded to the winners of each division. An overall winner will earn a prize as well. The park will remain open to the public during the event.

    Safety boats and markers will be on the course to provide directions.

    “There’s plenty of room on the water for everybody,” Colbert says.

    A free festival and concert will follow the paddle race. Food trucks and beer vendors will be onsite, and the music will begin with a DJ at 4 p.m. Live bands will play at night, and The Mason Jars will close the show.

    Registration is required for the race at outdooraugusta.com.

    If You Go:

    What: Betty’s Bash Paddle Race & Music Festival

    When: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday, June 21

    Where: Riverside Park

    How Much: Free festival and concert; $30 per person for race

    More Info: outdooraugusta.com

  • Simply Fin-tastic

    Simply Fin-tastic

    The Landsharks perform live at Columbia County’s annual Summer Beach BlastLive music, dancing and dining will be on deck for this annual summer kickoff party

    Fins to the left, fins to the right.

    Parrotheads, shaggers or anyone who just loves summer can dig their heels in the sand when The Landsharks perform live at Columbia County’s annual Summer Beach Blast.

    The Landsharks, the premier Jimmy Buffet tribute band the late singer hired to be the house band at his Margaritaville Café, won’t be the only bait in town, however.

    Food vendors, games and activities will be circling around as part of the festivities for a feeding frenzy of family fun as well.

    You may never sit down at this action-packed event, but bring your beach chairs just in case.

    If You Go:

    What: Summer Beach Blast

    When: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday, June 7

    Where: Evans Towne Center Park

    How Much: Free admission

    More Info: Columbia County Parks, Recreation & Events Facebook page

  • My Friends by Fredrik Backman

    My Friends by Fredrik Backman

    Bestselling author Fredrik BackmanBestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with a funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life 25 years later.

    Most people don’t even notice them — three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these enigmatic figures.

    Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

    Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it.

    The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this testament to the timeless power of friendship and art.

  • SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver

    SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver

    Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE While some songs hit like sunscreen in the eyes, others drift in like a popsicle drip on your wrist — unexpected, a little sticky and totally unforgettable. The kind of tunes you stumble into on a sun-baked afternoon when time slows and shoes come off. Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE is exactly that — a summer soundtrack of barefoot truths and golden-hour feelings cast in warm falsetto and cicada harmony.

    If For Emma, Forever Ago was the sound of winter heartbreak and i,i the autumn of inner reckoning, then this is a lush and beautiful summer bloom — an album that glows like golden-hour fireflies on the longest day of the year. It is equal parts campfire confession, polaroid dream and sonic lemonade stand.

    Side A offers the shade of canopy trees and tender nostalgia. Tracks like “Things Behind Things Behind Things” and “Awards Season” blow in gently like the sway of a lazy hammock between memory and mystery.

    Side B arrives like a dip in the pool — sudden, refreshing and impossibly alive. “Everything Is Peaceful Love” is a sunbeam you can dance to, unguarded and wide-eyed. “Walk Home” feels like riding a bike with no hands — wind in your shirt, nowhere to be. And Dijon and Flock of Dimes bring their backyard lawn-chair warmth to “Day One.”

    SABLE, fABLE feels recorded in a treehouse — still Bon Iver, but here it breathes differently. It exhales. Not the loud summer, but the quiet one: butterflies over tall grass, long drives, the scent of rain on hot pavement. It doesn’t just soundtrack summer — it is summer.

    – Chris Rucker

  • Burn Ban Reminder

    Burn Ban Reminder

    An outdoor burn ban will go into effect on May 1 and continue through September 30 in 54 Georgia counties, including Columbia and Richmond.An outdoor burn ban will go into effect on May 1 and continue through September 30 in 54 Georgia counties, including Columbia and Richmond.

    The burn ban prohibits citizens and businesses from burning yard and land-clearing debris during the summer ozone season to avoid air quality issues.

    The ban is in addition to the year-round, statewide prohibition against burning household garbage. Recreational activities such as campfires and grilling are exempt from the open burning ban.

  • Free CPR Courses

    Free CPR Courses

    Columbia County Fire Rescue is now offering a CPR course each month at the Columbia County Emergency Operations Center on Ronald Reagan Drive in EvansColumbia County Fire Rescue is now offering a CPR course each month at the Columbia County Emergency Operations Center on Ronald Reagan Drive in Evans.

    The course begins at 6 p.m. and lasts approximately two hours. Classes will be held:

    May 22
    June 26
    July 21
    August 20
    September 24
    October 14
    November 13
    December 8

    In addition to the regular CPR courses, two CPR and First Aid courses will be held June 7 and September 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for individuals with limited or no medical training who require a CPR and AED completion card to meet job, regulatory or other requirements.

    All courses are free to the public. To register, please email DBLESSING@columbiacountyga.gov.

  • Tuning In

    Tuning In

    This month the symphony is offering three sessions of Tuning In, a free program that combines guided mindfulness practices with live music experiences. If you need a little self-care, then Augusta Symphony can help. This month the symphony is offering three sessions of Tuning In, a free program that combines guided mindfulness practices with live music experiences.

    The symphony’s music therapist and select orchestral musicians will help participants be in the moment and be in the music.

    The sessions, which take place on Monday evenings from 6:45 p.m. until 7:30 p.m., are open to community members on May 5, 12, and 19 at the Knox Music Institute at Miller Theater.

    Registration is limited and required. Each session includes educational material, experiential self-care and discussion and reflection.

    For more information or to register, visit augustasymphony.com.

  • The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian

    The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian

    The River Knows Your Name by Kelly MustianFrom acclaimed author Kelly Mustian comes a lyrical and haunting Southern story about memory, family secrets and fierce and fragile love.

    For nearly 30 years, Nell has kept a childhood promise to never reveal what she and Evie found tucked inside a copy of Jane Eyre in their mother’s bookcase ― a record of Evie’s birth naming a stranger as her mother. But lately Nell has been haunted by hazy memories of their early life in Mississippi, years their reclusive mother has kept shrouded in secrecy.

    Evie recalls nothing before their house on Clay Mountain in North Carolina, but Nell remembers abrupt moves, odd accommodations and the rainy night a man in a dark coat and a hat pulled low climbed their porch steps with a very little girl ― Evie ― and then left without her.

    From a windswept ghost town long forgotten, to a river house in notorious Natchez Under-the-Hill, to a moody nightclub stage, Evie’s other mother emerges from the shadows of Depression-era Mississippi in a story of hardship and perseverance, betrayal and trust and unexpected redemption in a world in which the lines between heroes and culprits are not always clearly drawn.

  • IS by My Morning Jacket

    IS by My Morning Jacket

    IS by My Morning JacketSome albums exist. Others insist. And then there’s My Morning Jacket’s latest release, IS, which simply… is. It doesn’t ask for your attention; it absorbs it. With lyrics that dance between cryptic poetry and gut-punch truths, IS plays like a collection of postcards from the edge of the cosmos.

    From the opening hum of “Out in the Open” you’re not just listening — you’re traveling. Tracks like “Everyday Magic” radiate warmth, with guitars shimmering like desert heatwaves, while “I Can Hear Your Love” submerges listeners in a dreamlike haze. And then there’s “Die for It,” a raucous anthem that demands to be shouted from the rooftops — preferably under a full moon.

    But it’s not all astral projection and existential ponderings. My Morning Jacket still knows how to get your feet stomping. “Squid Ink” crashes in like the wild lovechild of jam-band chaos and arena-rock grandeur. Then, just when you think you’ve found your footing, the ambient closer, “River Road,” whispers like a secret you’re not quite sure you were meant to hear.

    If you find yourself cruising down a Georgia backroad, windows down, air thick with honeysuckle, let IS be your soundtrack. It’s the perfect companion for the kind of springtime that hums with possibility and drips with nostalgia.

    – Chris Rucker

  • Tribute to the Troops

    Tribute to the Troops

    Thunder Over Evans on Saturday, May 17It’s time to show your true colors – that would be red, white and blue, of course – and honor those who protect and defend our nation at Thunder Over Evans on Saturday, May 17.

    Bring blankets and chairs to this Armed Forces Day celebration that includes music, an extreme fireworks show and other entertainment. Activities kick off with a military salute that includes the posting of the colors, a message from the Fort Eisenhower Command, a veterans procession and singing of the national anthem.

    Food vendors also will be up and running when the gates open so that visitors will have time to get their dinner and find seating before the celebration begins.

    Festival-goers also are encouraged to bring ear protection and sunglasses or eye protection for the extreme fireworks show. In addition, anyone who suffers from PTSD or has a negative reaction to loud noises or bright flashes of light, should leave the event by 9:15 p.m.

    Tents or canopies as well as pets are not allowed, but soft carry coolers are permitted. The event will be held rain or shine.

    If You Go:

    What: Thunder Over Evans

    When: 6 p.m. – 9:45 p.m. Saturday, May 17; gates open at 5:30 p.m.

    Where: Evans Towne Center Park

    How Much: Free admission

    More Info: thunderoverevans.com

  • Mimosas on Main

    Mimosas on Main

    Harlem Merchants Association holds its annual Mimosas on Main Saturday, May 10 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.Calling all moms, women teachers, businesswomen, servicewomen and ladies 21 and older. Harlem is raising a glass to them with an invitation to explore the city’s downtown district when the Harlem Merchants Association holds its annual Mimosas on Main Saturday, May 10 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

    During the festivities, guests can visit shops and businesses to enjoy brunch, bubbly and live music. Along the way there also will be registration for pop-up giveaways.

    There is a one-time wristband charge of $5. Registration, wristbands and event guides are available at Reeves Realty and the Harlem Library plaza. For more information, visit visitharlemga.com.

  • Flying High

    Flying High

    Air Dot Show U.S. Navy Blue AngelsEnergetic, elite aerobatics will fill the skies at a popular air show

    The Air Dot Show is back. This year, however, the show is coming to town a month earlier than usual as Augusta is the first stop on the eight-destination tour that celebrates military and civilian aviation excellence.

    The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will headline the show with a combination of solo and formation maneuvers. The performance also will include an A-10 Thunderbolt II Close Air Support Demo, a P-51 Mustang Demo with Scott “Scooter” Yoak, the SOCOM Para-Commandos, the Georgia State Patrol, aerobatic pilot Michael Goulian and more.

    A variety of aircraft will be on static display inside the event site as well.

    Spectators can bring sunscreen, ear protection and up to a one-liter sealed bottle of water. Those who purchase general admission or lawn box tickets also should bring their own chairs. However, no tents, awnings or canopies will be allowed. Backpacks, bags, wagons and strollers will be permitted.

    Tickets can be purchased in advance or on the day of the event. However, all tickets must be purchased before arrival at the show.

    If You Go:

    What: Air Dot Show Augusta

    When: Noon – 4 p.m. Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27; gates open 9 a.m.

    Where: Augusta Regional Airport

    How Much: Seating options and prices vary; children ages 5 and under are free in general admission section

    More Info: augustaairshow.com

  • Tiny Home Village

    Tiny Home Village

    Ivey Homes is partnering with Bridge Builder Communities, a nonprofit that supports 18- to 25-year-olds who are aging out of the foster care system, to construction Tiny Home Village.Ivey Homes is partnering with Bridge Builder Communities, a nonprofit that supports 18- to 25-year-olds who are aging out of the foster care system, to construction Tiny Home Village.

    The campus, located on Merry Street in downtown Augusta, will include 25 tiny homes, shared community spaces and comprehensive life skill development programs to encourage independence and long-term success.

    Each tiny home will be furnished with the items needed to start a new home, including a new bed with linens; pots, pans and kitchen utensils; a table and chairs; and bathroom supplies. Upon graduating from the community, the resident will take all the items originally found in the home with them to begin their post-graduation, independent life.

    Other community partners in the project include Bill Beazley Homes, RW Allen Construction and McMillan Padzen Smith Architecture.

  • Spring Fair

    Spring Fair

    Columbia County Spring Fair returns this year April 18-27The Columbia County Spring Fair returns this year April 18-27 with fan favorites as well as new attractions. Entertainment includes midway rides and games, a demolition derby, magician, petting zoo, Fireguy Show and other special entertainment.

    Admission is $7 in advance or $10 at the gate. Parking is free, and children ages 5 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult. Unlimited ride passes are $18. After 7 p.m. ages 17 and under must be accompanied by a parent.

    For more information and details on admission and ride specials, visit columbiacountyfair.net.

  • Clarity of Cal by Vulfpeck

    Clarity of Cal by Vulfpeck

    Clarity of Cal by VulfpeckLike wafts of fresh-cut grass on the wings of spring, Vulfpeck’s Clarity of Cal arrives with a refreshing gust of groove, shaking off the last bits of seasonal pollen.

    This album is a sonic bouquet — a vibrant mix of funk, soul and playful energy that blossoms with each passing note. Recorded live during their California shows in September 2024, this isn’t just an album; it’s an invitation to step outside, stretch toward the sun and boogie down with rhythmic revival.

    With their signature blend of effortless tightness and laid-back charm, Vulfpeck crafts a soundscape that feels like spring itself — bursting with color, buzzing with life and just unpredictable enough to keep things interesting. Tracks like “Big Dipper” invite you to sink into the groove, while “New Beastly” revives a classic with fresh energy, its basslines rippling like the first waves on the lake.

    The velvety vocals, ever-buoyant basslines and crisp interplay of the band create an atmosphere where every song feels like the perfect soundtrack to a sunlit adventure. Whether you’re cruising with the top down, swaying on a back porch or cracking open a window or refreshing beverage to usher in the spring vibes, Clarity of Cal delivers a warmth that lingers. Break out the flip-flops, turn up the volume and let its rhythm of renewal take over.

    – Chris Rucker