Category: LIFE + STYLE

Prepare to be bowled over by a popular community fundraiser when the 14th annual Empty Bowl takes place on Sunday, March 1. Although the event was held at Augusta Jewish Community Center in the past, it has been moved to the Legends Club this year to accommodate the growing number of people that attend.

“The new venue will give us a lot more space,” says Lynda Jaremski, the AJCC community programs director.

The event, which benefits AJCC and Golden Harvest Food Bank, typically attracts 400 to 500 people. Patrons can enjoy an all-you-can-eat soup kitchen-style buffet with soups, breads, beverages, desserts and kid friendly foods including hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. All foods are donated by area restaurants, caterers and food companies.

Each guest gets to take home a ceramic bowl made by an area school student or by a local artist. Patrons can purchase additional bowls for $10.

“They will be set up in a bowl room as a reminder that some people still have empty bowls,” Jaremski says.

Patrons also are encouraged to bring cans of food for Golden Harvest, and they will receive a raffle ticket to win a bicycle from Chain Reaction for each can that they donate. They can purchase additional raffle tickets for $1 each or six for $5. The fundraiser will include a silent auction and an interactive children’s event with a live storyteller as well.

If You Go:
What: Empty Bowl
When: 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 1
Where: Legends Club, Augusta
How Much: Advance tickets – $20 adults, $5 ages 2 – 10. At the door – $25 adults, $7.50 ages 2 – 10. Free for children under age 2. Tickets are available at Augusta Jewish Community Center, Golden Harvest Food Bank, Weinberger’s Furniture and WifeSaver in North Augusta.
More Info: (706) 228-3636 or augustajcc.org

The cultural scene in Columbia County is always a cause for celebration, but the new Yuchikiokee Festival will specifically highlight the county’s art, music, dance and heritage.

“We wanted to have an art festival that primarily celebrated Columbia County arts,” says Virginia Atkins, the county community events specialist. “It shines a spotlight on what Columbia County arts really are.”

But where in the world did the name come from? Although it may be a bit tricky to pronounce at first, the festival name comes from two Native American tribes, the Yuchis (also spelled Ugee, Uchee or Euchee) and the Kiokees, which once made a home here. Two local creeks that wind through the county and join into the Savannah River also have been named for the tribes — Euchee and Kiokee creeks.

The two-day festival will get underway Saturday, March 21 with live entertainment at 11 a.m. and an opening ceremony at noon. A 7 p.m. concert will round out the first day of activities. In between, the event will include plenty of entertainment with vendors and artisans from the Southeast, a sidewalk chalk competition, performances by Columbia County arts organizations, zorbing, light painting and a juried fine art competition.

Live performances from Journey Church will kick off the festivities on Sunday, March 22 at 10 a.m., and the festival will close with excerpts from Columbia County Ballet’s Roar of Love beginning at 5 p.m.

A variety of food vendors will be on hand as well, so no one will go hungry.

– Katlin Carter

Forget about last year’s ice storm. It can be fun to play in the snow. So, grab your mittens and head to Evans Towne Center Park on January 17 to create wintertime memories at the third annual Columbia County Snowfest.

This year’s event will include three snow-tubing slides – two King of the Hill slides and a new Junior Snow slide. However, snow bunnies aren’t the only ones who can enjoy the festivities. Additional entertainment will include carnival rides, live music, arts and crafts, kid zone with inflatables, concessions and more.

If You Go:
What: Columbia County Snowfest
When: Noon – 5 p.m. Saturday, January 17
Where: Evans Towne Center Park
How Much: $10 per person; $30 family four pack; free for children ages 2 and under
More Info: (706) 854-8636 or columbiacountysnowfest.com

Anything goes in the fourth annual Chilly Chili Cook-Off sponsored by Champions Made From Adversity this year. Contestants, who can compete as individuals or as businesses, are free to throw in everything but the kitchen sink when they compete for prizes in the chili contest. Contestants also can win people’s choice awards and showmanship prizes for the best-decorated booths.

This year competitors also can enter their favorite recipes in two new categories – Soups and Stews as well as Cornbread. In addition, local vendors will be on hand to sell goods such as coffee, hot chocolate and desserts.

“We’ll have something for everyone,” says CMFA’s Kelly Garcia.

Patrons can sample chili, soups, stews and cornbread to select the people’s choice winners. They can cast their votes by placing money in a provided jar. Contestants also are encouraged to rally financial support prior to the cook-off or come up with other creative ways to raise funds. Competitors should bring at least 5 gallons of chili, soup or stew and 200 1-inch pieces (about two 13-by-9-inch pans) of cornbread.

Entertainment will include a warrior art exhibition, a wheelchair basketball expo, a free throw contest for adults and children, a performance by Center Stage Dance Academy, raffles and a selfie photo contest.

“We want to raise awareness about disabilities,” Garcia says. “People with disabilities do everything you do. They just have to do it in a different way.”

If You Go: 
What: Chilly Chili Cook-off
When: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, January 24
Where: Evans Towne Center Park
How Much: $5; free for children 12 and under
More Info: (706) 364-2422 or cmfa.us

Known for its dramatic and visually compelling performances of Native American culture, the Kevin Locke Dance Ensemble will visit the area as part of Georgia Regents University’s Lyceum Series this month.

Representing the Lakota, Anishinabe, Comanche, Choctaw, Ojibwe and Oneida nations, this one-of-a-kind ensemble of performers offers a variety of American Indian traditions and aesthetics in dance, instrumentals, song, storytelling, sign language and audience interaction.

Dramatic lighting effects add visual interest, but the dances themselves strictly honor tradition. Educational explanations woven into stories and narratives surround the dances.

Locke (his Lakota name, Tokaheya Inajin, means “The First to Arise”) is known worldwide as a visionary hoop dancer. He also is a preeminent player of the indigenous Northern Plains flute, traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist and educator.

If You Go:
What: Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, January 24
Where: Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre
How Much: $15 reserved seating
More Info: (706) 667-4100 or gru.edu

The family that plays together stays together. Just ask members of the Annie Moses Band, who have performed together on stages ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Grand Ole Opry.

The Christian family of Juilliard-trained musicians and award-winning songwriters is bringing its distinctive style of folk and classical music to the Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center on February 6. Led by lead singer and violinist Annie Wolaver, the band also includes her six siblings – Alex, viola; Benjamin, cello; Camille, harp/keyboard; Gretchen, violin/mandolin and Jeremiah, guitar/banjo.

Their parents, Bill and Robin Wolaver, compose pieces that weave musical styles into cinematic arrangements while the talented siblings exhibit their Nashville-styled music making. 

If You Go:
What: Annie Moses Band
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, February 6
Where: Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center
How Much: $42 and $47
More Info: (706) 726-0366 or augustaamusements.com

Peace and goodwill toward men interrupted WWI a century ago.

Myths and legends frequently grow out of the heat of battle, but one seemingly unbelievable event – the Christmas truce of 1914 – actually took place 100 years ago on the battlefields of Flanders during World War I.

The truce began when German soldiers spontaneously started singing carols and lining their trenches with Christmas trees they had received from home and lighted with candles. Curious, but skeptical, Allied troops, who had been bombarded with propaganda depicting Germans as barbarians, joined in the singing.

Following the age-old custom of truces, soldiers from both sides arranged ceasefires and ventured out to No Man’s Land between the trenches to gather and bury their dead. They ultimately began to communicate, sharing photographs and exchanging gifts such as cake, alcohol, postcards and tobacco.

Remarkably, the 1914 Christmas truce of World War I resulted from no official act but started on each battlefront spontaneously and independently.

The ceasefire started in some places on Christmas Eve and in other spots on Christmas Day. In most areas the truce lasted only a day, but along other lines it continued until December 26 or New Year’s Day. The truce covered as much as two-thirds of the British-German front while French and Belgians were involved as well.

The desire to acknowledge the holiday has been attributed to several theories. At that time the war was less than six months old, and animosity between the troops had not yet escalated to the level it would reach later in the war. Soldiers shared a common bond of discomfort in the early trenches that lacked amenities and were prone to flooding. And other than the newly dug trenches, the surrounding landscape of fields and villages still appeared relatively normal.

The extraordinary event has inspired theater productions and songs, including Snoopy’s Christmas, the 1967 Royal Guardsmen top hit about Snoopy’s uplifting Christmas encounter with the Red Baron. However, a number of misconceptions about the truce also gained traction over time.

One widely held assumption is that only enlisted men took part in the truce, but some officers also participated with varying degrees of support.

According to another misconception, news of the truce was withheld from the general public at home until the war was over. Yet, throughout January 1915, British newspapers printed letter after letter from soldiers who were part of it and ran photos of British and German troops together in No Man’s Land. Germany also publicized the event on a smaller scale for a shorter time.

The truce led others to believe that neither side wished to return to war, but most soldiers were determined to resume the fight and win.

Many of the WWI soldiers involved thought the Christmas truce was a one-of-a-kind wartime event, but informal truces were a longstanding military tradition. During the Civil War, Rebel and Union soldiers traded goods, fished on opposite sides of a stream and even gathered blackberries together. British, French and Russian troops gathered around the same fires to smoke and drink in the Crimean War.

The story of the 1914 truce was largely forgotten in the fighting that followed, and the Christmas truce had no long-lasting effect on the war that dragged on for four more years. For a brief time, however, the reciprocal gesture fostered peace and goodwill among warring adversaries who, they discovered on that day long ago, were more alike than different.

One of Columbia County’s most popular gathering spots will look like a winter wonderland when Christmas in the Park comes to Evans Towne Center Park from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, December 6.

The event will feature arts and crafts vendors for holiday shopping; ice skating; the world’s largest inflatable snowman, Snowzilla Jr.; a tube slide; a trackless train; trolley rides and Santa and Mrs. Claus. A live nativity scene will be on site from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m., and musical performers will include Tara Scheyer and the Mudpuppies with Snapdragon, Eryn Eubanks and the Family Fold, jazz saxophonist Fred Williams and more.

Admission is $8 in advance or $10 the day of the event. Tickets are available online at etix.com or at the Community & Leisure Services office, 630 Ronald Reagan Drive, Building C; Chili’s in Evans or Learning Express Toys.

A tree lighting, which is free, will follow the festival at 5 p.m. For more information, visit evanstownecenterpark.com or call (706) 650-5005.

There’s no place like home for the holidays, and Columbia County will offer local residents plenty to do to get in the Christmas spirit. With tree lightings, parades and festivals in the lineup of holiday events, everyone is sure to have a wonderful Christmastime. See our events calendar for more details.

Harlem Christmas Tree Lighting
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4
Harlem City Hall

Grovetown Christmas Tree Lighting
6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5
Grovetown Senior Center

Christmas in the Heart of Harlem
10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6
Downtown Harlem, parade at 11 a.m.

Columbia County Christmas in the Park
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6
Evans Towne Center Park; tree lighting at 5 p.m.

Grovetown Christmas Parade
Noon Saturday, Dec. 6
Begins at Grovetown Middle School and ends at Summerfield subdivision

Columbia County Christmas Parade
2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7
Begins at Evans Town Center Boulevard and ends at Evans High School

The smell of funnel cakes in the air can only mean one thing: the 49th annual Columbia County Fair is here.

Open for thrill seekers October 30 through November 8, this year’s lineup includes new attractions such as the Zoovogel (Sky Rider) and Wildlife Wendy and her Tropical Birds Show, along with returning favorites like demolition derbies, a master chainsaw carving artist, a petting zoo, Sea Lion Splash and Oscar the Robot.

The Merchants Association of Columbia County, a non-profit organization of business volunteers, presents the fair each year at their fairgrounds on Columbia Road across from Patriots Park. Free conveniences include parking with security, golf cart shuttles, nightly entertainment and admission for kids 3 and under.

Proceeds from the fair benefit more than a dozen CSRA charities and provide scholarships to seniors from each Columbia County public high school. For more information, visit columbiacountyfair.net.

Thursday, October 30
Hours: 5 – 11 p.m.
Admission: Get one free admission with five non-perishable items per person to be donated to Columbia County Cares; $7 admission without donation.
Senior Night: Free admission for adults 55 and older
FFA Judging: 6 p.m.
Entertainment: Sandy B and the Allstars

Friday, October 31
Hours: 5 p.m. – midnight
Admission: $5
Entertainment: Out of the Cellar band

Saturday, November 1
Hours: Noon – midnight
Admission: $7
Kids’ Day: Kids ride free noon-1 p.m.
Entertainment: Brandon Bower Band

Sunday, November 2
Hours: 1 – 11 p.m.
Admission: $7; $1 off with church bulletin; $1 off for all students
Unlimited Ride Special: $20

Monday, November 3
Hours: 5 – 11 p.m.
Admission: $7
Military Appreciation Night: $4 admission with military ID
Entertainment: John Kolbeck Trio (at the Demolition Derby)
Demolition Derby: 7:30 p.m.
Unlimited Ride Special: $20

Tuesday, November 4
Hours: 5 – 11 p.m.
Admission: $7
Apollo Talent Night: Kids ages 1-12 with DJ Tony Howard
Unlimited Ride Special: $20

Wednesday, November 5
Hours: 5 – 11 p.m.
Admission: $7
Entertainment: Electric Voodoo & the UGA Georgettes Dance Team (7 p.m.)
Unlimited Ride Special: $20

Thursday, November 6
Hours: 5 – 11 p.m.
Admission: $7
Apollo Talent Night: Adults (ages 13+) with DJ Tony Howard
Unlimited Ride Special: $20

Friday, November 7
Hours: 5 p.m. – midnight
Admission: $7
Entertainment: The Remedy (at the Demolition Derby)
Demolition Derby: 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 8
Hours: Noon – midnight
Admission: $7
Kids’ Day: Kids ride free noon-1 p.m.
Entertainment: Tanner Duckworth; 2nd Chance Rising
Chainsaw Carving Auction: 9 p.m.

Baked ziti with meat sauce, chicken parmigiana and pasta Alfredo for Thanksgiving? Sure. Why not?

This “Taste of Italy” trio once again will be on the menu for the 13th annual Italian Thanksgiving Feast, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Friday, November 21. Garlic Clove will prepare the food as it has in the past. This year, however, the fundraiser will be held at Marshall Square Resort Lifestyle Community.

Local celebrities will serve diners, who can make a donation for their meals to support Golden Harvest Food Bank, Third Saturday and Good Neighbor Ministries. Last year the event raised $5,400.

“We want to give back. It’s our responsibility and obligation to make sure others are taken care of, and that’s exactly what these three organizations do. They take care of everybody in the community,” says Garlic Clove chef Jeff Freehof.

Good things happen when the sun goes down on November 22. During Art After Dark, the signature event for the Artists’ Guild of Columbia County, artwork from more than 20 local artists will be on display and for sale at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion.

“People don’t have to go to Atlanta to buy art,” says Jane Waldrop, guild president. “We have so many wonderful artists in the area.”

Artwork will include watercolors, oils, acrylics, photography, pottery, fiber arts, jewelry, mixed media and Zentangle, abstract drawings that are created by using repetitive patterns.

The annual fundraiser will benefit the guild’s scholarship and building funds. Each year the guild offers a $1,000 scholarship to a high school senior that plans to study art in college. Proceeds from a silent auction, which will include artwork and other items, and a 50/50 raffle will support the funds.

The event also will feature complimentary hors d’oeuvres and entertainment that includes interpretive dancer Jordan Hughes, jazz musician Bill Karp and Harmony River Chorus.

“All of our entertainers are volunteering their services,” says Waldrop. “They are local people that are sharing their talents.”

If You Go:
What: Art After Dark
When: 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday, November 22
Where: Savannah Rapids Pavilion Loblolly Pine Room
How Much: Free
More Info: artistguildcc.org

Augusta Amusements will bring entertainment for all ages to the Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center this month: “Lightwire Theater – Dino-Light,” Al Pierson and Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians and The Count Basie Orchestra.

“Lightwire Theater – Dino-Light” is a child friendly ballet, which features giant puppets that are illuminated by neon-colored wires on a darkened stage. The original show tells the story of Professor Henslow, a famous scientist with magical powers who creates a wild and primitive dinosaur in his workshop. The two become separated, and Dino meets many creatures – a carnivorous tyrannosaurus, a pair of friendly long-necked birds and a school of fish – when the pair tries to reunite. Along the way, Dino learns something new about himself and the world around him as well as the true meaning of love.

Lightwire Theater made it to the semi-finals of Season 7 of “America’s Got Talent,” and you have to see it to believe it. Tickets to the Friday, October 10 performance are $28.50 for adults and $14.50 for children under age 16.

On Saturday, October 11, Al Pierson and Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians – the longest-running dance orchestra in the world – will delight the audience with its big band sound. The original orchestra floundered for more than a decade after Lombardo’s death in 1977, but Pierson took over the legendary band in 1989. Tickets are $35 and $40.

The Count Basie Orchestra – “The Swingingest Band in All the Land” – will perform on Friday, October 24. The elite jazz band has won 17 Grammy Awards and 20 Downbeat and Jazz Times polls, more than any other big band in jazz. Tickets are $49 and $54. 

All three shows begin at 7:30 p.m. at Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center in Evans. For more information, visit augustaamusements.com or call (706) 726-0366.