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Belton Standpipe Festival mixes past and present
Photo by Richard Kelly
Peter Werner, of Black Mountain N.C., weaves a broom Saturday at Belton’s 22nd Annual Standpipe Heritage and Art Festival. Turnout for the event was large, helped by good weather, officials said.
Photo by Richard Kelly
Shane Allman, 3, of Honea Path, holds his skateboard Saturday at Belton’s 22nd Annual Standpipe Heritage and Art Festival. Shane wasn’t able to ride the skateboard yet but followed his father, Scott, around toting a board. Scott Allman was competing in the skateboarding contest at the festival.
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Clear skies and cool temperatures helped make for a good turnout Saturday at Belton’s 22nd Annual Standpipe Heritage and Art Festival.
“This is the most vendors and the biggest car show that we’ve ever had,” said David Jones, Belton Area Partnership chairman and director of the festival.
Jones referred to the roughly 85 cars that lined both sides of Main Street in front of the square for the car show.
Belton Town Square was filled with vendors selling food and crafts along with an entertainment stage. Across the street, the Belton Depot was the site of demonstrations related to the past.
Peter Werner of Black Mountain, N.C., was there, for example, weaving brooms by hand.
“There’s only a handful of people in North Carolina that do this,” Werner said.
He was the only person he knew of who hand-weaved brooms in South Carolina before he moved to North Carolina, he said.
“As far as I know, nobody in South Carolina does this since I moved to North Carolina,” he said.
A big attraction among the young people at the festival was the third annual Major Skate Competition, which drew skateboarders from as far away as Charlotte and Wilmington in North Carolina and stayed filled with competitors throughout the day.
“This is the third year for the competition,” said Bryan Major, one of the organizers of the event. “I started it three years ago in Pelzer but have held it in Belton the past two years.”
Ray Goff, who traveled to Belton from Charlotte for the event Saturday, said, “There was a competition in Charlotte, but I decided to come to Belton after competing in last year’s competition.”
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Too bad that about half the stores on the Town Square are out of business.
Obviously you are a negative pessimistic person. I am sorry you have to live your life this way.
The Belton Festival was the largest ever. I attended the car show yesterday late morning and
returned for the Beech Springs Church band and the Double Take and Friends Band. The crowd
was shoulder to shoulder all day and especially last night. Several vendors sold out of food.
As for the the amount of stores that are closed, you are wrong. The stores that are closed are
Mattison Hardware, the owner passed away recently, half of the former Wilsons Dime store, the former “Roosters restraurant” which is being remodeled for reopening, and the old Belton Center for the Arts building which is being remodeled for an upscale restraurant. There may be one or two more, but nowhere near half.
A new CVS Pharmacy and a new Kentucky fried Chicken are near completion. Have you been to Belton on Saturday night? The Depot and the Art center constantly have well attended events.
The Four Seasons Catering facility is always busy. Do not make the mistake of under estimating the citizens of Belton. I am not one, but I attend the events there and I am amazed at the progress of this town.
Small towns are in transition all over this great country. Belton, Honea Path and Williamston
seem to be handling the changes. If you think having traditional stores on the town square in small towns and cities is part of the future, you are wrong. Many challenges are ahead, but do not expect most of the rest of us to live in your world of pessimism.
wwbrown
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