Downtown Hartsville will shine as never before on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 5 to 10 p.m., as the Duke Energy Lights Up the Night Community Festival arrives with laser shows, live music from Terence Lonon and the Untouchables as well as a plethora of vendors and children’s entertainments.
This large-scale, free community festival, sponsored by Duke Energy, is taking place on Railroad Avenue and Coker Avenue, as well as at Coker College’s DeLoach Center. The event’s free, 15-minute laser shows will take place inside the DeLoach Center at the top of every hour from 6 to 9 p.m. The classic beach music group Terence Lonon and the Untouchables, meanwhile, will return to Hartsville for the fourth straight year, entertaining festival-goers with a massive repertoire of Doo-Wop/R&B/Soul hits of the Drifters, the Four Tops, the Temptations and the Tams.
“The Duke Energy Lights Up the Night Community Festival is going to be big, bright and family friendly,” Suzy Moyd, Executive Director of Main Street Hartsville, said. “We’re tremendously grateful that Duke Energy has given Hartsville the gift of a major fall festival that reflects the amazing vibrancy of our community. This has become one of the greatest and most exciting events to come to us in recent years, and we’re already looking forward to making this an annual fixture on the calendars of local residents.”
A wide variety of vendors will be on hand with crafts, soaps, fabrics, jewelry, pumpkins, bake sales and carnival food as well as photo booth opportunities. Children will have a chance to discover such exciting vehicles as a NASCAR Pace Car and a Duke Energy bucket truck at the Touch-A-Truck display, play inside inflatables, discover a petting zoo from Pleasant Valley Stables and explore a neon obstacle course, which the Hartsville YMCA will create around the pond at the Vista, the park located along Railroad Avenue. The ArborOne Ag Simulator will also appear, allowing children to imagine driving a tractor amidst various crops.
“Hartsville Knocks,” a wreath designing competition which will place expertly crafted and themed wreaths on front doors throughout downtown Hartsville beginning in November, will host its preliminary judging at a display during the festival. The nine wreath-decorating artists selected then will go on to a final competition round during Main Street Hartsville’s Downtown Holiday Open House on Nov. 19 at Seersuckergypsy, 212 N. Fifth St., from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Another competition will reach its final round during the festival, as the Hartsville Icon amateur performance finals take place on the main stage. The event series has garnered an enthusiastic response as it ran throughout Main Street Hartsville’s fall Downtown Block Party series, and will provide to its ultimate winner a grand prize including $200. The finalists include Zachary Bradshaw, Lona Anne Arreola and GleeSSM, the Glee Club of the S.C. Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, with the winner determined by audience applause.
Robinson Nuclear employees will also be on hand to teach children about nuclear energy and electricity through interactive demonstrations that are sure to delight. There will be a booth for adults as well with information about nuclear energy, tips for saving money on your light bill, and other pertinent information that Duke Energy customers can use.