The Southern Guitar Festival and Competition opens Friday at Columbia College, where all its weekend concerts are held, but it hits full swing tonight when The Maharajah Trio takes the stage. Its performance last year was the highlight of the festival, and there’s no reason to expect any different this year. Led by killer flamenco guitarist Silviu Ciulei, the trio rips through traditional flamenco tunes and its own top-flight originals.
The Columbia Museum of Art will receive $702,372; the Historic Columbia Foundation, $270,143; and EdVenture Children’s Museum, $108,057. For each, that’s a 2 percent increase over last year. Other funding that was approved included $300,000 for the Township Auditorium, $100,000 for the Renaissance Foundation and $125,000 each year to the next two years for the Nickelodeon Theatre.
Columbia Style Week wrapped up its week of high fashion with this Finale Showcase at the Richland Fashion Mall. Along with the standard runway fair, electro-pop band Death of Paris rocked the crowd and local vendors sold their stylish fashions. Photography by Thomas Hammond.
Downtown Columbia is a veritable milkshake mecca, where people in oppressive business suits clearly need plenty of icy cold liquid refreshment. At a restaurant on Sumter Street that advertised shakes on the door, I was advised to cross the road to Higher Grounds Books & Beans, a cafe in the First Baptist Church — an unlikely spot for shaken milk, but praise Jesus, they have an entire milkshake menu that boasts over 80 flavors including holy good concoctions like Toasted Marshmallow White Mocha. The shakes are made with 80 percent real ice cream and are flavored with frozen concentrate.
Hampton Inn Columbia Downtown Historic District: Best Hotel, Best Place to Work
$2.49 Cleaners: Best Dry Cleaner
Pointe West Apartments: Best Apartment Community
Crêpes & Croissants: Best Brunch, Best Breakfast, Best Coffee, Best New Restaurant
Immaculate: Best Piercing Studio
Vista Smiles: Best Dentist
Tin Roof: Best Bar or Club
The Glo Room: Best Smoke Shop