Selling Hartsville on its way

The Byerly Foundation’s executive director said Friday — the day after the launch of the Selling Hartsville branding and marketing initiative — that “Selling Hartsville” is now a part of the Hartsville lexicon.

Now, Dick Puffer said, the key is to build on the momentum of the launch and make “Selling Hartsville” a mind set for everyone who lives here.

Organizers wanted to target a hometown audience for the kick-off event of the initiative, which focuses on “Hartsville — The Art of Good Living” and presents Hartsville as a place to “Expect Pleasant Surprises.”

“Today is the first day of telling everybody how great Hartsville is,” Puffer said at the kickoff event, which was held at the newly dedicated Charles E. Burry Park in Cargill Way in downtown Hartsville. Other activities took place around the downtown area.

“We’re here to have a good time and to remind ourselves that Hartsville is one of the best places in which to live,” Puffer said.

The Selling Hartsville campaign is focused on promoting five basic pillars of life in Hartsville: learning, legacy, leisure, lifestyle and livelihood. The Byerly Foundation is sponsoring the initiative.

“I thought things were really exciting,” Puffer said. “I didn’t get to a lot of the downtown, but after it was over, I went over to the (Midnight) Rooster for dinner and there were four or five people coming out, and they stopped and looked around and said, ‘Wow, this town is really jumping tonight.’ That’s pretty much the kind of capsule we had hoped we would get.”

The crowd was not as large as organizers had hoped for. “We could have used a few hundred more people,” Puffer said. “But I think the crowd shows why we need to keep selling Hartsville. The people who were there had a good time.”

Thursday’s event was aimed at reminding hometown folks of what Hartsville has to offer.

“This is just a small part of what Hartsville is all about,” said Johnna Shirley, chairman of the Selling Hartsville Task Force marketing committee.

“Hartsville is a great place. There’s a lot of art here, and a lot of good living here.”

During the event, Mayor Michael Holt presented proclamations from the city to Coker College President Dr. Jim Dawson in recognition of Coker’s 100th anniversary and to Hartsville Fire Chief Bill Heathman recognizing the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Hartsville Fire Department.

Holt stressed the “selling” of Hartsville and its quality of life. “Sell, sell, sell,” he said.

Roger Schrum, who chairs the task force’s recruitment committee, said organizers have brought together an ambassadors group of “subject matter experts” to match with potential newcomers to Hartsville in an effort to attract more people to live here, particularly those who are employed in the Hartsville area.

“We want to show them what a great community this is. We want them to live here and to spend their money here,” Schrum said.

Coker College President Dr. Jim Dawson, who also chairs the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, is chairman of a legacy corridors committee of the task force.

That group has identified potential legacy corridors or entrances into Hartsville, including Sixth Street at the old Butler High School, which the Butler Heritage Founda-tion is working to transform into a community center, an agricultural legacy corridor on Fourth Street at the Coker Farms National Historic Site, West Carolina Avenue at Kalmia Gardens, an educational legacy corridor on East Home Avenue at Coker College, an industrial entrepreneurial legacy corridor on North Fifth Street near Sonoco and a recreational legacy corridor on Fourteenth Street at Byerly Park.

“This fine community has a rich heritage,” Dawson said.

“We are a community that has a rich past, and when people come here, we greet them with great pride.”

Live entertainment for Thursday’s event included the award-winning Sonoco Men’s Club, the Coker College Chamber Singers, the Hartsville High School cheerleaders, Miss Harts-ville Morgan Dampier and Walter Crooks Drums among others.

Organizers had considered postponing the event in light of the murder of Hartsville business owner Keith Hancock during an attempted robbery at his business on Sept. 29 that shocked and outraged the community.

“There was some thought among some people that maybe Selling Hartsville could be postponed, but then the thought is that having a dynamic downtown is something that Keith Hancock was a part of, and we should not let the actions of horribly bad people make us look at only the bad things that happen in life,” Puffer said the day before the launch event.