Highlights of Upcoming Events for the week of March 6

Skirmish at Gamble’s Hotel
Today through 6 p.m. Sunday at The Columns Plantation, 5027 E. Old Marion Highway, Florence. Today’s events feature a barn dance in the hay loft with music by The Crescent Moon Rounders. Sunday presentations include infantry, artillery, cavalry, military and refugee camps and builds to a battle between Federal and Confederate forces. Admission fee of $8, with tours of the house for an additional small fee.

Music at Magnolia Mall
Today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Florence School District 1 music students, including jazz bands, choruses, orchestras and dance groups, will perform at the fountain area of the mall. Call (843) 673-1134.

Block Buster Showdown
Today with doors opening at 2:30 p.m.; devotion begins at 3:30 p.m.; gospel concerts begin at 4 p.m. Tickets are $30.

‘Don’t Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell’
Today at 7:30 p.m. at Florence Little Theatre. Tickets are $19 and $11 for students. Call (843) 662-3731.

Celebrity Bar-B-Que Benefit for Disabilities Foundation
Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Roger’s Bar-B-Que in Florence and Schoolhouse Bar-B-Que in Scranton. Catered by Schoolhouse Bar-B-Que, First Baptist Church in Johnsonville also will serve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 each and can be purchased in advance or at the door. Homemade desserts will be sold for $1 each and celebrity waiters will work for tips. Eat in or take out. Delivery is available for 10 or more plates. Call (843) 662-4021 or (843) 374-2641.

Ben Moise book signing
March 9 at 6 p.m. at Back Swamp School House, 502 E. Pocket Road, between TV and Williston roads in Florence County. Refreshments will be served. Cost is $10. Call (843) 661-1135.

LIVE@CENTRAL!
Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. featuring retired Francis Marion University lecturer and professor of English Dr. Beverly Spears, a published author and columnist, at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Florence.. Spears is an avid student of Irish history and lives in Ireland several months each year. Call (843) 229-0379.

Theater presents ‘Blues for Mister Charlie’
March 11-13 and March 17-19 at 7:30 p.m. each night in the Watson Theater in the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Performing Arts Center. James Baldwin’s morality play is based on the 1955 murder in Mississippi of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and children younger than 18, and free with Coker College ID.

Palmetto Ballroom Dance Club dance
March 12 from 7:30 to 10:45 p.m. at the Leatherman Senior Center. The dance lesson, East Coast Swing, will be taught by Pauline and Vence Jelovchan from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Music will be provided by DJ Eddie Collins. Guests older than 21 are invited to attend. Dress should be appropriate evening wear for ladies and gentlemen. Admission is $5 for members and $10 for guests. Call (843) 393-2465 or (843) 667-9322, or visit www.palmettodanceclub.org.

Spring Homes, Gardens workshops
By the Florence County Master Gardeners Association are March 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Clemson University Pee Dee Research and Education Center, 2200 Pocket Road, Darlington. Cost is $35, which includes lunch. Tickets at door will be $45. Registration forms are available at the County Extension office at Third Loop Road and South Irby Street, or off the Web site, www. florencecountymastergardeners.org. Call (843) 395-9506 or (864) 680-7159.

Bar-B-Que Shag Festival Pageant
March 13 beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the Mitcheom Community Center in Hemingway. Categories are beauty, photogenic and oortfolio. Girls through age 24 can enter. For an application, call (843) 386-2611. E-mail cameliastevens@yahoo.com or scbbqshag pageant@gmail.com.

Joe Stukes History Series
March 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Drs. Bruce & Lee Foundation Library, featuring “Thomas Jefferson: I Remember Buying Louisiana.” Call (843) 662-8424.

‘Shamrock Fiddle Celebration’
Presented by the Florence/Darlington Strings, March 16 at 7 p.m. in St. Luke Lutheran Church, 1201 Cherokee Road. Featured will be Shaw Thompson singing “Danny Boy” and “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” as well as student and professional string players fiddling away on Irish tunes for St. Patrick’s Day. Admission is by donation to the Florence/Darlington Strings Summer Music Camp Scholarship fund. Call (843) 669-1156.

— From local reports