Get your fill of fun with these three upcoming festivals in the Pee Dee

Some festivals may be a tradition, but the Rural Heritage Festival this Saturday is about tradition. The all-day event at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center is about the rich agricultural tradition of the Pee Dee.
“The festival is about rural heritage past, present and future,” said Jim Fredericks, Clemson University professor at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center.
The festival will feature crop exhibits, hands-on activities for children, farm equipment displays, story-telling, outdoor sports, heirloom crafts, traditional blue grass music, and the environmental learning centers on the Outdoor Education Trail.
Although last year’s festival focused more on the cultural aspect of rural heritage, said festival coordinator Carolyn Schretzmann-Jebaily, “This year the emphasis is on food energy and clean energy.”
The importance and resurgence of interest in agriculture in the Pee Dee continues to be a driving force behind the festival.
“Agriculture is still the number one economy in the Pee Dee area. Forestry is right after that. Those two together are bigger than tourism,” said Schretzmann-Jebaily.
The festival will also be the site of a press conference on Clemson University and Carolina-Pacific LLC’s announcement that Carolina-Pacific will supply switchgrass, a native and high-yielding bio-mass crop, to European clients as a substitute for coal to make electricity.
Fredericks said the coverage fits in with the theme of this year’s festival which is the past, present and future of agriculture.
“Agriculture is the true green energy,” he said. The press conference will take place at 12:30 p.m.

As Jim Money and his fellow members were discussing ways to attract more tourists into Darlington County, the idea arose that maybe the answer wasn’t just in downtown streetscapes and businesses, but in natural architecture that had been there since the beginning.
“In looking around at the strengths of what would interest tourists to come to Darlington County, one of the things we overlooked was our natural resources,” he said.
One of those resources, Black Creek, is the focus of the Kayak and Canoe Festival on May 1-2 in Hartsville.
The Kayak and Canoe Festival, while boasting its own independent fervor into the all-American town of Hartsville, is just one event among many taking place, including the Good Living Marketplace, which begins the morning of May 2, and Black Creek, Blue Jeans and BBQ Festival, which will take place on May 1-2 as well.
While the goal is to draw people’s attention to the natural wonders available in Darlington County (Money cited that plans are being made for endeavors at Lauter’s Lake, Dargan’s Pond and the Great Pee Dee River), the motive is also to provide people with a relaxing way to enjoy the weekend.
Money said Black Creek is a soothing activity after a hurried week of work.
Black Creek “is just a natural wonder. It is absolutely quiet. You don’t here any noise except birds,” he said.
Black Creek begins at Carolina Sandhills Natural Wildlife Refuge in McBee, continues through Lake Robinson in Hartsville, then on to Darlington, where it eventually tapers off in Florence County.
Registration for the Black Creek Kayak and Canoe Festival is available online at http://www.visitdarlingtoncounty.org. Check-in and late registration will be available at Lawton Park on May 1 from 1 to 5 p.m.
On May 2, the festival will begin at 9 a.m. Kayak and canoe races will be from 10 a.m. to noon. Live music with Oneida Martin, Noah Stanley, TimberLyn and The Gadsden Project will be from 1 to 2 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. The First Annual “Race Across The Lake” will be at 2 p.m. and the “Kids’ Sprint Across The Lake” will be at 3 p.m.
Exhibits from groups such as Pee Dee Land Trust, Kalmia Gardens, Carolina Sandhills Wildlife Refuge and more will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Food catered by Southern Candy Kitchen will be available all day.

While canoes and kayaks are taking to Black Creek, some of the best barbecue cooks in the state will be rolling into Hartsville to compete in the inaugural Black Creek, Blue Jeans and BBQ Festival at Cargill Way in downtown Hartsville.
The festival, which is a fundraiser for Black Creek Arts Council along with a community event to promote downtown Hartsville, will feature a barbecue competition that is one event in the year-long competition presented by the South Carolina Barbeque Association.
Judy Haenni, a certified South Carolina Barbeque Association judge for three and a half years, is the organizer behind the festival.
The festival features cooking contests — barbecue and otherwise. Also, there will be a blue jeans fashion contest, musical entertainment by Nikki and da Blooze Band along with all the barbecue one can eat on Saturday.
Haenni said the two festivals, the Kayak and Canoe Festival and the Black Creek, Blue Jeans and BBQ Festival came with a bit of serendipity.
“(Bruce Douglas, Black Creek Arts Council executive director) came to me and said, ‘Do you think we can put on a barbecue?’ Jim Money said he was thinking about a canoe festival, but didn’t want to do it without food, so I said, ‘Let’s combine the two,’ ” she said.
Haenni said barbecue cook teams are coming from the Upstate, Charleston and North Carolina. The barbecue will be judged Saturday morning and will be available for sampling by festival attendees shortly thereafter. Attendees can vote on their favorite, and the winner will receive the people’s choice award.

The Festival Schedule:
May 1 from 7 to 11 p.m.
“Anything Butt” Cooking Contest, “I Love My Blue Jeans” Contest and musical entertainment by Nikki and da Blooze Band. “Anything Butt” contest will have a $100 prize and trophy for winners in the categories of Entrees/Appetizers, Desserts and People’s Choice. Cost is $15 to taste entries.
May 2 at 11 a.m.
S.C. BBQ Competition judging and public tasting, with top prizes of $500, $300 and $200 along with trophies. Cost is $10 to taste entries.
Pre-registration for “Anything Butt” Cooking Contest and S.C. BBQ Competition is required. No registration fee for “Anything Butt” contest. $235 registration fee for each cooking team in the S.C. BBQ Competition.

Festival 1
WHAT: Rural Heritage Festival
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Pee Dee Research and Education Center, located at 2611 W Lucas St., in Florence
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: Call (843) 662-3526, ext. 227, or (843) 662-3526, ext. 228

Festival 2
WHAT: Black Creek Kayak and Canoe Festival
WHEN: 1 p.m. May 1, 10 a.m. May 2
WHERE: Lawton Park in Hartsville
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: (843) 665-1551, (888) 427-8720 or http://www.visitdarlington
county.org/

Festival 3
WHAT: Black Creek, Blue Jeans and BBQ
WHEN: 7 p.m. May 1, 11 a.m. May 2
WHERE: Cargill Way in Downtown Hartsville
ADMISSION: $15, $5 children 8 and younger
INFO: (843) 332-6234