Electrician Contractor in Cayce, SC

FLORENCE, S.C. – Rosters for the 2023 North-South all-star basketball games were announced Wednesday and six area athletes were selected.

On the boys’ side, Wilson’s Merel Burgess made the S.C. squad along with Mullins’ Johnell Sindab and Carvers Bay’s Tony Bell. On the girls’ side, South Florence’s Jazmyne Lyde was chosen along with Chesterfield’s Raeleigh Rivers and Marlboro County’s Tysonia Lowe.

The games will be played March 18 at Brookland-Cayce High School starting with the girls’ game at 1 p.m. followed by the boys’ game at 3 p.m. Carvers Bay coach Jeff Mezzatesta is serving as an assistant for the boys’ game.

Burgess averaged 12.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game for the Tigers this past season as they earned the Region 6-4A crown and made the third round of the state playoffs.

Sindab ranked in the top five in the Pee Dee with a 20.5 points-per-game average to go along with 2.5 steals and 6.0 rebounds per contest. He helped the Auctioneers claim the Region 8-2A crown as well.

Bell averaged 9.4 points, 3.2 assists and 4.5 steals per game for the Bears, who were second in Region 5-A and made the second round of the state playoffs.

Lyde was one of the catalysts for the 24-2 Bruins this year as they captured the Region 6-4A title again. She averaged 11.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.2 steals per contest.

Rivers, the Region 5-2A Player of the Year, surpassed 1,000 points for her career this season in helping the Golden Rams finish second in the region and earn a playoff berth. She averaged 15.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.

Lowe led the Pee Dee with an average of 24.6 points per game while dishing out 2.1 assists per contest as well to help the Bulldogs earn a spot in the second round of the state playoffs.

Rosters for the Carolinas Classic all-star basketball games were also announced Wednesday, but no players from the Pee Dee were selected.

The South Carolina girls’ squad does have one connection, however, as former Timmonsville High and current East Clarendon High coach Perry Stokes will be the head coach for the S.C. team.

Both of those games are scheduled to be played on March 25 in Wilmington, N.C.

Some new flavors are on the way in Cayce.

Mai Poke Bowl, a restaurant that serves customizable and signature bowls with Hawaiian and Polynesian flair, is being prepped at 911 State St. in Cayce. That’s in the busy Parkland Plaza shopping center, right next to East Bay Deli. The owners of the East Bay Deli are opening Mai Poke Bowl.

Mai Poke Bowl co-owner Daniel Jaicks said the restaurant hopes to open in mid-September. He said he is excited about getting the new spot up and running.

“We own the East Bay Deli next door, and we were looking for a concept that was going to be a little bit different, something exciting and new,” Jaicks told The State during a recent chat at the restaurant, where employees were hard at work getting the space ready.

Poke — pronounced “po-kay” — bowl restaurants have gained popularity in recent years. The Hawaiian dish often features fresh fish (tuna, salmon, etc.) over a base of rice or salad mix, with a number of toppings and sauces available.

Mai Poke Bowl will have a host of signature dishes. For instance there is the Mahalo Bowl, for which diners can choose a base (brown rice, couscous, etc.) that is then topped with marinated tuna, salmon, edamame, avocado, masago, corn, ginger and sriracha aioli.

The spot will also offer some different twists, including, among other dishes, the Luau Bowl, which will feature sweet pork, pineapple, sweet onions, corn, carrots, mango, toasted coconut, red peppers, ginger, honey wasabi and sweet soy.

Jaicks said he thinks the location in Cayce is a good spot for a new poke place.

“The market over here is pretty strong,” he said. “There are a lot of college students, businesses, the (Brookland-Cayce) High School is here. It’s a good area.”

The Parkland Plaza shopping center has remained popular through the years. It has a number of offerings, including Food Lion, Monterrey Mexican restaurant, Planet Fitness and the Kingsman restaurant, among others. It’s in the midst of a bustling area where State Street meets Knox Abbott Drive. State traffic count data shows that about 26,000 cars per day pass down the corridor.

Cayce’s riverwalk is getting a new mural at the Blossom Street underpass that the artist hopes will tap into the area’s natural beauty and history.

Joel Cathran, who has another mural on State Street in Cayce, was chosen for the job. The West Columbian knows what he wants to do and already has designed the outline of what he hopes to create.

”I basically just took, like, a bunch of symbols that reminded me of family and, like, where I grew up, which is around the Cayce area,” Cathran said. “And so those symbols just … represent kind of like growing up here. So there’s all sorts of things that are involved in that, from plants and animals to the history of Cayce.”

The Cayce Beautification Foundation revealed the mural’s design Wednesday during an outdoor, farm-to-table dinner. The dinner was a fundraiser, held near the historic brick kilns not far from the Congaree River.

Foundation president Colleen Bradley said the mural should be finished by the beginning of next year.

“That wall has so much potential and that is such, like, a prominent area of the riverwalk for Cayce residents,” Bradley said. “So I just can’t think of a better way for us to kind of gain some exposure and grow our nonprofit aim than to kind of have this huge mural.”

The 100-person, $100-per-person dinner helped raise money for the mural, which is expected to cost $10,000. Sponsors paid for the dinner.

“I think it’s going to be such a great addition to the city of Cayce and the riverwalk in general,” Bradley said.

Cayce Mayor Elise Partin helped start the foundation in 2009.

“We’ve got a citizen committee to spearhead creating projects around the city to just add more beauty,” said Partin, who attended the dinner. “Murals are just such a fun way to add a pop of color or a sense of place.”

Marleigh King lives in the Cayce area and is at the riverwalk regularly, whether for a walk or a ride on her bike.

“As someone who’s heavily into art, I personally love the idea of a mural underneath the bridge,” King said. “I think it will breathe more life into the area.”

After three months, the mural on the side of the Mrs. Goodfoot, is ready for it's closeup.

CAYCE, S.C. — A new mural in Cayce is now complete.

It's located at the intersection of Knox Abbott Drive and Ninth Street.

Paint is drying as artist and local art teacher Kevin Pettit brushed up the community-based masterpiece.

It has both day and night elements, with glow-in-the-dark paint and 3D objects.

"That light over there and this one here lights up the parking lot at night, so it never gets really really dark and this kind of paint needs to, like it's charging right now from the sunlight, UV light," Kevin Pettit, artist said.

Donna Muszynski, owner of Mrs. Goodfoot, spearheaded the effort.

"It's awesome to have a day dream come to fruition, right. When I moved in here four years ago and this was nothing but a bunch of storage units and a big blank wall, I had this vision of creating something beautiful here," Muszynski said.

She says she's already received tons of compliments and great feedback from locals and travelers.

RELATED: Therapy K9 brings joy and comfort to Cayce middle school

"It's been very heartwarming and inspiring to see my friends bring their kids up here, or friends of friends who've stopped by to take a picture and I get tagged in the picture on social media or they'll text it or email it to me," Muszynski said.

The three-month project started with this inspirational note and $100 from Donna's friend who passed away from cancer.

RELATED: Cayce sewer improvements coming to Six Mile Creek

These bright colors will now catch your eye as you drive by. Donna has made her mark on Cayce, leaving it better than she found it.

The business owner tells us she paid for the rest of the mural out of pocket.

If you'd like to, you can still donate to the mural here.

A Columbia area family has sold nearly 650 acres to a conservation group as part of a deal to create a large urban nature preserve just west of the Congaree River in Lexington County.

The Open Space Institute purchased the property for $7 million from the Taylor family last week after months of negotiations, the organization said. The non-profit land preservation group plans to resell the property for the same price to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources for expansion of the Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve.

If that happens, the Congaree Creek preserve would encompass more than 1,200 acres, roughly double its existing size. The Congaree Creek site would be bigger than most of the state heritage preserves in South Carolina.

State funding to acquire the land is expected to come from the S.C. Heritage Trust program and the state Conservation Bank.

The existing 630-acre preserve lies between the 12th Street Extension and Charleston Highway in Cayce, just a short distance from downtown Columbia. Congaree Creek, a major stream, runs through the preserve on its way to the Congaree River nearby.

The property being purchased is adjacent to the current preserve and is filled with creeks, high bluffs, swamps, a rare white cedar forest and plant-rich bogs. One bog alone has 14 rare species, said L.L. “Chick’’ Gaddy, who has surveyed plants on the land. The property also has plenty of wildlife, including wood ducks, deer and birds of prey. And it has archaeological significance, in keeping with the historical importance of the existing Congaree Creek site, state officials said.

“It is sort of a chain of pearls in an urban area,’’ Gaddy said of the land.

Taylor family members had been seeking to sell the land for preservation, but development remained a possibility on part of the property if the deal fell through. The sale closed last Thursday, solidifying the agreement that has been under discussion.

Edmund Taylor, whose family traces its roots in Columbia to the American Revolution, said the public should enjoy the property.

“We’re tickled to death there are not going to be houses on it.,’’ Taylor said, noting that DNR archaeologists had been helpful in putting the deal together. “It’s going to be a wonderful resource for Columbia and Lexington County.’’

Ken Prosser, assistant deputy director for wildlife and freshwater fisheries at the DNR, said the land acquisitions should be taken up by the state Joint Bond Review Committee and the State Fiscal Accountability Authority later this summer. Those boards must examine proposed land deals.

“The plan is to make it part of the Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve,’’ Prosser said. “It obviously is of importance to DNR or we would not be pursuing it..’’

Funding details must still be worked out. But the S.C. Conservation Bank, an organization that buys land for protection, would likely provide some of the money, bank board Chairman Mike McShane has said.

Last week’s deal had been questioned by state Treasurer Curtis Loftis, who raised concern about the appraisal for the land and the price the state could pay. He also had questioned whether utilities might need some of the property to extend pipes.

But Loftis said his concerns have been mollified after discussions with those familiar with the transaction.

“We asked a lot of questions, we got tons of good answers back,’’ said Loftis, who lives in Lexington County. “Everybody acted in good faith (and) to my knowledge, we felt comfortable with the transaction. Any of these complex transactions are not exactly how one would do it themselves, but you can understand it.’’

In a statement Tuesday, the Open Space Institute said it looks forward to South Carolina taking control of the land for public use. The expanded preserve would make for a significant public recreational spot and would “give Lexington County one of South Carolina’s largest, most accessible public green spaces,’’ the institute said in a statement Tuesday.

This story was originally published August 2, 2022, 1:33 PM.