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MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - One major Mount Pleasant road project is finally going to see some progress after several complications put it on hold.

Leaders say the $24 million Billy Swails Boulevard Phase 4B project, which has been years in the making, will soon become a reality.

Because of the scale of this project, as well as the woodsy area they will be working in, leaders had to take a lot of steps to get to this point in the project’s timeline. They had to worry about wetlands and wildlife, such as endangered Rafinesque bats and yellow-spotted turtles, in the area.

James Aton is the deputy director of capital projects and the transportation department for the Town of Mount Pleasant. He said that they have been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Natural Resources to get everything approved, and because there is federal funding involved in this project, they also had to follow the National Environmental Policy Act.

This project will make up over a mile and a half of roadway and will completely shift the traffic patterns in the north side of Mount Pleasant. The project in its entirety will essentially connect I-526 to the area of Porcher’s Bluff Road, running parallel to US-17 and Rifle Range Road, migrating the traffic that builds up in that frequently traveled area of the town.

This project will also alleviate a lot of the school traffic in the intersections near Jennie Moore Elementary and Laing Middle Schools in areas near Six Mile Road, Sweetgrass Basket Parkway and Hamlin Road.

Aton shared why there was such a need for this.

“So, this project was outlined in the long-range transportation plan decades ago and, again, is that last piece of the Hungry Neck, Sweetgrass and Billy Swails corridor. So, four other sections have already been built, and this is that last piece to finalize that that north-south corridor that will parallel US-17,” Aton said.

Aton said that the completion of this project will bring great benefits to the community and those who frequently travel the area.

“I think it’s going to improve traffic flow. I think you’re going to see a reduction in delay on 17. It’s also going to incorporate portions of the Mount Pleasant Way, which is a great initiative for those nonmotorized users. It will tie to the Vaughn Ed Kee project, which has existing sections of that trail as well as obviously the roadway. So, I think you’re going to see a big improvement in traffic and a lot of new opportunities to recreate through the town,” he said.

Aton said that they plan to finally put the project out to bid in March and contractors will have 45 days to put their bids in, so they will hopefully be able to begin construction by the summer.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - The Park West Recreation Complex will soon be home to the new Mount Pleasant Makers Mart.

It will be a weekly gathering that will celebrate local talent and community. It is planned to debut on May 2.

The mart will run every Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. from May through October.

“This market complements the current farmers market which is on Tuesdays, April through October. But the Friday market will offer farmers food products, artisans and lots of fun things that the community has been asking for,” Town of Mount Pleasant Event Coordinator for Mount Pleasant Recreation Department, Tracy Richter, said.

The Mount Pleasant Recreation Department Community Affairs & Marketing Division is working with a local event planner to organize the new weekly market.

Marianne Stavale Benkoski, Mount Pleasant Makers Market manager, has run markets in the area for several years. She has organized small businesses and holiday markets in Carolina Park. She has a passion for supporting local businesses and connecting with her community.

She started her own market 8 and a half years ago with 20 vendors. It grew to 85 vendors last year. Now she is focusing all her attention on this one. Benkoski said the potential is endless.

“This area could go up to, oh my gosh, you could have 50, 60 vendors, all the food trucks you can imagine, music galore. I mean it’s just endless things that could happen right here on this ground,” Benkoski said.

Benkoski added it’s about more than just shopping, it’s about the community and loving where you live.

All artisans will hand-make their items and all food will be South Carolina-based.

“This community needs the Friday night life and Friday night, like the football games that we have in the schools, just more of that. Almost like a Hallmark movie, where you meet on a Friday night here, for music for fun, children’s activities, and buy things,” Benkoski said.

If you want to attend the debut on May 2, you can stay up to date on the Mount Pleasant Recreation Department’s Facebook page or by signing up for their newsletter.

If you want to review the market guidelines, click here.

Applications are now open for vendors. You can email makersmart@tompsc.com if you’re interested.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MOUNT PLEASANT— After years of hosting shows in schools and churches, groups that include choirs, theatre troupes and other performing artists will have a space to stage their productions.

The town of Mount Pleasant's long-awaited community arts center, tentatively named The Venue MTP, will be located on Johnnie Dodds Boulevard. The old Pivotal Fitness gym space at 627 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. in the Plaza at East Cooper shopping center is currently being renovated.

The town finalized the lease for the roughly 9,000-square-foot space this month.

The arts center will consist of two classrooms, a large open space for performances, plus a backstage area and storage. Visual arts classes, such as painting courses, will be hosted in the two classrooms.

Live performances, classes and art exhibits will be hosted on site and community groups will be able to rent the space for their performances.

The initial improvements of the building by the landlord are expected to be completed by June, Mount Pleasant Recreation Director Steve Gergick said at the town's Health, Recreation and Events Committee meeting Jan. 6.

"We are beginning work now on the branding of the facility and the preparation for opening," Gergick said.

Once open, it will be Mount Pleasant's only public performance space, something community arts groups have said is desperately needed. Demands for more spaces for theatre troupes, choirs and dancers to perform have increased over the years.

A local nonprofit called East Cooper Arts Advocates, which formerly did business as the Mount Pleasant Community Arts Center, formed in 2016. The organization, which is not affiliated with the town, has been seeking more performance spaces locally.

Choirs and dance troupes have turned to renting out churches or schools for rehearsal spaces, or leaving the town altogether to find sufficient room to perform, arts center President Marie-Louise Moreto said.

"There is no performance space, there's no music hall, there's no public art exhibit space in Mount Pleasant, and we've lost a lot of artists," Moreto said. "We have been advocating for an arts center since 2016 and we're really happy that the town is taking these first steps," Moreto added.

Arts center operator Keely Enright told committee members Jan. 6 it would take roughly three to four weeks after the upfit is complete and the certificate of occupancy is received before events and classes are hosted in the space.

"We're going to move as quickly as we can once we have a (certificate of) occupancy to get this up and running started," Enright said.

Enright was contracted as the artistic director and operator of the arts center in July. She also serves as the the producing artistic director for the Village Repertory Co., a nonprofit theatre company in Charleston, and on the town's Recreation Advisory Committee.

The Village Repertory Co. spent 11 years putting on shows at a playhouse on Coleman Boulevard. The company left for Charleston in 2012 after outgrowing the space.

Published: Jan. 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM PST|

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Residents of a Mount Pleasant neighborhood are rallying together to find the person responsible for setting leg traps that have left multiple red foxes with injuries.

Jessica Lewis is a Hobcaw Point resident who said she has seen foxes limping down her neighborhood street.

Neighbors have spotted a total of five different crippled foxes in the Hobcaw Point area. So far, two of the foxes have been captured and rehabilitated. Lewis said the first fox captured is named Toni, and her injuries were so horrible that she had to have her front leg amputated at a cost of approximately $3,500.

The two captured foxes have since been transported to Izzie’s Pond, a sanctuary in Anderson County where they will safely live the rest of their lives in captivity.

Lewis said they’re still looking for the other three foxes so they can humanely capture them and give them the treatment they need.

“Since then, we have seen three other foxes with the same types of injuries that are consistent with leg hole traps, and we’re currently trying to capture those animals and rehab them as well,” she said. “We fear that one of them may have passed. We have only seen two recently, so we’re still desperately looking for these animals.”

Lewis said there has been widespread concern throughout her neighborhood regarding the mutilated conditions of these foxes.

READ MORE: Lowcountry wildlife rehabilitation center sees rise in calls about wild foxes

She said the Hobcaw Point Homeowners Association had a neighborhood meeting a few days before Christmas to address the community’s concerns about the foxes.

Lewis said this meeting prompted neighbors to come together and raise both awareness and money for the foxes.

Not only is Lewis concerned about the health and wellness of the foxes, but she said she’s worried that the next living creature that could possibly get caught in these foot traps could be someone’s pet, or even worse, someone’s child.

“The big concern for the residents here, not only is it’s so sad to see these animals suffering, but this is a big neighborhood of kids,” she said. “This is a big neighborhood of other animals, dogs, cats, running around. It would be horrific to see a child or an animal wander into a backyard and get injured by one of these traps.”

Lewis said it’s unclear where the injured foxes are coming from but she is determined to find out.

“It’s a pretty small neighborhood. Most of the appearances have been along Hobcaw Drive. We’ve seen them on Molasses Creek, Copahee Road- they’re in this general vicinity,” she said. “We’ve seen them injured over at the Hobcaw Yacht Club. It’s a tight spot, but there are a couple of streets that could be involved.”

Lewis said as of Monday, Hobcaw Point residents have raised a $1,000 reward for any information that could help them identify the person responsible for setting these traps.

“The traps themselves are not illegal, but the way they’re being used is actually illegal and can lead to actually jail time if this person is caught,” she said. “Because essentially what happens is if you use these correctly, you capture the animal, and then the animal is put out of its misery. If the animal is released, that’s where this starts to become unlawful.”

In addition to the reward, Lewis said she and her neighbors are also raising funds to help cover the costly medical procedures many of the injured foxes will most likely have to undergo.

“What’s funny is people in the neighborhood, they love these foxes. There are people in the community who’ve created little dens in their backyard so that they have a nice place to live in the wintertime. They’re very much a part of the community here. They’re not viewed as dangerous; they keep to themselves. So, it’s really sad to see this behavior going on,” Lewis said.

She said the only investigation into this issue so far has been carried out by the residents of Hobcaw Point.

“I’ll tell you, not only do we care, but we’re going to find this person, and we’re going to make sure that this stops because nobody wants to see this. It’s just too risky for our kids and our pets to have these types of traps in our community,” Lewis said.

She said they’ve had a few tips called into them, but their investigation has been a little difficult considering she lives in a neighborhood where peoples’ yards are private property.

“We’re looking for any information that can lead to the identification of this individual. At the end of the day, we just want to see these traps stop being used in our community,” Lewis said.

Lewis said she realized there was a problem with foot traps in her neighborhood when she saw a fox with an entire leg trap still stuck on its leg back in August.

“The whole trap was still connected to its leg and was clearly injured. Unfortunately, we were unable to find it. So, it escaped into the woods, and that was that,” she said.

She said this entire situation is one giant mystery, but it’s a mystery that she and her neighbors are adamant about solving.

“We all want to know. It’s like a great mystery, and it just doesn’t make sense. I mean, it’s so inhumane. Nobody can make sense of this. It’s incredibly sad. And we love these foxes in this community. None of us want to see this continue,” Lewis said.

Lewis said in addition to monetary donations, they also need blankets and towels.

“When they’re in their cage, if they’re in pain, they actually will tear up the blankets and the towels. So, we’ve been having to get new ones all the time because they just have to be thrown out every day,” she said.

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MOUNT PLEASANT — Hundreds of antiques and memorabilia from various periods of American history will be on display at the Omar Shrine Auditorium this weekend.

Visitors will have the opportunity to take home their own piece of history, talk with collectors and history buffs, and win prizes at the Lowcountry Antique Military and Americana Show and Sale on Jan. 4 and 5.

Around 200 displays and sales tables will fill the Omar Shrine Temple in Mount Pleasant, manned by antique buyers and sellers who are interested in artifacts from days gone by, including coins, bottles, arrowheads, maps, fossils and relics from the Revolutionary War to World War II.

A certified appraiser will be on-site, ready to evaluate any antiques or artifacts brought to the show for free. Butch Holcombe, publisher of American Digger magazine, which sponsors the show, encouraged people who have old items or hand-me-downs lying around to bring them in.

Holcombe said you never know what might come through the show's doors.

In past years, he's seen a Civil War-era belt buckle with the Maryland state seal be valued at $75,000. Another time, a man came in with a box of rare Confederate bullets and sold them all before the show ended.

"It is a great place for people to come if they've got … an old musket in the closet, or an old newspaper or letter signed by great-great-grandpa. Bring it to the show and let people look at it. They can not only authenticate it, but they can give you a very good idea of what it's worth," Holcombe said.

Anita Holcombe, executive director of American Digger magazine, said many of the vendors have spent years cultivating their collections and have an extensive knowledge of their history niche.

"There's plenty of people who've been doing this for years, collecting, that they can really teach people about what artifact it is they hold," she said.

The event is popular with relic hunters who use metal detectors and collectors of military artifacts, though modern history displays are represented, as well. Event organizers noted there will be security inspecting antique guns or weapons before entering.

This year's show will feature awards for historical displays and door prizes for the public. Tickets are $10 at the door for adults. Children under the age of 12 will receive free admission and a small artifact.

The Lowcountry Antique Military and Americana Show and Sale will be at the Omar Shrine Auditorium, 176 Patriots Point Road, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Jan. 4 and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Jan. 5.