Friday night at the Anderson County Civic Center came alive, giving birth to fond memories, as “The Come Dream With Me” prom returned with a circus theme — “Under the Big Top” – and filled the building with more than 138 special-needs friends from Anderson County and surrounding communities, along with the people who showed up to make the celbration work.

The turning of dirt marks the start of the fifth such home built through the Lot Project, and the latest class of Leadership Anderson has taken it on as its annual act of civic authorship, translating managerial talent and community pride into wood, labor, and the promise of a roof for those who are on the streets. The Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce speaks of Leadership Anderson in the language of legacy, and in this case the word does the work it ought to do: this is the 41st class, following four decades of projects meant to leave the county a little sturdier than it was found.

There are ceremonies around Anderson County to remember the our servicemen and servicewomen and their families who paid the ultimate sacrifice, Sunday in Iva, and services Monday at 10 a.m. at Dolly Cooper Cemetery, Honea Path and Pendleton. The Pelzer event has been rescheduled for May 30 from 4-6 p.m. County, state and federal offices will be closed Monday.

“If you can’t suspend the rules, the earliest the Senate could pass something is when you have tens of thousands of people standing in line to vote already,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, among the “no” votes, told reporters.

Pastures tended by farming families for generations are being surveyed and staked. The announcement signs go up first, rendered in the optimistic typography of the developer’s imagination: “Coming Soon. New Homes from the Low $300s. A Community Built for You.” What those signs do not say, and are not required to say, is what was there before.

Senators will begin debate Thursday on a bill redrawing the state’s congressional districts, a day after South Carolina’s election chief told them a second set of primaries will cost between $5 million and $6 million.

Early voting for the June 9 South Carolina Primary elections begins Tuesday and runs through June 5, Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m..

All early voting locations will be open for any potential runoff elections as well. Those dates are June 17 and June 18. Runoff elections, if needed are will be held June 23. 

Anderson County Council approved the amending of the zoning map in the Center Rock Voting Precinct, gave the go ahead for live streaming of county planning committee meetings, a ground lease agreement for new hangars at the Anderson Regional Airport and the Anderson County Comprehensive Plan as part of Tuesday’s meeting in the historic courthouse downtown.

The social media feeds are loud this year. The cut-and-paste operations are running at full volume. Positions are being lifted without context, connections insinuated without evidence, family members enlisted as proxies in arguments that have nothing to do with them. Some of this is coming from candidates. Most of it is not. All of it is aimed at emotion rather than fact, and it is worth pausing, with three weeks remaining, to look at what the actual record shows.

The city is hoping to breathe new life into historic downtown properties with a proposed $600,000 rehabilitation project on the corner of North Main Street and East Calhoun Street which will house P.F. Meat Co. Butchery & Market, which also has a Pendleton location. The business, which offers locally sourced meats and groceries – including fresh beef, pork and chicken cut to order – as well as local eggs, milk, bread and pastries hopes to open in Anderson later this year.

Driven by ongoing development and new commercial projects within the city limits, property tax revenues are projected to reach $16,945,000, marking a $994,000 increase. This upward trajectory is further supported by business license revenues, which are expected to hit $12,965,000—a $585,000 increase over the previous year.

As classrooms empty out for the summer, Anderson County School District Five is stepping up to ensure that local children do not lose access to the nutritious meals they rely on during the academic year. The district has officially launched its annual Summer Food Service Program, providing free breakfast and lunch to children across the community.

The hard, wooden, unpadded opera chairs — all 556 of them — came out as part of a renovation so thorough that Ragland, the artistic director and founder of the Mill Town Players, recently found himself climbing onto a furniture dolly and sliding down the bare, sloping hardwood floor of the historic hall, no obstructions anywhere, just the old wood and the open air of a building being returned, deliberately and at considerable expense, to something better than it was.

The event is built around the charitable loop. Net proceeds are returned to local causes and programs

“Games People Play,” which runs through August 22, assembles a collection of antique and vintage board games, arcade and electronic games, collectible cards, and the kind of memorabilia that tends to stop adults mid-stride and hold them there longer than they planned. The opening reception, Sunday from 3-5 p.m., is free and family-friendly, with old-fashioned games to try, card and board game instruction from representatives of Empire Games, and culinary creations on the playful side.

That information, delivered by ballot, now shapes everything the district does next. The two existing middle schools — Belton Middle and Honea Path Middle — will receive immediate attention this summer: roofing replacements at Belton, switch gear, switch panels, boiler repairs, and additional roof work at Honea Path. The money will come from the local option sales tax, a one-cent levy passed by Anderson County voters in 2015 that directs infrastructure dollars to all five school districts in the county.

Still, legislators will return for a special session as they try to hammer out compromises on some of leadership’s remaining priorities.

TCTC hosted a signing ceremony May 13 for the inaugural cohort of the TCTC Dual Enrollment Academy-Clemson Connect, a partnership announced in April 2025 that offers qualified high school students a guaranteed admissions pathway to Clemson. The program specifically targets students whose parents did not earn a bachelor's degree, aiming to open doors for first-generation college students in the Upstate.

Gov. Henry McMaster will order a special session beginning Friday morning, GOP leaders in both chambers told reporters Wednesday evening. The self-imposed deadline for passing a new map of congressional districts is May 26, said House Majority Leader Davey Hiott.

It’s graduation season, and Anderson County high schools have scheduled their ceremonies beginning next week. Here’s a roundup of the dates and times for the county’s public high school graduations