Pictured: Stephanie Grant, Bows for Life

Andrea Wilson with A Cart of Tarts out of Aiken set up her baked goods table at the Hometown Holiday on Friday night.  “It was a little slow,” she said, “Not many other vendors came out Friday night.”  But Saturday was a different story.  Many craft vendors lined the sidewalk to the Pavilion on Saturday morning.

Margaret Woods set up a 31 gifts table, taking orders and offering some items as cash and carry.  “I did really well Saturday morning with the cash and carry items.”  Margaret continued, “Last minute Christmas gifts are what people are looking for.”

Stephanie Grant and Carol Collum, friends that work together at the school, set up Bows for Life as a way of raising money for the leukemia and lymphoma societies after their moms both died of cancer.

Berlin Baptist Church sold cookbooks and soup, chili or chicken and rice lunches to raise money for coats for children in need.  They had collected enough for 53 coats prior to the lunch and expected to raise much more during the lunch hour after the parade.

The Wagener Woman’s Club raffled off a large basket of groceries and there were several more craft and yard sale vendors around town.   A few more groups were grilling lunches and Palmetto Amusements had some carnival food trucks out.  The WSHS FFA served their BBQ plates, a tradition at the Hometown Holiday weekend. 

Donald, Garrett and Zach Sturkie started the car show at the Hometown Holiday many years ago when the holiday weekend only consisted of a Christmas Parade.  The men thought there should be some other activity for people to enjoy and so they pulled together a small car show.  Within a few years, the small car show turned into a large car, truck and golf cart show. 

The Sturkies informed the town early in 2014 that they would no longer run the car show event, they felt it was time to pull back and let someone else do it for awhile.  “We gave them eight months to find someone else to run it.”  Garrett Sturkie sadly shook his head, “We gave the town hall all our paperwork.  Apparently, they couldn’t find anyone to take over for us.”  It was at the last minute that Phillip and Ann Widener stepped in to keep the car show tradition alive.  “We didn’t have time to fully prepare,” Ann responded.  “We got a few flyers out and pulled it together the best we could.  The threat of rain didn’t help us any.” 

There was a noticeable lack of entries for the car show this year.  A difference that saddened Garrett Sturkie.  “Last year was packed,” he said, “even golf carts showed up.  We had to add a category for the golf carts.  The one thing I loved the most was that we had very expensive, high dollar cars enter last year.  Some of those cars had a minimum of $100,000 in them.  People don’t pull those cars out in the rain and even though we had a threat of rain last year, they showed up.”

Berlin Baptist Church, Wagener, S.C. will present a re-creation of the village of Bethlehem for Christmas 2014 called “Bethlehem’s Child” on December 13 and 14 from 6:30pm until 8:30pm. 

This premier production will be an interactive, walk-through visit for guest of all ages with free admission.  Centered around the stable at the Inn, the village will be buzzing with the news that a special child has been born.  The nativity scene will be authentically portrayed with live animals and traditional characters. 

Come experience “Bethlehem’s Child”, Downtown Wagener, in the parkway between the pavilion and the library.  Bethlehem’s child will be held on two special nights.

Groups are welcome. The production is wheelchair accessible and parking is convenient.  For more information call 803-308-1675 or email [email protected].

WSHS Principal Mrs. Ute Aadland has begun her second year at WSHS with the good news that the school received a “B” rating from the South Carolina State Department of Education in 2014, the third highest grade for a high school in our district, bringing the school up from its “D” ranking from the previous year.  WSHS was also the only high school to increase its HSAP scores, a test that is one of the components used to evaluate a school’s ranking. 

“Coming up two grades – from a D to a B – is cause for celebration,” Mrs. Aadland said, “because it puts us at an even level with the other schools.  Our FFA is one of the best in the state, our JROTC is top notch and many of our students in early childhood education compete in regional and state events.  We have a lot of good things in place here.  Our graduation rate last year was the highest it’s been in a long, long time. Another goal for this year is to improve our ACT and SAT scores.  If we can get those scores up, the students will be more competitive when it comes to applying for scholarship money.  It’s a process.”  

Like all high schools, WSHS also conducts the EOCEP (End of Course Examination Program).  The EOCEP test is another component used in the calculation of middle and high school Absolute Ratings and Growth Ratings.  “All of our EOCEP scores came up significantly except for US History.” Mrs. Aadland reported, “We have a new strategy to bring up our History scores, I’m expecting a gain there this year. We have some great teachers who do a lot for our students.  The kind of faculty a school has and their willingness to incorporate new strategies within their classroom makes a big difference.”  

Things cooled off fast at Wagener Salley High School during the first week of classes as Ms. Steen and Mrs. Aadland accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that the students have been doing all Summer long.  Mr. Williams kicked it up a notch with his FFA interpretation of a "bucket."  While much of the student body gathered to watch, Mr. Williams dropped the "bucket" on the ladies.   The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, via social media channels, has spread faster than the organizers expected.  As of mid-August, ALS had received $4 million in donations compared to $1.12 million during the same time period in 2013.  Contributions further The Association’s mission to find a cure for ALS while funding the highest quality of care for people living with the disease.

View all the photos in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Album on Wagener Salley High School's Facebook Page.  To view a variety of Ice Bucket Challenges from George Bush to Will Smith, use the hashtag "icebucketchallenge" on your favorite social media channel.  Twitter.  Twitter Stars.  Facebook.  YouTube.  Instagram. 

Mr. Williams looks quite satisfied with the results.