Two festivals and an NCAA tournament highlight active, fun weekends coming up in Newberry.

The Taste of Newberry Friday evening will show the remarkable variety and quality of Newberry restaurants. Fifteen vendors will offer everything from brisket to crab cakes, from boom-boom shrimp to minty-mint ice cream. Festivities, including live jazz, are from 5-9 p.m. at the Friend Building at 901 Friend Street.

Also this weekend, Newberry College will host its first NCAA baseball tournament with Catawba and Young Harris (Ga.) coming to the Smith Road Complex for a double-elimination tournament. With its best team in decades, Newberry will play Friday at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., working to advance to Saturday’s championship. The winner of Saturday’s championship advances to the next round. The tense, exciting atmosphere of an NCAA tournament is a treat for Newberry to host, and Coach Russell Triplett invites everyone out to support the Wolves.

Newberry will host its first Open Streets festival on Saturday, June 1 from 9 a.m.-noon downtown as a showcase for being a vibrant and healthy community. A nationally-affiliated event, Open Streets will include Main Street blocked from Calhoun to Nance to encourage bike riding and walking for adults and children. Free activities downtown will include a bike safety course from the police dept., art, yoga, Zumba, children’s activities and a mile walk that I’ll help lead at 10 a.m. Also that morning, the summer Farmers Market will kick-off at 9 a.m. at Memorial Park. It will be a fun start to summer, and we hope you’ll join us.

In business news, after Genesis Hub Coffee Shop moved to its impressive new location at 1110 Main Street, Bike Baby opened in Genesis’ former spot at 1104B Main St. Owner Marguerite Girard, a lifelong cyclist, aims to get people outside, and her shop sells reasonably-priced new and used bicycles. She’s open afternoons Thursday-Sunday.

At 2701 Winnsboro Road, La Fogata restaurant recently opened. Ruth Cervera, who owned Mi Tipico at that location, is now partnering with Alberto Lozano, who formerly owned La Fogata in Newberry. Randy Rabon is the manager, and they’re off to a good start.

Walgreens bought the Rite-Aid chain and in Newberry has elected to open a small store at 1233 Wilson Road (the old Lorex) and not continue the larger store. As a chain, Walgreens is closing about 750 of the 1,932 Rite-Aid stores they purchased, according to Forbes, and is testing a new smaller store concept, such as this on Wilson Road.

It’s my understanding that Rite-Aid had a long-term lease at its old location so Walgreens will have to pay rent to the out-of-state owner for a while. That’s a great location so we expect a new company to eventually go into that building.

S.C. DOT’s beautiful repaving of Main Street from CVS to Hillbrook Lane looks great and is appreciated. Also adding to the look of the Main Street/Wilson Road area are the trees and shrubbery that are required on new construction in the City of Newberry. Mayor Ed Kyzer and city council passed this ordinance in the early 2000’s, and that vegetation is really showing well now.

Kraft-Heinz will hold a job fair Saturday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Piedmont Tech, offering a variety of jobs with good benefits.

We salute our outstanding police department and all law enforcement this week during National Police Week and thank them for their dedication and talent.

Finally, the American Legion will hold a Memorial Day ceremony on Sunday, May 26 at 4 p.m. at Community Hall. The tribute is always well done. The public is invited.

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Foster Senn

Contributing Columnist

Foster Senn is the mayor of Newberry. His columns appear periodically in The Newberry Observer.