NEWBERRY COUNTY — The Newberry County Chamber of Commerce held its annual Mayor Breakfast last week where the mayors from Newberry, Prosperity, Little Mountain, Pomaria, Whitmire and Silverstreet gave updates on their towns.

In the City of Newberry, Mayor Foster Senn discussed Samsung building a factory in the city, thanking everyone who was involved in helping get the electronics giant to locate in Newberry.

“I know a lot of people here were involved,” he said. “Samsung is going to be here a long time and hire people many years into the future. A lot of communities would like to be in our position. This is something to be proud of.”

Foster also discussed the Old Newberry Hotel, which is undergoing renovations.

The hotel has not operated as a hotel since the 1950s, but that is now looking to change thanks to the new owners, Joe and Mary McDonald. The hotel will have 10 apartments and seven art studios, different type of art studios, upstairs.

“I saw a story about the 1900 Eclipse in Newberry. A group of scientists came here from the U.S. Weather Service and the article noted that they stayed in the Newberry Hotel. A lot of history in Newberry has come through there, and that building will soon be alive again,” Senn said.

Other items of note, Senn said, were that Papa Johns will be opening across from Waffle House on Main Street and the city continues to replace old water and sewer lines.

Prosperity

Prosperity Mayor Derek Underwood said the Capital Project Sales Tax is moving forward. Prosperity will have work done on many of their recreation facilities. Underwood said this is being used to enhance recreation, but also give residents a place to come and enjoy themselves. Some work being done includes new lights at the Dixie Youth Field and additional baseball field with a walking track.

The Town of Prosperity is also considering revising its smoking ordinance. Currently, the ordinance does not allow anyone to smoke on town property, such as the ball fields and other locations owned by the town. Underwood said they are looking at revising it to where businesses will be affected.

The town has also hired a marketing firm to revamp the town’s website and make it mobile friendly. The new site will showcase what Prosperity has to offer, including businesses and churches. Underwood also discussed the Prosperity Hoppin festival in May. He said they enhanced it this year by adding a lot more artists, helping it to grow.

Little Mountain

Mayor Jana Jayroe discussed the success of the Little Mountain Reunion.

“The Little Mountain Reunion Festival, for us is something we work on all year. It was very successful,” she said.

Jayroe also mentioned that there will be a Total Solar Eclipse event at Little Mountain Unlimited Antiques from noon until 3 p.m. Monday. The business will offer a buffet and take guest onto the roof to see the Eclipse. She said people can stop by the store to buy tickets.

Other items of note in Little Mountain are that work soon will be done on the Derrick Center, a CPST project, which will introduce a library and computer center to the town. Jayroe also said they are working bring garbage collection to the town in the next five years.

Pomaria

The CPST project was also an item of discussion for Mayor Darryl Hentz, who said Pomaria’s project will be work on the Old Pomaria School. He said they have started meeting with the consultants.

Hentz also gave some highlights for recreation baseball. This year Pomaria hosted the District for the 11-12 year old Little League. The Mid-Carolina cluster, which includes Pomaria, beat the teams from Irmo and Columbia for the first time and the Intermediate 13 and under team won state for the second year in a row.

The sixth annual Pomaria Old School Reunion was this year, and while Hentz said they got a good bit of rain both days, they were not rained out and were able to move bands and the food inside.

Whitmire

Mayor Billy Hollingsworth talked about the Eclipse and how the viewing station in Whitmire will be at the Memorial Library. He also discussed how they are working with the Newberry County Memorial Hospital to get a doctor back in Whitmire, after they lost their doctor due to health reasons.

Silverstreet

Mayor Lisha Senn discussed the Charles Weathers Group coming in recently. She said there were a lot of ideas about growth in the community.

“We are just really excited about that right now, came up with two plans that we want to get into action very soon, so we scheduled another meeting and made two committees to get those things going,” she said.

Senn also discussed the Silverstreet CPST project. The town will be getting a playground area and walking track after the old school is demolished.

Mayor Foster Senn
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_DSC_0501.jpgMayor Foster Senn Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

Mayor Billy Hollingsworth
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_DSC_0496.jpgMayor Billy Hollingsworth Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

Mayor Derek Underwood
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_DSC_0493.jpgMayor Derek Underwood Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

Mayor Jana Jayroe
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_DSC_0491.jpgMayor Jana Jayroe Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

Mayor Lisha Senn
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_DSC_0483.jpgMayor Lisha Senn Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

By Andrew Wigger

awigger@s24514.p831.sites.pressdns.com

Reach Andrew Wigger at 803-768-3122 ext. 1867 or on Twitter @ TheNBOnews.