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SC Biz News Briefs
The International African American Museum will open in January. (Photo/Ellis Creek Photography)
COLUMBIA Columbia Regional Business Report
Richland County’s Conservation Commission is working on plans to attract more tourists interested in African American history.
Th e commission is currently working with the county’s procurement offi ce BOOKof EXPERTSto select a vendor to develop a heritage tourism marketing plan for Richland County, according to a news release. It will also carry out a campaign to bolster the county’s ability to attract visitors who want to learn more about African American history and culture.
“Some important parts of that history are here in our county,” said Glenice Pearson, chair of the commission’s Historic Committee. “A number of eff orts have been mounted to interpret and recall that history, but there’s still a lot of history that can be told.”
Once a marketing plan is developed and Richland County Council approves it, offi cials estimate the project would take nine months to a year to develop.
Th e approaching January opening of the International African American Museum in Charleston helped spur the project, according to the release from Richland County.
“With the International African American Museum in Charleston approaching its grand opening, Richland County’s Conservation Commission is working on plans to drive heritage tourism closer to home,” the release stated. “Set to open in January, the IAAM is expected to bring local, regional, national and international visitors to Charleston to learn about connections across the African diaspora, the spread of African-American culture and infl uence, and the movement for justice and equality.”
Th e marketing plan will rely on input from historic site leaders, stakeholders, potential visitors and others to highlight a variety of sites, natural resources and other county-based resources so travelers will be able to select from a menu of experiences during their stay.
Richland County’s heritage and tourism sites include the Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home and the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House in downtown Columbia as well as the Reconstructed heritage tourism trail, which tells the story of the Reconstruction era in Columbia.
“Historical and cultural resources in Richland County are important to highlight because they provide an opportunity for everyone to learn and interact in a positive way around our history and culture,” said Quinton Epps, the county’s conservation division manager.
Information about heritage tourism sties in Richland County is available online at http://historicrichlandcountysc.com. Are you looking for a way to promote your expertise? The Book of Experts is your opportunity to convey your unique skillset to Upstate business leaders. The narrative format is a great way to share complex information, and demonstrate your ability as a subject matter expert. Put the power of our audience to work for you!
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With publications in the Upstate, Columbia and Charleston, as well as a statewide magazine, SC Biz News covers the pulse of business across South Carolina. Above are excerpts from our other publications.
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Main attraction
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Heritage tourism
Charleston museum inspires Richland County initiative. Page 3
Part of the network
CLASS ACT
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BUILDING ANTICIPATION
Peak Drift Brewing Co. brewmaster Ashley Kinart-Short has a hands-on role in the design of the 64,000-square-foot brewery. After weathering supply chain delays and other construction challenges, the North Main Street facility is slated to open next spring. (Photo/Lynn Luc)
Peak Drift eyes spring opening as design details come together
By Melinda Waldrop
mwaldrop@scbiznews.com
As of now, it might be easy to mistake Ashley Kinart-Short for a contractor, not a brewmaster.
With the opening of the 64,000-square-foot production facility, brewpub and entertainment venue she’ll preside over on North Main Street anticipated next spring, Kinart-Short is most likely to be found these days roaming Peak Drift Brewing Co. in a brightly colored hard hat festooned with brewery logos.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Kinart-Short, announced last August as Peak Drift’s brewmaster and the second woman to hold that position in the state of South Carolina, said during a recent tour.
While excited to begin producing up to 25,000 barrels a year of IPAs, sours and other styles of beer — in addition to the hard seltzers and ciders Peak Drift also plans to offer — Kinart-Short is currently a hands-on participant in design details still being hammered out. Apart from the sheer scale of the project in the former Stone Manufacturing building, ongoing supply chain challenges and labor shortages have thrown wrenches into Peak Drift’s schedule.
“Number one, you can’t plan to get things when you don’t know which things are going to be those next things that you can’t get in time,” said Brian Johnston, vice president of operations at project contractor Mashburn Construction. “Number two, it’s hard to lock in a price, because by the time you figure out what you can get when, the cost has gone up again. Those things have made everything else a lot more challenging. … Something as simple as the overhead door or the dock levelers had extremely long lead times. Or some oddball things like the epoxy in the paint for the flooring, the resins, we couldn’t get those.”
The building also presented some internal obstacles, namely in the form of its distinctive barrel roof that is key to both the design and the historic tax credits helping to fund it but unable to support the heavy process piping necessary to move liquid throughout the facility. Johnston said steel supports had to be engineered to provide additional support.
The bank of windows that will allow taproom visitors to view the brewery’s huge Mayoral moment
Lowcountry leaders discuss importance of life sciences. Page 6
Key financing
Construction loan secured for apartment hotel. Page 7
Inspiring women
Female executives share keys to business success. Page 9 FROM GRAPES TO GLASS
La Belle Amie Winery in Little River, owned by Vicki Weigle, is a pioneer in South Carolina’s wine industry and one of several woman-owned wineries in the state. (Photo/Provided)
SC women making mark in wine industry
By Christina Lee Knauss
cknauss@scbiznews.com
When Vicki Weigle set out to develop a vineyard and winery on the grounds of a former tobacco farm in Horry County nearly 30 years ago, many local farmers thought she was making a big mistake.
Recently, one of those nay-sayers stopped by her thriving business, La Belle Amie Winery at 1120 St. Joseph Road in Little River, and admitted he was wrong.
“This man told me not too long ago that he used to tell everybody ‘That woman is out of her mind,’ and now he realizes how wrong he was,” Weigle said. “He said he just wanted me to know that he admires what I’ve done.”
What Weigle did was to convert fields on the tobacco farm that was her mother’s birthplace into vineyards of muscadine grapes that have now become a wide variety of wines she sells under the Twisted Sisters label. Each year La Belle Amie produces about 5,000 cases of wine. It also
Williams plays host to thousands of visitors who come to wine tastings, shop in the gift shop and enjoy live music twice a week.
With her success at La Belle Amie, Weigle is part of a small but growing number of women finding success in the wine industry nationwide and in the Southeast. In South Carolina, a diverse group of women are getting involved in the industry at all levels, from winemaking to distribution. ways. Not only is she a woman, but she also is one of the less than 1% of American winemakers who are African American.
Williams opened her first winery, the successful Davidson Wine Co., in Charlotte, in 2019. She expanded her business to Charleston earlier this year, opening Charleston Wine Co. at 63 S. Market St. in February.
“When I first opened Davidson Wine, I think there was skepticism, both because the Carolinas are not generally a wellknown place for wine, and because there are simply not a lot of people in the industry who look like me,” Williams said.
“However, I’ve received a lot of support not only from other women in the industry but from members of the African American Vintners Association and others. And we’ve received great response from wine lovers. At both locations, we meet people who December 24, 2021 | Volume 24, No. 24
PUBLICATION DATE: December 19, 2022 | ADVERTISING DEADLINE: November 4, 2022
