April 2021 Council Highlights

  • Thank you to all the volunteers that came out Saturday from across the City and County to help with our first Community Clean Up Day. We had over 35 organizations and more than 400 volunteers join together to help keep Sumter litter free. We are still collecting bags and data from the event and will announce official numbers soon, but we can’t thank our community enough for showing how much they care. We have four more cleanups scheduled for 2021, including:
    • June 19
    • August 14
    • October 16
    • December 18
    • For more information or to volunteer, signup through our website at sumtersc.gov/litter. Thanks again Sumter!
  • Sumter Opera House will be hosting comedian Josh Wolf this Thursday, April 22 at 7:30. Seating is limited, but tickets are still available at sumteroperahouse.com.
  • 11th Annual Daffodil Art and Craft Show will be held at the American Legion Building this weekend, April 24 from 9-6 & Sunday, April 25 from 12-5. Located at 30 S. Artillery Drive the show will feature 80+ vendors to shop from.
  • The week of May 3-8 the Tourism Department will be hosting Sumter Tourism Week, in conjunction with the South Carolina Parks, Recreation & Tourism office and National Travel & Tourism Week. This week will kick off a year-long promotional campaign and includes: 
  • A community-wide Sumter Adventures Scavenger Hunt will kick off Monday, May 3. The hunt is through a phone app, called GooseChase and is accomplished by following clues or completing missions by submitting photos and/or videos through the app. The Scavenger Hunt is free for anyone and starts runs through May 31.
  • Updated souvenir shop, 
  • New and updated print and digital marketing material:
    • Family-Friendly,
    • Pet Lovers,
    • Museums,
    • Historical Sites, and
    • African American History
  • Videos through social media, such as
    • Behind the Scenes of Swan Lake Iris Gardens
    • Sumter Car Shows
    • Southern Recipes
    • How To Grow Your Own Iris Flowers
  • The following activity will take place in front of the Visitors Center. All (or most) of these activities will be between the hours of 10 am - 4 pm each day with food vendors focused on primary lunch hours.
    • A Local food truck/vendor will be highlighted each day
    • Local Tourism/Activity vendors (such as the museum, gallery, local artists and farms) will be on hand to highlight their products and services.
    • The Sumter Master Gardeners will be selling flowers, including Iris’s (Friday & Saturday only)
  • More info on these activities will be online next week at LoveSumter.com. And watch for future releases from the Tourism Office throughout the year.
  • Take a journey into Backcountry Springtime, Saturday, May 8 at the Sumter County Museum. 10AM – 4PM
  • The Food We Celebrate and Is it Kosher are two curated exhibts at the Sumter County Museum and the Temple Sinai Jewish History Center. Both facilities are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday with varying hours and admission is free at this time. For more info visit sumtercountymuseum.org
  • City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday at 1 PM and on the third Tuesday at 5:30 PM. Currently, we are hosting our meetings as hybrid, the first meeting of the month is primarily virtual, while the second is often in-person. Residents may watch our meetings online by visiting youtube.com/cityofsumter. Public comments may be submitted online through our website at www.sumtersc.gov/council/meetings, or citizens can contact the Mayor or Councilmember any time prior to a meeting to discuss any concerns or ideas you may have for the City. For our regularly scheduled meetings, agendas are announced the Friday before each meeting and will include links to agenda item details as well as meetings location, and more.

Next month our regularly scheduled meetings are on May 4 at 1 PM and May 18 at 5:30 PM.