The Market Theatre will open “Avenue Q” on Friday, bringing the Tony Award-winning adult comedy musical to its stage with a collection of puppets locally built specifically for the production The musical follows a recent college graduate who moves to a New York City neighborhood and joins an eccentric group of neighbors while searching for his purpose. The  show combines human performers and puppets with satire about relationships, work and adulthood.

The annual competition is just the opening act for Pendleton’s Fall Festival, which will fill the Village Green and surrounding downtown Saturday. Approximately 100 craft vendors are expected, along with food trucks, food vendors, live music, community performances and an expanded emphasis on making art rather than merely looking at it.

Anderson County Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to prohibit county spending and resources for Flock Safety camera systems, along with industrial tax incentives, a hazardous-materials program overhaul and a proposed zoning map for the Green Pond Station A precinct as part of the regular meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Historic Courthouse. A separate presentation meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

On Sunday afternoon, the rain held off and Anderson County turned downtown into a historic grand gathering with the downtown Bicentennial Parade, with more than 40 entries participating in the celebration.

Belton’s annual Standpipe Festival kicked off Saturday with the induction of a pair of deceased educators into the Belton Museum’s Hall of Fame: Lida Poore and Tolleson Jackson Bratton.

T.L. Hanna 22, Fountain Inn 14

Westside 23, Laurens 14

Emerald 41, Palmetto 3

Wren 34, Powdersville 10

St. Joe’s 36, Pendleton 7

Mayor Rick Sanders is approaching the end of his first year in office with the agenda to make his walking town better with repaired sidewalks, a restored former Girl Scout hut, a future stage at Chapman Park, a walking route that connects stores and churches, Saturday’s two-mile yard sale that joins West Pelzer to Pelzer, and a Christmas Santa house that will allow a town to make a tradition of its own.

Mill Town Players’ production of “Floyd Collins “understands that the story’s power lies not merely in the historical facts — the 1925 Kentucky cave rescue that ended in death — but in the uneasy relationship between the man below and the people above.

Construction is expected finally begin on the building’s conversion into P.F. Meat Co. Butchery & Market, the Anderson branch of the Pendleton business that has built a following around locally and regionally sourced food.

AnMed Health announced today it intends to construct a new emergency center and health care campus on 44.25 acres near Clemson Boulevard and Interstate 85 Exit 19.

With 2026 moving into the fourth quarter, Anderson County is planning its bicentennial showcase celebration. It provides an occasion for looking backward, but it is also an unusually good excuse to look around.

AIM’s annual “Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat” food drive, which continues to help restock the shelves to feed those in our community who need a little extra help, is now under way. And it doesn't end on Halloween.

The production opens Mill Town Players’ 13th main-stage season and is the first season mounted after the Pelzer auditorium’s renovation. It also represents a rare production that Ragland said has not previously been produced in South Carolina, making the Mill Town staging a state premiere.

The in-person registration deadline for South Carolina’s Nov. 3 general election is Friday at 5 p.m. for most county election offices. It is not the only deadline: online applications and forms sent by fax or email must be received by 11:59 p.m. Sunday; mailed applications must be postmarked by Monday, Oct. 5. But anyone planning to register face to face should treat Friday as the day to act.

For Pelzer, a town without the conventional downtown square of a larger municipality, the gym parking lot has become a practical community center. Smithwick wants to activate it, surround it with events and use it as the starting point for a broader reimagining of the town.

Anderson County will celebrate its 200th anniversary with a downtown parade at 3 p.m. Oct. 4, featuring local governments, schools, nonprofits, businesses, civic groups and public-safety organizations.

The parade, which will travel along Main Street in downtown Anderson, is part of the county’s bicentennial observance. Anderson County was created by an act of the South Carolina General Assembly on Dec. 20, 1826.

The applicant is asking the city to annex the property and construct a single-family residential subdivision consisting of 62 lots on the property which borders Vandiver Road and is just behind T.L. Hanna High School.

The town has a handful of homes under construction and expects residential development to be an important part of its future. And while Iva is not growing at the pace of larger Upstate communities, Taylor said, it is attracting new residents and trying to prepare for the effects of that growth.

Lindsey Watley, Pendleton’s Community Engagement Manager, said the town is expanding the festival’s art component through partnerships, grants and a new effort to draw visitors from beyond the immediate area.

The team from “American Pickers” is coming to South Carolina in November and is looking for “rusty gold” in our area to film future episodes of the History Channel series.