Pelzer Mayor Sees Events as Return to Community Engagement
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Pelzer Mayor Chase Smithwick, who has now been in office for about six months, said one of his central ambitions has been to restore a more active civic rhythm to Pelzer — a place where events are not just diversions, but a way to knit together a town whose public life has thinned over time.
He described the recent Memorial Day gathering – postponed a week due to inclement weather - as a success, saying it fit into that broader effort to bring residents back into shared spaces, where they can see one another, talk, and remember that the town belongs to them as much as it belongs to the officials who manage it.
The Memorial Day event served about 360 barbecue dinners and drew more than 200 people to Wardlaw Park for food, music and conversation.
The summer calendar already promises more chances for community gathering. A planned “Splashing in the Park” event has been folded into an August back-to-school bash, which Smithwick said will focus on collecting hygiene products for middle- and high-school students. He argued that these items are often overlooked in school supply drives, even though they are among the most needed. In early July, Pelzer will also host a novelty with a competitive streak: the first annual Pelzer vs. West Pelzer adult softball game, set for July 3 at Bill Hopkins Field, followed by the town’s Fourth of July celebration on July 4. Food trucks, fireworks-friendly fanfare, free hot dogs, bounce houses and music from Sammy Horn and the Slamming Sammies are all part of the plan.
The town’s public spaces are also changing, if unevenly. Smithwick said the long-anticipated work on the veterans monument is moving forward, with county workers recently reviewing the site. He hopes it will be finished before the end of summer, after which the town can turn its attention to additional improvements at Wardlaw Park. Elsewhere, the town’s community building remains in a kind of municipal suspense: construction has been slowed by structural problems in the roof, including damaged rafters that forced new engineering plans. Smithwick said the aim is to transform the building into a usable event space for rentals by the end of the year, freeing the gym to return to recreation.
There is no disguising the town’s financial constraints. Pelzer’s old hospital — one of the community’s most consequential abandoned structures — remains a stubborn question mark. Smithwick said the estimated cost to address it is roughly $1.3 million, a figure difficult to square with a town budget that has only about $1.4 million in reserve. For now, the plan is not restoration but stabilization: a little roof work, perhaps a reinforced side, maybe some paint, enough to keep the building from becoming more dangerous while officials pursue grants and other funding sources. The long-term dream is more ambitious — a town hall, an enrichment center, a civic anchor — but the immediate strategy is caution.
That caution extends to the budget itself, which Smithwick said he has tried to make more readable and transparent than in years past. He described a crash course in municipal finance, aided by the Municipal Association of South Carolina and a heavy dose of online tutorials. This year’s budget, he said, separates operating expenses, capital projects and hospitality funding to make town finances easier for residents to understand. Salaries remain the largest expense in a town with only a handful of employees: two full-time maintenance workers, a full-time clerk and a part-time clerk and part-time mayor. The town’s operating budget, Smithwick said, is a little over $500,000, while capital projects total roughly $800,000.
If the numbers are tight, the vision is still expansive. Smithwick said he wants each of Pelzer’s parks to receive at least some modest investment this year, with roughly $15,000 earmarked for each one. He listed Overlook Park, Wardlaw Park, Monkey Park, Bill Hopkins Field, the lagoon property, the lower boat ramp and the town square. The square is where he’d like to see something more ambitious take root: an outdoor amphitheater or open-air market, something that would give the Saturday farmers market a more permanent shelter and, in the process, turn the square into a place where residents and newcomers alike might linger.
For Smithwick, the project is as much social as physical. He said he grew up in Pelzer at a time when the town’s ball fields and public spaces were regularly crowded with events, and that he came into office wanting to recreate that sense of communal habit. He credited Community Engagement Director Tiffany McElhannon with helping to build that effort, saying she has become a key organizer and fundraiser for town events and outreach.
Asked what advice he would give to someone considering running a small town, he answered with a joke — “Don’t do it” — before turning serious about the burden and the reward of the job: long hours, public pressure, and the occasional satisfaction of helping someone get what they need.
He said Pelzer’s future depends on that same spirit of participation. With Anderson County continuing to add new residents, Smithwick said he hopes newcomers will take time to learn the town’s culture, respect its history and, above all, volunteer. Pelzer, he said, is proud and welcoming, but it asks something in return: not just attendance at events, but investment in the work of keeping a small town alive.
