Happy Memorial Day, B-Town!
Vol. 1, No. 13 edition of the What's Happening in Bluffton newsletter
Hello, y’all! Hope you are having an amazing Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer 2022. And to all those who have served our country, or have been the support family behind those serving, THANK YOU for your service. We are nothing without the sacrifices that y’all have made for our freedom.
So I’ve heard from a number of you that you have not been getting the newsletter. If you’ve missed newsletters and this one showed up in your inbox, I would suggest checking your spam folder and “greenlighting” this email address to make sure future editions always show up in your inbox.
For those who have not received the newsletter as much as of late, we have converted to a majority of video posts in the newsletter. We will still have links to interesting stories and still have some written posts - especially highlighting fun posts from WHIB.
Here we go with lucky No. 13!
A Big Donation and the First Class of Live Like DJ Scholars
We are thrilled to announce the first class of Live Like DJ Scholars, a group that includes Ella Rita Anderson (University of Miami), Robert Brown (USC) and Leyla Wengari Dubs (pictured above with Dwon Fields, Sr., USC-Upstate) from Bluffton High School, Ella Maldonado from Hilton Head Island High School, Alora Orr from May River High School, and Charmane Orr from Wade Hampton High School.
Each of these amazing young adults was awarded $2,000 to help in their collegiate journey.
We recorded interviews with each Scholar. You can watch them here:
Ella Rita Anderson | Robert Brown | Leyla Wengari Dubs | Ella Maldonado | Alora Orr | Charmane Orr
We also want to update everyone on where we are at with the Live Like DJ Scholarship Fund.
We accepted an amazing gift from the F3 Lowcountry Foundation on Saturday. This is a local chapter of a national organization founded by elite soldiers to provide retired military and soldiers returning from active duty a place for companionship and camaraderie. It’s not just for military anymore.
F3 donated $12,500 to the fund, thanks to their many fundraising activities throughout the year, including their Super Bowl pork butt sale and the 2022 Palmetto 200 race. Even more exciting, a group of anonymous donors have matched that gift through the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry!
The “What’s Happening” Update on WHHI-TV
Here’s the latest “What’s Happening in Bluffton” update that aired on the WHHI-TV Daily News.
Here, we talked about a new children’s book all about Bluffton, the Live Like DJ Scholars, the All Saints Garden Tour, and Town of Bluffton Public Information Officer Debbie Szpanka’s amazing trip to Dubai.
And we also talked about a celebrity sighting in Bluffton, when Food Network star and celebrity chef Bobby Flay popped in for lunch at Cahill’s Market.
Another Celeb Sighting in Town: Prime Time!
We got a ton of messages last week of another celeb in town. This time, it was NFL Hall of Famer and current Jackson State head football coach Deion Sanders.
Sanders was down here getting the family vacation home up and running for the season, but also found time to pop in on a football camp on the island, and to do some shopping in Bluffton. Friend of WHIB Stephanie Nazzaro, who shared the photo of son Alex and son-in-lawErik Teixeira posing with Coach Prime in the Tanger Outlets parking lot.
Prime Time was also spotted at the Best Buy with his wife. Gotta keep the tech up to date on vacay. And even in chill mode, Prime was still active on social, asking if there were any possible Lowco recruits that wanted to play for JSU. Uh, yes, please!
As Election Primary Draws Near, Meet the Sheriff Candidates
We try to keep WHIB as apolitical as possible, or at least avoid the mudslinging that goes with the sides in the political debate. That said, we wanted to inform potential voters about their choices for Beaufort County Sheriff.
The candidates have not debated thus far ahead of the primary, so we fired up the Lowcountry Chronicle cameras to give each candidate their time to answer questions and make their pitch directly to you.
Here is the interview with current Beaufort County Sheriff, P.J. Tanner:
And here is our interview with the Republican challenger, Jojo Woodward:
Early voting has begun in Bluffton at the Bluffton Rec Center at 61B Ulmer Road. The day of the actual primary is June 14.
B-Town’s Roaming Lamb Made the 6 O’Clock News
Paul Tollefson and Kelly Housaman were giving us all a hilarious look at a lamb who got lost and was roaming around various Buckwalter neighborhoods last week. The lost little lamb was seen hanging in Pinecrest, Pine Ridge and on the tennis courts at Hampton Hall.
Paul got video of the tennis invasion that made the newscast at WSAV.
More News and Interesting Read Links
The latest New Business update in The Bluffton Sun, including word of Corks Wine Bar departing the Promenade. It’s sad to see one of the OG tenants of the Promenade leaving Old Town, but a sign of the times, I guess. Sounds like most of that block is headed out and the Corks building is being sold. Hope I have some good news to share about the future of Corks soon, but don’t want to jinx anything for Neil and Lorrie Ritter, the fantastic owners …
A deeper dive into the story of Live Like DJ Scholar Leyla Wengari Dubs, who has endured tragedy and depression to see a wonderful next chapter of her and her sisters’ lives …
Here’s Gwyneth Saunders’ take on the Today Show coming to the Lowcountry and a slightly more personal diary of the day from me (including meeting my man crush)
Members of the first kindergarten and first grade classes returned to Red Cedar Elementary as high school graduates in Bluffton’s Class of 2022:
Cops on the Coop raise money for Special Olympics at the Bluffton Chic-Fil-A:
A Huge Thanks To Our Partners … Why Isn’t Your Biz on the List?
So we’ve built the WHIB community to close to 20,000 strong with a focus on positive interaction, good news and civility. One of our focuses has been to help boost Bluffton and Lowcountry small businesses. We’re careful to do that in a way that helps promote them without flooding our members with constant marketing promos.
We’re so thankful to the companies that have taken part in our Partner Program in the first few months that we’ve officially offered the plans on WHIB. Here’s a thank you to the companies that have taken part so far!
Hope y’all have a wonderful week! If you have news to share, questions about marketing opportunities or input on how we can make WHIB better, DM me on Facebook or call/text me at 843-290-6242.