[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Featured Image caption” _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px”]<\/p>\n
Cayce officials are hoping to transform a section of State Street into an art district.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
Once a collection of abandoned storefronts, Cayce’s new art district on State Street aims to breathe new life into the city.<\/p>\n
In the coming year, city leaders hope the art district’s streets will\u00a0<\/span>be filled with community goers enjoying a coffee shop called Piecewise, an art gallery called State-of-the- Art and, perhaps, a new place to eat. The new establishments are expected to open in 2019.<\/p>\n The city of Cayce is encouraging the revitalization of streets like State and offering up to $4,000 for fa\u00e7ade improvements for new businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall businesses are like the heart and soul of the community and it brings people together,” Tiffany Herring said.<\/p>\n Herring and Dawn Cotner, owners of Swatch Graphics next door to the fledgling revitalization project, would often drive pass the former dry cleaners and church at 1931 State St. that now houses their business. They said it felt right to transform the old brick \u00a0building into a new graphics print shop.<\/p>\n Swatch Graphics isn\u2019t the first new business to come to State Street, but they are happy to be a part of Cayce\u2019s new development efforts and a part of the community.<\/p>\n Mayor Elise Partin is using a tool called pre-vitalization to bring the \u201cart of what\u2019s possible\u201d to the community and new hopeful business owners.<\/p>\n Levi Wright, owner of State-of-the-Art Gallery, always felt the desire in his heart to open an art gallery and plans to showcase artists from only South Carolina.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are coming through the door you\u2019re automatically knowing that your money is staying in South Carolina and it’s going back to the community,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n Wright said the timing was right for both the city’s dreams and his own. He and his partner Valerie Taylor anticipate opening the gallery around Christmas. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited and want it to be a part of the community and we have our doors open to anyone who wants to be a part of it,\u201d says Wright.<\/p>\n Each year the city of Cayce hosts a low-cost Soiree on State to give the community an opportunity to be a part of a family- friendly environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helped bring some energy to that area and it’s essential to get the mojo back and we see the fruits of that already,” said \u00a0Partin.<\/p>\n After the first Soiree on State in 2016, Swatch Graphics opened its business on State, pleased that local officials were dedicated to growing new businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to find city officials that are involved and committed.\u201d said Herring.<\/p>\n Barbara Wright, long-time business owner of Helping Hands Adult Daycare, which is across the street from Swatch Graphics, \u00a0 is excited to see an “old dead city” rumble to life. She owns the storefronts where the new businesses are locating so has an economic interest in seeing them succeed.<\/p>\n She\u2019s been at 2010 State St., for 30 years doing adult daycare and would be open to any new business venture to come in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of space that we\u2019re willing to open to other businesses,” said Wright.\u00a0\u201cJust putting the businesses here is not going to make it alive. If the community rattles around that and become patrons of those businesses, it\u2019ll really help it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe energy is welcomed, we want businesses we can walk to and enjoy the quality of life,” the mayor said.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery _builder_version=”3.15″ gallery_ids=”13734,13730,13731,13732″ fullwidth=”on” zoom_icon_color=”#73000a” hover_overlay_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/StateSt_P1.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Tiffany Herring, one of the owners of Swatch Graphics, digitizes graphics into vehicle wraps, banners, and signs.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/StateStP9.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n A Volkswagen Beetle resides in Swatch Graphics as an example of how the company wraps vehicles with graphics.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cayce officials are hopeful about the rebirth of State Street and aim to bring it to life in coming years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":13084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[67,62,39],"tags":[268,86,77,270,267,269],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13071"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13116,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13071\/revisions\/13116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}