Aiken’s Makin’, hosted by the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce, is a popular annual arts and crafts festival in downtown Aiken, South Carolina , which just celebrated its landmark 50th-anniversary event on September 11–12, 2026. We arrived around 9:00 a.m. and were challenged to find a free place to park. Many of the churches and businesses had paid parking as fund raisers for their organizations, but we were looking for the free option. Even at the early hour is was crowded and the size of the crowd grew as the morning progressed.

• Location: Park Avenue between Chesterfield and Union streets in historic downtown Aiken.
• Schedule: Typically a two-day weekend event held annually in September (Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).
• Admission: Free to attend, and the event happens rain or shine.
• Highlights: A juried showcase featuring over 200 regional artisans offering handmade pottery, woodworking, jewelry, fine art, clothing, and custom home decor.
• Food: Local vendors selling classic festival foods, kettle corn, funnel cakes, and homemade treats.
• My Recommendations: Go first thing on Friday instead of Saturday because the crowd might be smaller with children in school and people at work.

I should have taken more photos. It doesn’t look very crowded, but that was when we first arrived. My 10 a.m. the street was filled with people and was much harder to move between booths.

It’s been 25 years since 9/11

25 years ago today I was sitting in a bar in Bilbao, Spain with my travel buddy and coworker Ryan Culby. After a long summer of work (camp) we traveled to Spain for an extended holiday visiting friends and former camp coworkers. We had arrived via bus in Bilbao and were waiting at the bar to meet with our friend Xabier Aranburu. He was coming from his home in Victoria to pick us up and take us back to his apartment where we were to spend the next couple of days.

Our Spanish was weak and our Basque was basically nonexistent. We sensed that the bar tenders were talking about us. We assumed that it was something negative about being Americans and/or not speaking the language. We brushed it off because either way they were probably right to one degree or another.

When Xabier arrived he excitedly tried to explain what was happening back in America but it really wasn’t making much sense. Once we got to his apartment we turned on the TV we could see the disaster unfolding. I was able to get a call through to home which would prove more difficult in the days ahead.

As I journey through Spain continued in the days ahead, we were constantly greeted with kindness, extended condolences and moral support. A few days later, once we were back in Madrid, we attended a rally in Puerta del Sol where the Spanish President expressed the condolences of the Spanish people and pledged Spain’s support to fight terrorism.

Where were you on 9/11?

Finished reading: Britt-Marie was here by Fredrik Backman 📚 Damn good read.

Good Reads summary:

Britt-Marie can’t stand mess. A disorganized cutlery drawer ranks high on her list of unforgivable sins. She is not one to judge others—no matter how ill-mannered, unkempt, or morally suspect they might be. It’s just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention. But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes.

When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg—of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it—she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she’s given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?

After our noon luncheon and planning meeting at church I decided to walk downtown (Greenville) to stretch my legs a bit. It’s been more than a decade since I stopped in at Coffee Underground, but I suddenly got a craving for a slice of their amazingly delicious stawberry cake. It was still every bit as good as I remembered, the only difference was the price. I think the last time I was there a slice may have been slightly less than $10; today a slice with a cup of tap water was just north of $10. Still every bit worth it. I’m not sure, but I think there must be an ultra thin layer of strawberry jam beween each layer and the icing…there is someting there that just makes this cake extra special. Grab a bite when you get a chance.

Google Map Location

Watched Mayday last night. When a U.S. Navy pilot on a top-secret mission during the Cold War gets trapped behind enemy lines, his only chance at survival is to form an alliance with an eccentric ex-KGB agent. Don’t expect much and you may enjoy it.

My rating: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

What a nice surprise - my sister and brother in-law treated me and dad to cocktails and dining at the Willcox Inn in recognition of my recent retirement; although I’ve been more frequently calling it my semi-retirement because of my commitment to help and train my replacement into late fall. My sister and her husband occasionally enjoy going to the Willcox for a date night. My sister ordered her favorite cocktail “The Persian”, I ordered a “Blackberry Billy” and my brother in-law enjoyed a glass of wine. We’re pretty sure dad ordered water after he saw the menu prices, but he is not a big drinker to begin with. Both of our drinks were a very tart and we guessed that the bartender had maybe gone a little overboard on the citrus in each drink. We stuffed our selfs with menu items including: gilled baby back ribs - korean bbq, chicharrones; wings - dry rub/honey sriracha, ranch dressing; sliders - beef, bacon jam, pimento cheese; house chips with with bleu cheese dip (they were so good I think we ended up with 3 orders of these); and parmesan truffle fries. Needless to say we left happy and stuffed.

The Willcox is more than a historic inn—it’s often called the “living room of Aiken.” Dating to the city’s celebrated Winter Colony era, it blends Southern elegance with a relaxed, club-like atmosphere: fireplaces, comfortable sofas, cocktails, good food, and often live music.

The bar and dining areas attract an interesting mix of longtime Aiken residents, equestrians and horse-country regulars, business and civic leaders, retirees (ME!), well-traveled locals, and hotel guests. It’s the kind of place where people know the bartenders, unexpectedly run into friends, and linger over drinks or dinner. Dress ranges from polished casual to golf and riding-country attire. Despite its upscale pedigree, the atmosphere is generally social, comfortable, and distinctly Aiken.

Just finished watching The Silence. What do you do when you can’t trust the people you are supposed to trust, when corruption is so deep that threatens to destroy you and everything you value? From IMDB: “An eighteen-year-old struggling to integrate into a hearing world following cochlear implantation witnesses the murder of a police officer. The subsequent investigation unravels a net of police corruption.”

My rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

From my perspective, the Greenville’s History: A city built by immigrants article in Greenville Journal really provides a wonderful perspective on Greenville as well as the entire Upstate region of South Carolina.

In today’s political world, immigration is often discussed negatively, mostly in terms of what it costs. Greenville’s history makes the opposite case. The storefronts, the churches, the neighborhoods and the downtown we brag about were built by people who came here from somewhere else, and they built them while being told they did not belong. Unless you were Cherokee, someone in your family immigrated here.

Finished reading: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger 📚 Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.

Prompt: a vast field with trees and many large cows, morning fog covers the ground, peace and quiet, gentle watercolor –chaos 20 –stylize 150 –hd –profile 5stjwop