From the Mayor's Desk: Proud to call Travelers Rest my home

By Travelers Rest Mayor Wayne McCall:

As I sit on the porch under such a perfect Carolina Blue sky, I feel extremely grateful to call Travelers Rest my home. I'm watching the Hummingbirds consume the nectar provided for them and enjoying the thoughts of all of the hard work that has gone on around our town in the last few weeks.

On April 18, Let's Keep Travelers Rest Beautiful hosted our 3rd annual Community Clean Up. Bess McCall, Brandy Amidon, George Varn, Randy Fisher and hosts of other volunteers coordinated the efforts of about 170 people removing almost 3/4 of a ton of trash from our roadways. Thanks to all of you! (Related: Volunteers collect more than 3,300 pounds of trash at annual cleanup event)

On Friday, May 1, the city hosted the annual Swamp Rabbit 5K race. This brought almost 7500 people into Travelers Rest. And from the sound of things from our local merchants, most of them STAYED for a while, piling up record sales. Hats off to Rebecca Cooper and the fantastic staff from Greenville Health System for once again promoting this showcase event for Travelers Rest. (Related: Nearly 6,000 expected for Friday's Swamp Rabbit 5K, organizers say)

On Saturday, May 2, we saw the opening day our Travelers Rest Farmers Market. If you can measure success by the number of cars, then it had to be somewhat overwhelming, as vehicles were lined up on both sides of Wilhelm Winter Street (as well as all the parking spaces being used). Way to go, Adrienne Hawkins, Sandra Stroud and group! I'm proud of you all.

Saturday ended with the kick off concert for Music in the Park at Trailblazer Park. While no official count was taken, i would estimate the crowd to have been at least 3,000 of the nicest people that you could ever assemble in one spot. Thanks Dianna Turner and Beth Sicigniano for the hard work in making opening night a success. All of these folks go about their duties in such a humble way. It is not just a job to them, but a labor of love for the community in which they live and work.

And many thanks to all of our residents that may have been inconvenienced in some way during these activities for allowing us to make things just a little better for all of us in the city.

Let me talk to you about a few things that I feel really strong about. It is no secret that on a national level several communities have had situations in which various police departments have received bad press and resulting riots and out of control looting. I want to assure each of you that no such problems exist in the city of Travelers Rest. I have gone on record as saying that the group of men and women currently serving our community are the best that we have had in all of my years of service to this town.

Make no mistake. I stand by this statement.

Do we have disagreements between the administration and the department? Of course we do. If we did not, then one of us is not doing our job. Only one of us is thinking. Our officers do a great job in keeping our community safe. Many of our city employees are married to police officers or have children that have chosen to be of service. 

If anyone out there has a problem with our guys, let me know. Otherwise, thank them for the job that they do. Believe me, sometimes it is a thankless one.

- Mayor Wayne McCall