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Two Greenville festivals have been named to the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards.

Artisphere and Fall for Greenville are considered two of the premier festivals across America.

For the awards, USA TODAY teamed up with a panel of experts to nominate the best events across seven categories. Readers then voted for their favorites.

Artisphere took the No. 1 spot for Best Art Festival while Fall for Greenville landed at No. 2 for Best City Food Festival.

Best Art Festival: Artisphere

Artisphere has long earned its place as one of the region and nation's top art events. The three-day festival showcases unique pieces from local and international artists. Demonstrations, food, hands-on activities, and live performances complement visual art displays. Artisphere will run from May 10-12.

"Artisphere is proud to be recognized as Best Art Festival in the USA Today 10 Best competition," said Kelley Barnhardt, communications lead for Artisphere. "The panel did their homework in identifying some of the top shows in the country, and it was an honor simply to be in the company of those festivals, many of which are in larger cities and with longer histories than Artisphere."

According to its website, Artisphere attracted about 92,000 visitors to the three-day festival last year, had an economic impact of more than $12 million to the Greenville area, and participating artists totaled nearly $2 million in sales.

Best City Food Festival: Fall for Greenville

Greenville is known as South Carolina's foodie town, so it's no surprise that Fall for Greenville has been named one of the best city food festivals in the country. The festival is a food lover's dream where guests can indulge in a weekend of flavor. Sixty restaurants cook over 250 menu items during the event. There are also six entertainment stages and an area with activities and rides for children. Fall for Greenville will take place from October 11-13.

Nina Tran covers trending topics. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com

– A.J. Jackson covers the food & dining scene, along with arts, entertainment and downtown culture for The Greenville News. Contact him by email at ajackson@gannett.com, and follow him on X (formally Twitter) @ajhappened. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.Sign up today for a digital subscription.

GREENVILLE, S.C. —

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, ReWa, and Greenville restaurants have teamed up to help rebuild the state's coastal reefs.

ReWa is the company that provides wastewater treatment services to Greenville County and portions of Spartanburg, Laurens, and Anderson counties.

The partnership has created a drop-off location at ReWa's Mauldin Road Campus, where oyster shells are bagged up and taken back to the coast, where they are recycled into new reefs.

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The program sends the message that once you shuck 'em, you don’t have to chuck 'em.

Oysters provide many benefits to the ecosystem, even before you shuck 'em. They are filter feeders, filtering at least 2.5 gallons of water every hour, and adult oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day. Oysters also provide homes to over 125 different species and can become a natural barrier.

The oyster shell is a natural resource and has the ability to go back to the shoreline even once the oyster is consumed.

Even enjoying oysters a couple of hours away from the coast, we can complete the lifecycle and bring those benefits back to the ecosystem. Greenville recycles over 5% of shells that are recycled in South Carolina, and that is more than some areas along the coast.

In early May a ReWa team will travel to Edisto Beach, where the recycled oysters they have collected will be returned to the sea.

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Even local restaurants are making sure no shell is left behind and the community can help too.

"On Sunday, we brought 5,000 oysters for one 2-hour event," Steve Seitz, with Greenville's Jones Oyster Company, said about the amount of oysters they use. "Every single oyster that we shuck, that we grill, gets stored separately, no trash included. We try to keep it all very clean, and we load 'em up in the back of a pickup truck and drive 'em down here and do our duty."

The number of recycled oysters is also growing locally, officials from ReWa said.

Last year, 38,000 bushels were recycled, whereas previously, that number was around 27,000. Read more about the record haul here.

ReWa has posted a big blue "Shuck em' in" sign just past its administration building at 670 Mauldin Road to help guide people to the drop-off location. It's just off Interstate 85 south, taking Exit 46 and left on Mauldin Road.

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Despite Greenville’s efforts to build popular pedestrian amenities like parks and trails, the city is undeniably a place built to accommodate cars.

As the number of cars and visitors grows, Greenville’s leaders have to balance the need for adequate parking against the need to achieve the highest and best use of the city’s limited real estate.

Getting that balance right is an ongoing priority for city leaders, according to John DeWorken, a member of Greenville’s City Council.

Parking paradox

DeWorken said the city is fortunate that leaders in decades past had the foresight to plan and build a series of strategically located parking garages throughout downtown.

Public parking in those structures is comparatively cheap, and the garages are reasonably proximate to many of the main points of interest people want to visit.

The challenge is ensuring visitors know where the garages are located, DeWorken said.

This is one reason the city created an interactive map available through the city’s website. The site also gives a real-time indicator of parking availability at the city’s 10 downtown garages.

The influx of new visitors and residents to Greenville means the public’s expectations about parking are sometimes at odds with reality.

Longtime residents may remember a time when it was possible to find a free curbside space just steps away from the shop or restaurant they were visiting. Newer arrivals may come from communities in other parts of the country where parking conditions were much worse.

Regardless of perception, DeWorken said the need for additional parking in certain parts of the city is a pressing concern.

For instance, he said additional parking is needed now in the West End and the Village of West Greenville.

“That’s not forward thinking — that’s a necessity,” he said.

Finding opportunities

Creating more parking requires land. In the city’s high-density areas, much of the land available for parking is owned by private businesses or property owners.

The city is engaged in multiple, ongoing conversations to partner with existing businesses or property owners on parking, according to City Council member Dorothy Dowe.

“You have to have a partner that’s willing to come to the table,” Dowe said.

The periodically acute parking shortage in the West End is in many ways a matter of timing. Dowe said the city knows there are challenges for parking in the West End with the closure of County Square.

While exploring new opportunities to add public parking with existing lots, the city purchased a lot at 911 S. Main St. to create more parking near Fluor Field. Parking is free at the lot with a two-hour limit.

In the Village of West Greenville, the city opened a parking lot on Branwood Street to allow for public parking in the evenings and weekends. Street parking was also added to both sides of the village’s Flatiron Building.

DeWorken said the council also looked at acquiring property for a new municipal lot in the Village of West Greenville last year but ultimately opted not to pursue that option. He added that he hopes the council will revisit that option soon as the need for additional parking is likely to continue to grow.

Part of the city’s plan to expand parking in the Village of West Greenville also involves requiring a percentage of new parking associated with the Woven project on Pendleton Street be available for public parking, Dowe said.

“We are leaving no stone unturned in how to create more parking,” Dowe said.

Increasingly, Greenville has become known for its parks.

There is the marquee Falls Park, opened almost 20 years ago, and the recently opened and expansive Unity Park. In all, Greenville’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department oversees the maintenance of more than 400 acres at 37 parks.

That’s not counting the 47 acres of gardens.

It’s a lot.

Especially with poison ivy, oak, and sumac, not to mention kudzu — all non-native species — choking out the good stuff.

“The need for non-native species removal within city park systems is an ongoing issue and drain on our staff, volunteers and resources,” said Staci Schafer, parks and grounds administrator.

The answer?

Goats.

The city has hired A Roxbury Goat Barn of Landrum to bring in five herds to eat it all up. Five acres of weeds and other unwanted foliage for $12,000. It’s called “ecological clearing.”

Three herds are in one of Greenville’s oldest parks, Cleveland Park, just north of the Washington Street bridge along Richland Way, and two small herds are at Gatlin Park, a neighborhood park with a playground and stream at 2 Sylvan Drive.

“The City is participating in “Goatscaping” because of our commitment to make positive changes in our environment by using low-carbon maintenance methods,” Schafer said. “Using goats to control invasive plant species, weeds, and other unwanted vegetation is one of the most efficient and effective methods available.”

There are other benefits as in goat poop.

“During a goat’s natural digestive process, any seeds or reproductive plant materials from invasive plants the goats eat are sterilized and rendered inert once they inevitably come back out,” Schafer said. ”Goat droppings don’t smell, and they make high quality fertilizer, with very little methane.”

No air pollution from machines. No noise. No chemicals.

Perhaps a few sounds of goat chewing.

And the goat fencing is solar powered.

“Goats do not eat bird’s nests, wildlife or insect habitats, which makes for a safer and more accurate control method,” Schafer said.

Like the millions of people who visit Greenville each year, the Roxbury goats seem to be enjoying their stay.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Greenville leaders continue to expand the city limits by annexing new areas. This week, they gave final approval on the Cherrydale annexation and initial approval to annex the Greenville Country Club.

We took a closer look at the city’s future plans for Cherrydale and the complicated annexation process.

“We’ll have both short-term and long-term tremendous financial benefits—but also it’s just part of better management, better growth management,” said Mayor Knox White speaking about the Cherrydale annexation.

White says making sure Greenville’s growing the “right way” is one of the main perks of annexation. For Cherrydale, it means they have the ability to make changes to the area.

“The sidewalk system, the pedestrian system around the area hasn’t had anyone look at it for decades frankly. The parking lot of Cherrydale has no tree in sight, that’s something we’d like to address as well,” he said.

Compared to other cities, Greenville has lagged behind in expansion. Since 2020 Greer and Fountain Inn grew by more than 10 percent. While Greenville grew 2 percent.

As for annexing neighborhoods near Cherrydale, Mayor White says the Boulder Creek area could be an option. The next closest neighborhoods are Sans Souci and New Washington Heights.

“If there’s mutual benefit to both the residents and the city, I think yeah it’s a natural continuation,” said Councilman John DeWorken when we spoke with him about Cherrydale a while back.

DeWorken says making Cherrydale a gateway is a priority. There are no plans right now to annex any neighborhoods around it.

State law gives cities 3 annexation methods all involving property owners consent. For a neighborhood annexation the city must have a petition signed by 100 percent or 75 percent of the property owners. If they get 25 percent—they can hold a special election to have residents vote on annexation.

There is a caveat, in some cases, county residents have already consented to annexation when signing up for city water and sewer services. There is a bill making its way through the statehouse that would prohibit adding annexation consent to water and sewer agreements.

To learn more about the city’s annexation methods, click here.

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