Wow -- lots going on in this small city

Take Byerly Park for example. Happened to be there this morning about 7:15 so I could get a couple of miles of walking on the 1.2 mile track. I was not alone on that track. Okay, only about 15 other people, but, think about it. At 7:15 in the morning 16 people getting walking exercise. As we walked or ran, I began to notice that the quarter mile track also had several people doing some running. And, about 7:40 it really got some people as the undefeated Hartsville High runners were showing up for a Saturday workout and at almost the same time the men's and women's cross country teams from Coker College were also starting their Saturday morning work outs.

Across the park in the soccer area the UPWARD Soccer league was laying out field for the younger kids and by 8 a.m. those parking lots were getting crowded with families out for Saturday morning soccer and the noise of cheering showed there was a great deal of excitement for this league. As I was finishing my four laps more cars started to park at the other end of the park. Football players began to jump from those cars as the Hartsville Recreation Saturday morning football games began cranking up.

There's more, and remember, we have not left Byerly Park yet. The first officials began to arrive at the softball fields, where Coker College is sponsoring a Fall tournament that is including technical college teams, Division II NCAA teams and softball traveling teams. At one point there were hundreds of people all over Byerly Park. I know you can find that in larger cities but there are not many cities the size of Hartsville that have that much activity at one outdoor location.

And, later on Saturday, Godspell, a production of the local community players was going to be in their second performance of the weekend at the Center Theater. I will also bet that people with the Black Creek Arts Council were putting their finishing touches on the Artist Crawl that is being held on this weekend too.

Check out other areas that boast of the Small-city values. There are few with the variety and breadth of activities on such a regular basis. Hartsville is unique and fits so well our new marketing logo -- "Hartsville - The Art of Good Living."