Home Care In Conway, SC

For many decades, utilities dumped billions of tons of coal ash — the toxic substance left after burning coal — in unlined ponds, landfills, and mines where the toxic pollution leaks into water and soil.

Across the U.S., immense coal ash dumps are leaking hazardous chemicals including arsenic, chromium, lead, lithium, radium, and other heavy metals, which have been linked to numerous types of cancer, heart and thyroid disease, respiratory illness, reproductive failure, and neurological harm. In addition to those well-known health threats, in 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged that coal ash contains levels of arsenic and radiation that pose cancer risks.

Coal ash remains one of our nation’s largest toxic industrial waste streams. U.S. coal plants continue to produce approximately 70 million tons every year. Coal ash is disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color.

Industry’s own data indicate that across the country almost all coal plants are polluting water above federal safe drinking water standards.

Despite regulations established a decade ago, the coal industry has failed to comply with federal safeguards and uses deceptive tactics to avoid cleaning up its coal ash.

Because of industry’s widespread violations of coal ash regulations, in 2023, the EPA ramped up enforcement after designating coal ash a national enforcement priority. The EPA reports that many plants are illegally closing coal ash ponds with toxic ash sitting in groundwater, threatening drinking water and the health of nearby residents.

The longer industry delays, the more toxic waste enters our water, and the more difficult cleanup becomes. But the coal industry is asking Trump’s EPA to let them off the hook.

Action Needed

Federal coal ash protections established in 2015 and 2024 require monitoring, closure, and cleanup of the more than 1,000 coal ash dumps across the country. Cleaning up coal ash now will not only prevent another billion-dollar catastrophic failure, it will preserve drinking water; protect rivers, streams, and lakes; and allow safe redevelopment of power plant sites.

The magnitude of harm from recklessly dumped toxic coal ash requires decisive action from federal and state regulators:

CONWAY — Long before October begins, a team of volunteers and city workers scrambles to convert Conway into the City of Halloween.

They haul 15-foot skeletons, hang plastic pumpkins in the trees and string witch hats from city buildings. Some city employees prepare for Halloween all year.

"Nobody does what we do," City Administrator Adam Emrick said.

What began as a seasonal gimmick has morphed into an annual citywide transformation with an October calendar that includes more than 200 events.

New this year will be a market on the town green with Halloween-themed vendors and a pirate adventure boat tour on the Waccamaw River. Other highlights include the Tunnel of Bones in the newly paved Holiday Alley, a skeleton disco, movie scenes set up around town and, of course, the pumpkins in Main Street’s trees.

This season will offer more decorations and events than the city has ever had, Emrick said.

Local volunteers bring the vision to life

This is the first year that Conway has invited volunteers to help with Halloween preparations, and the community has responded in force. More than 130 volunteers have been helping decorate the city, said holiday coordinator Bess Harry.

Harry’s position was created in March. In previous years, Emrick and several others made the holiday decorations happen, but there was no designated organizer.

Now, Harry coordinates the volunteer program. Participants have been meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few weeks to get the city ready for its seasonal rebranding.

More than 50 volunteers were at the city shop on the morning of Sept. 4.

Outside of the warehouse, Tracy Bush pulled 15-foot skeletons out of storage and evaluated the broken ones, looking for ways to repair them.

Bush saw an ad seeking Halloween volunteers in late August. He had been looking for something to do in retirement. This was an easy sell.

Along with repairing skeletons, Bush helped put together some of the new animatronics and painted the homecoming carriage black. That took 19 cans of spray paint.

Inside the warehouse, Candy Vinovich meticulously pressed small disco mirror stick-ons onto a large skeleton. Each skeleton takes about 20 hours to bedazzle.

These skeletons will soon be set up in Kingston Park along with disco balls and lights for Conway’s first skeleton disco.

"It’s so fun to help put everything together and then also be able to be a part of putting it out there," Vinovich said.

On Oct. 16, there will be a disco event at the park with a DJ who has played in New York and Los Angeles, Emerick said. The event will be like a rave with EDM music.

This is the event the city administrator is most excited about.

An idea during the Covid pandemic led to the City of Halloween

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Emrick and his wife saw a Pinterest photo of pumpkins in a tree. They started buying pumpkins later that day.

They drove to Targets and Walmarts across the city and bought all of the fake pumpkins they could find. The pumpkins were hung in the trees on Main Street one night, and it was an instant hit. People would drive out of their way to see them.

The next year, the city wanted to do something to top it. Now, every season the decorations get more elaborate than the last. In 2022, Conway made a proclamation declaring itself the City of Halloween.

The state's Halloween hamlet has gotten bigger each year because of the success of Conway businesses. Hospitality fee revenues are used to pay for the decorations.

The amount the city spends has increased from $116,391 in the 2023 fiscal year to $229,712.89 in the fiscal year that just ended, according to city records.

City officials said that total includes all holidays, not just Halloween. They also pointed out that those decorations bring people downtown.

In 2017, five years before the city started its Halloween blitz, downtown saw 135,000 visitors in October, according to the city's data. Last year, that total had jumped to 235,000. Some businesses have a hard time keeping up with the increased traffic.

"The hope for us is that the businesses will be so successful that the money that they collect will pay for the next year," Emrick said.

A Conway, South Carolina, pizzeria has brought home top international honors, winning first place in the focaccia category at the prestigious Pizza World Cup in Rome, Italy.

Anto’s Pizza Romana and Italian Market, owned by Anthony Ludovici-DeBrigida, took home the title in their first international competition after competing against elite teams from Italy, France and beyond.

The global competition, which draws some of the world’s best pizza makers, awarded the Conway-based eatery for its expertly crafted Roman-style focaccia dough, putting this South Carolina pizza destination on the map.

Ludovici-DeBrigida also competed in the margherita, Roman and pala metro pizza categories, with this win in the focaccia category coming about a year after opening their doors in Oct. 2024.

What sets Anto’s dough apart?

Ludovici-DeBrigida honed his craft at the Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli, translated as the Italian Pizza Maker School.

A big part of what makes Anto’s dough special is invisible to the average customer. Suspended above the back kitchen door is a piece of high-tech equipment that looks like it belongs in a science lab: a NY WaterMaker filtration system.

This system alters South Carolina water to mimic the properties of New York water. NY WaterMaker customizes each unit by testing local water samples and adjusting for mineral content, helping Ludovici-DeBrigida achieve the crisp, chewy dough texture that New York pizza is famed for.

On the menu, folks will find thin and crispy New York-style pies and Roman-style squares that are light, airy and crisp squares using imported Italian flour. They also offer sandwiches, salads and fried dough sweets.

About the Pizza World Cup

The Pizza World Cup states it is a prestigious culinary competition providing chefs with a space to celebrate pizza.

Founded 23 years ago by Director Mario Folliero and Maestro Alfredo Folliero, the event celebrates the global diversity of pizza-making, inviting chefs to present pies rooted in their own culture and creativity.

Entries are judged by a jury of world-renowned chefs and pizza masters, with scoring based on technical skill, taste and cooking technique.

Anto’s is located at 1129 3rd Avenue in Conway. The shop is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. – or until the dough runs out.

CONWAY, SC (WMBF) - Anto’s Pizza, which has become a staple in Conway, returns home after winning first place in the Pizza World Cup in Rome.

The owners brought home first place for their focaccia bread a few weeks ago at the Pizza World Cup in Rome, expressing that it was an experience they will never forget.

“It is just one of those things I would have never guessed,” said Anthony Ludovici-Debrigida, owner of Anto’s.

Ludovici-Debrigida and his wife flew to Italy to compete in the Pizza World Cup in three different categories with their Roman dough.

Anto’s took home first place with their focaccia bread, beating out teams from France, Japan, Korea, and even Italy.

“It was a cool experience, there were only two Americans that were there competing,” said Ludovici-Debrigida. “It was cool seeing people around the world and how they go about making their stuff.”

While in Rome, the restaurant was closed for a few weeks, but the second the open sign was lit on Monday at 11 a.m., folks lined the sidewalk ready to see what their pizza is all about.

“Anybody that goes over to Italy and wins a prize, I had to come check it out,” said Anthony Parigi, Anto’s Pizza’s first-time customer. “It was stacked up, and I came early at 11:15 a.m. I got mine, so I am out of here.”

Pops and Linda Kennard are frequent customers and said Anthony and his wife are like family.

“We have not had pizza for two weeks so we missed seeing Anto and the wife as well as the rest of his team,” said the Kennards. “It is awesome to be back with them and congratulate them.”

When Anthony returned to the restaurant before opening back up, he was greeted with a sign on the window congratulating them.

He said they did not go to Rome thinking they would win, but they are so glad they did because Conway continues to be on the map.

“It was awesome,” said Ludovici-Debrigida. “We had a nice following before we went. It was cool to see the people excited for us and the City of Conway. It was cool for me to feel like people felt pride and that we were on our there in Rome and getting recognition. There was a couple that came from Charlotte just to try the pizza.”

Since Anto’s reopened after their vacation, Anthony and his staff have run out of pizza dough each day, due to all of the visitors.

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While some travel into Conway just to see the decorations this time of year, some residents think the decorations are going too far. (Credit: Caitlin Richards/WPDE)

CONWAY, S.C. (WPDE) — The city goes all out for Halloween, as they’re known as “The City of Halloween” during the month of October.

While some travel into Conway just to see the decorations this time of year, some residents think the decorations are going too far.

Patricia Sprowls has been living in Conway since 2016 and has been seeing the City of Halloween come to life every October.

Sprowls sent a letter to local and state officials, including the mayor, saying she thinks some of the decorations around the city represent evil.

"I’m a Christian. I’m proud of that," said Sprowls. "I came here knowing it was the Bible Belt. I spent all my childhood summers in Arkansas, so I know all about the belt, but I just feel like the belt is loosening a lot, and I don’t like that."

As the decorations have ramped up over the past few years, so has the number of people heading to Conway.

River City Christmas in downtown Conway has been open for 28 years. ABC15 asked them if they've seen an increase in foot traffic just this month.

"Yes, actually, a lot of out-of-towners are in, and they just come down for a few days just to see the decorations," said River City Christmas worker Christy Jordan.

The decorations are also what drew one tourist from Canada to Conway.

"I just love it. Love the theme, love the atmosphere. It’s great, they said."

The decorations also drew in families from out of state, such as Kentucky.

"We were at the park yesterday, and a lady told us about Conway, and I researched, and I was like Oh, that sounds really neat so we came up for the skeleton adoption," said Emily Mcalister, who's vacationing with her family from Kentucky.

Sprowls said she’s all for cute Halloween decorations for children, but doesn’t support gore and satanic images.

"I just want the people to know that I’m doing this to shine the light toward the good, not the evil, and I’m hoping that people will see that and just think about that, and the mayor, too, that she would just think about what this represents," said Sprowls.

ABC15 reached out to the mayor of Conway to see if she had a response, but has yet to hear back.

A spokesperson for the City of Conway said this about Sprowls' concerns:

“We respect anyone’s belief or right to disagree and not participate. This year we are experiencing record crowds and constant support for the economic benefits for the Halloween decor.”

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