Home Care In West Columbia, SC

Lucky you. You just found COLAtoday’s Plan Ahead, a list of some of the biggest events taking place throughout Columbia each month.

Take out your calendar, grab your day planner, or text all your friends — these are the top events we recommend heading into December. Psst: Don’t forget to bookmark this page and come back; we update our guide monthly.

Opening Reception: “Colorful Memories” by Ija Monet | 6-8 p.m. | Koger Center for the Arts | Free | Monet’s new series ranges from portraits of ordinary people to a diverse sampling of symbols from our day-to-day culture.

One Columbia for Arts & Culture Hosts Festive Holiday Party and Open Studios Event | 6-9 p.m. | 1013 Duke Ave, Columbia | Free | Enjoy hors douvres and network with local artists.

First Thursday | 6 p.m. | Main Street District | Free | Head to the monthly celebration for local food trucks, live music, and a silent disco at 8 p.m.

Columbia Anime-Fest | Sunday, Dec. 28 | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. | DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Columbia | $23 | Listen in to panels, cosplay contests, and an artist alley.

“Into the Woods” | Thursday, Dec. 4-Sunday, Dec. 14 | Times vary | Trustus Theatre | $40| James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim take everyone’s favorite storybook characters and bring them together for a timeless, yet relevant, piece… and a rare modern classic.

Columbia Classical Ballet presents “The Nutcracker” | Friday, Dec. 5 | 7:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. | Koger Center Auditorium | $20+ | Celebrate the magic of the holidays with this family favorite featuring Columbia Classical Ballet’s collaboration with SC Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities, and El Camino Ballet.

“Elf Jr. The Musical” | Friday, Dec. 5-Sunday, Dec. 7 | Times vary | Broad River Arts Center | $10+ | Based on the beloved holiday film, Elf Jr. is a laugh-out-loud celebration of the power of connection.

Steve Ray Ladson Welcome Home Parade | 10 a.m.-7 p.m. | St John Baptist Church Parking Lot, Hopkins | Free | After the Welcome Home Parade, the community will be invited to experience music, food, fun, and games.

Jazz in the Park | 4-7 p.m. | Finlay Park | Free | Bring the family, spread out on the lawn, and kick off the first weekend of December with great music, vendors, fresh air, and family and friends.

Plink, Rattle, Toot! Words Meet Music: Holiday Jazz Edition | 10:30-11:30 a.m. | Richland Library Main | Free | Words Meet Music. Ms. Leslie from the Children’s Room and musicians from Cola Jazz come together to pair picture books with jazz for an unforgettable performance, especially for the holidays.

Lauren Daigle: The Behold Christmas Tour | 7:30 p.m. | The Township Auditorium | $70+ | Sing along to a night of holiday tunes with the host of “CMA Country Christmas” on ABC.

Gamecock Men’s Basketball | Through December | Times vary | Be extra loud in supporting the Gamecocks while the students are out of town on holiday break.

Gamecock Women’s Basketball | Through December | Times vary | Be extra loud in supporting the Gamecocks while the students are out of town on holiday break.

WWE Presents NXT Live | 7:30 p.m. | The Township Auditorium | $36+ | See the WWE NXT live with special appearances from Raw and SmackDown superstars.

Sippin’ Santa Holiday Pop-Up at Prohibition | Tuesday, Dec. 2-Sunday, Dec. 28 | Times vary | Prohibition | Free | Grab a drink in this floor-to-ceiling winter wonderland filled with holiday cheer.

Publico Holiday Pop Up | Through December | BullStreet + Five Points locations | The BullStreet location is turning naughty with a Grinch theme and Five Points is decked out with lights.

Holiday Market | Throughout December | Finlay Park | Free | This local artist holiday market will provide up to eight free vendor spaces in tented merchant areas for the first 3 weekends of December.

Historic Columbia’s Holiday Tours | Wednesday, Dec. 3-Saturday, Jan. 3 | Times vary | Robert Mills House | $0+ | Experience the holiday season with Historic Columbia on a guided holiday tour of the Robert Mills House and the Hampton-Preston Mansion.

Midlands Clay Arts Society 24th Annual Holiday Sale | Thursday, Dec. 4-Saturday, Dec. 6 | Times vary | Stormwater Studios | Free | Local ceramic artists will showcase their sculptural, functional, and whimsical wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramic art.

Holiday Planetarium Lighting | Thursday, Dec. 4 | 4-7 p.m. | South Carolina State Museum | Free | At the end of the evening, a very special guest will be on hand as we officially “light” the planetarium dome with a special holiday display for the season.

3rd Annual SC Gingerbread House Competition and Exhibition | Friday, Dec. 5-Saturday, Dec. 6 | Times vary | AIA of Columbia | Free | This event invites bakers, artists, and holiday enthusiasts of all ages to showcase their creativity in a celebration of community and craftsmanship.

2nd Annual Uptown Holiday Hop | Saturday, Dec. 6 | 4-8 p.m. | Uptown Columbia Businesses | Free | Enjoy the sounds of Sean Thomson’s annual Sitar Christmas and shopping from local businesses.

Junior League Holiday Market 2025 | Thursday, Dec. 4-Sunday, Dec. 7 | South Carolina State Fairgrounds | $10 | Nearly 160 merchants from across the country sell merchandise during a shopping extravaganza, which includes a ladies-only shopping event, a Holiday Ball, and a children’s event with the season’s biggest celebrity, Santa.

Santa’s Christmas Party | Saturday, Dec. 6, Saturday, Dec. 13, Saturday, Dec. 20 | 11 a.m. | Columbia Marionette Theatre | $15 | A holiday variety show with live music and puppets.

Meeting Street Artisan Markets - Holiday Edition | Saturday, Dec. 6, Saturday, Dec. 13, Saturday, Dec. 20 | 11 a.m.-3 p.m. | Interactive Art Park, West Columbia | Free | Celebrate the season, find the perfect holiday gifts, and support local artisans at the Meeting Street Artisan Holiday Market, a can’t-miss event for the whole family.

Clara’s Winter Wonderland | Sunday, Dec. 7, Wednesday, Dec. 10 | Times vary | Lexington 2 Performing Arts Center, West Columbia | $30+ | Featuring dazzling choreography, festive music, and breathtaking performances, this enchanting production brings the joy and wonder of Christmas to life on stage.

Smoked’s Red Carpt NYE | Wednesday, Dec. 31 | 9 p.m.-1 a.m. | Smoked | $155+ | Ring in 2026 on the 1600 Block under the downtown lights.

COLUMBIA — Much of the Columbia area’s lengths of riverwalks have reopened to the public in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and other weather events, but longstanding recovery efforts have still limited access in other areas.

The riverwalks across Columbia, Cayce and West Columbia are some of the most popular public spaces in the metropolitan area. Local leaders have sought to capitalize on that appeal as the broader Three Rivers Greenway project — a vision of miles of interconnected river walks, trails and parks linking the three cities, the Riverbanks Zoo and beyond — still remains years away.

Here’s the latest on the riverwalks:

Cayce Riverwalk

The Cayce Riverwalk runs a length of seven miles of paved pathways and wooden boardwalks along the western bank of the Congaree River. The river walk links to a series of various city parks and greenspaces. It is a hallmark of the city’s marketing and popular with residents and visitors alike.

The riverwalk, like many in the region, closed due to damage from Hurricane Helene in September 2024. The wooden boardwalk portions of the trail had been undermined from the rising Congaree River, and mud had been deposited over the paved sections.

The riverwalk and adjacent parks reopened in their entirety in mid-May 2025. A sewer line break closed some portions again at the end of the month. The boardwalk reopened again in September, aside from a portion surrounding the Naples Avenue entrance, which has remained closed for construction of a new stormwater culvert since July.

Riverfront Park & Historic Columbia Canal

Because the majority of the Columbia Riverfront Park trails are paved on elevated dry land rather than carried by wooden boardwalks suspended over the riverbanks, the capital city’s trail system has been subject to less prolonged closures due to weather events than those across the river.

Construction work to repair lingering damage from the 2015 “thousand year flood” along the Columbia Canal is expected to cause intermittent closures of portions of the river walk for the next two years.

The northern end of the riverwalk accessed at 4122 River Dr. closed in August to make way for improvements to the canal’s headgates, which were prevented from closing properly during the 2015 floods due to a buildup of debris.

The $150 million work will also repair the still broken section of the canal levee that failed during the floods, and add new intakes that can pull water directly from the Congaree River rather than relying on a high water level in the canal itself.

Work has finally begun on the repairs and related improvements after ten years of trying to secure funding for the project, city officials have said.

The south end of the river walk is open from the entrance at 312 Laurel St. to the rail trestle, leaving around half-a-mile of trail open to the public.

Saluda Riverwalk

The Saluda Riverwalk runs for three miles along the north bank of the Saluda River, upstream from where it meets the Broad River to form the Congaree. It consists of paved and boardwalk sections and provides access to the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens.

The Saluda Riverwalk has remained largely open and accessible during the intermittent closures of other riverwalks and waterfront parks in the area. A small portion did close in January for construction of Riverbanks Zoo’s new gondola system, but it has since reopened.

West Columbia Riverwalk Park

West Columbia’s riverwalk stretches from Moffatt Street at the northern end to the beginning of the Cayce Riverwalk.

Large portions were closed after flooding from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 undermined the foundations of the boardwalk sections and the riverbank itself.

A small portion of the riverwalk surrounding Riverwalk Park and the Gervais Street Bridge reopened in the month after the storm. The stretch from Gervais Street to the Cayce Riverwalk entrance reopened in July 2025.

The remaining northernmost piece of the riverwalk returned to operation in August.

COLUMBIA — It turns out that West Columbia isn’t losing its favorite (and only) combination ice cream and taco shop.

Amber and Ryan Mullins announced they’ll be taking over the business in a Dec. 10 social media post. The couple introduced themselves and shared their excitement to take on the business. Over the years, IceCream Taco has become popular in West Columbia for serving mostly beef tacos and a variety of Hershey’s ice cream.

The Mullins own Southern Solutions Heating and Air, but Amber Mullins said running an ice cream parlor has been her dream since she was a child.

“I am truly looking forward to my dream coming true and having the opportunity to serve you and your family,” Amber Mullins said in a social media video.

Original IceCream Taco owner Sonia Norman first announced plans to move on from her combo eatery on Dec. 2 with a Facebook post referencing plans to start a new chapter living in Thailand.

“And for the first time in my life, I’m choosing me,” Norman said on Facebook. “I’m choosing FREEDOM. I’m choosing PEACE. I’m choosing to explore the world while I still have the strength and the chance to do it.”

While she will no longer be running IceCream Taco, Norman said she hopes to continue her journey with the community “even from afar” as she explores a new culture. She hopes to discover who she is “outside of work, stress, and survival.”

A date has not been announced for when Norman plans to officially step down or when the Mullins will start running the business.

The City of West Columbia will spend millions in federal funding to repair roads, upgrade storm drains and add on-street parking to a historic, long-neglected neighborhood a block from the city’s riverwalk.

With $15 million set aside for the project, the city’s plans will overhaul the Mill Village – the neighborhood that sits between State Street and Alexander Road, along the Congaree River. The project has been in the works since at least 2018, when the city council identified the Mill Village as an area in need of revitalization in its Redevelopment and Revitalization plans.

“This is a project we’ve wanted to do for like 10 years,” West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles told The State after a Nov. 17 council meeting in which the city council voted unanimously to hire South Carolina-based McClam and Associates for the project. City officials had long wanted to repair the roads, but wanted to wait until they had the funding to upgrade the infrastructure underneath the roads so money wasn’t spent repairing the roads only to tear them up again later, Miles said.

The city began making property purchases in the area as “an opportunity to address parking concerns repeatedly voiced during public meetings, to provide additional parking for the West Columbia Riverwalk Park and Amphitheater, and to expand Carraway Park for children of all abilities,” city administrator Brian Carter told council in August 2017.

The neighborhood has “a lot of unique challenges and opportunities,” West Columbia City Councilman David Moye told The State. “This gives us an opportunity to go in and take care of what needs to be done.”

The Mill Village was developed at the turn of the twentieth century, many decades before the city adopted a zoning ordinance, according to the city. The project will include major improvement and construction that are expected to last months.

What improvements will be made?

Along streets in the Mill Village neighborhood, the city will upgrade and replace water lines, improve storm drains, repair and resurface roads and add street parking. Plans also include implementing one-way streets.

City leaders say that the project will improve connectivity for drivers and pedestrians with more parking and sidewalks. The neighborhood doesn’t have many sidewalks and the few that it does are often used for parking. Currently, the city has no plans to implement metered parking in the area, a spokesperson for the city told The State.

The project includes nearly 14,000 linear feet of waterline improvements, 12,750 linear feet of roadway improvements and around 4,750 linear feet of stormwater improvements, according to city bid documents.

When will construction begin, and how long will it last?

Construction on the project is anticipated to begin in January 2026, a city spokesperson told The State. The timeline for construction is 18 months, meaning, if all goes to plan, the improvements would be complete in July 2027.

Parts of the project will be completed in sequences and will be completed sooner than others. At some point during the project, all roads from Augusta Street to Court/Oliver Street, and within State Street and Alexander Road, will be closed temporarily while work is completed.

What will the project cost, and who’s paying for it?

The city announced in late May that it would spend an estimated $15 million on the improvements. The bids for the project came in under budget at $11.7 million for construction cost. That $11 million doesn’t include the cost of engineering or other related expenses, the city said.

The funding will come largely from state and federal grants, along with an unspecified amount coming from the city’s enterprise fund.

The city will use around $2.4 million from an S.C. Office of Resilience grant for stormwater upgrades. A $10 million grant from the state’s Infrastructure Investment Program will be used across five projects, including this one, for water system improvements. A $385,000 grant from Lexington County will also fund water system improvements. The roadway improvements in the neighborhood will be funded by $4.4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.

How do I get more information about the project?

After construction on the project begins, the city plans to inform residents of the neighborhood of any road closures and updates using social media, postcards and mailers, a dedicated webpage and emails, a city spokesperson said.

More details on the project can be found at westcolumbiasc.gov/riverdistrictprojects and questions for the city can be sent to [email protected].

The ammunition manufacturing arm and sister company of a well-known Lexington gun maker will temporarily close down its plant in West Columbia and lay off nearly 80 workers at the end of January.

AAC Ammo, the sister company of Palmetto State Armory, said it did not have a date set for a potential reopening of its plant on Metropolitan Drive in West Columbia in a letter submitted to the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) Monday.

The company, which produces weapons ammunition sold on Palmetto State Armory’s website, operates alongside the armory’s production and distribution at the facility, but are separate brands. John Roberts, an attorney for the company, told The State that workers for Palmetto State Armory would not be impacted by the closure.

The company told DEW that the closing was “due to catastrophic supply chain constraints of raw materials necessary for production.” Roberts told The State the closure was a result of a gunpowder shortage.

Palmetto State Armory expanded its operations to the West Columbia manufacturing and distribution center in early 2021 and received a number of tax incentives from Lexington County as a result, The State reported at the time. The company promised to invest $61.7 million and create at least 150 new jobs.

“We’ve seen a substantial growth in sales and a significantly large number of products moving,” both old favorites and new lines the armory is turning out, Julian Wilson, a co-owner of Palmetto State Armory and son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, told The State at the time. “These have been some busy engineers.”

The company has around five years from when it purchased the property for the project to meet those requirements, according to the tax incentive agreement with the county. If it didn’t meet those requirements, it would have to ask for an extension from the county.

Under the agreement, the company pays a reduced property tax rate of 6% instead of the normal 10% for industries. Over a 10-year period, the company would be entitled to a tax credit equivalent to 20% of its investment for the first five years and 10% for the second five years.

When asked about how, if at all, the layoffs and gunpowder shortage could impact the company’s plan to reach its requirements to keep the tax incentives, he said the company would “do whatever’s necessary to comply with the law and meet the requirements we need to.”

The gun manufacturer makes and sells a range of weapons from pistols to AR-15s across nearly a dozen retail stores in the Carolinas and Georgia, as well as direct sales online.