~~Spice~~ Spook up your Halloween plans 🕸️

5 ways to celebrate Halloween in Greenville

Ghost tours put us in the Halloween spirit. | Photo via @greerheritagemuseum

Whether you’re a haunted house fan or prefer costume contests + candy, it’s spooky season. We’ve rounded up five ways to celebrate in the Upstate.

1. Get spooked on a ghost tour

👻 Greenville Ghost Tours | Multiple dates | Times vary | Rose Crystal Tower in Pedrick’s Garden at Falls Park | $25 | Whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, take a 90-minute walking tour of downtown Greenville with a certified paranormal investigator.

👻 Greer Station Ghost Tours | Multiple dates | Times vary | Greer Depot, 300 Randall St., Ste. D, Greer | $6+ | This family-friendly favorite has a new tour on tap, “Murder and Mayhem,” featuring stories that “haven’t been told in a hundred years.”

👻 Spartanburg Trolley Ghost Tours | Multiple dates | 6:45 p.m. | 298 Magnolia St., Spartanburg | $15 | All aboard the trolley for stories of ghost sightings + events that led to lingering spirits in Downtown Spartanburg.

2. Tell Greenville ghost stories

We rounded up some of the most haunted spots + terrifying tales in and around Greenville. Read on… if you dare.

3. Trick-or-treat (or trunk-or-treat) at a community event

Click the button below for more Halloween happenings.

TRICK OR TREAT YO' SELF

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Today

Scarecrows on Main | Mon., Oct. 10 - Mon., Oct. 31 | All day | Downtown Travelers Rest, Main St., Travelers Rest | Free | Use the ballot boxes to vote for your favorite scarecrows, which will be popping up in the gazebo and in front of shops + restaurants to celebrate fall.
MEnTAL Monday | Mon., Oct. 10 - Tue., Nov. 29 | 7:30 p.m. | Radio Room Greenville, 110 Poinsett Hwy, Greenville | Free | Kick off the week with trivia + happy hour specials.

Tuesday

Dear Evan Hansen | Tue., Oct. 11 - Sun., Oct. 16 | 7:30 p.m. | The Peace Center, 300 S. Main Street, Greenville | $55.00+ | Watch the Tony Award-winning musical the New York Times calls “a breathtaking knockout of a musical.”

Wednesday

Jim Messina | Wed., Oct. 12 | 10 a.m. | The Peace Center, 300 S. Main Street, Greenville | $65.00 | Listen to country rock pioneer Jim Messina, former member of folk rock group Buffalo Springfield + half of the duo Loggins and Messina (with Kenny Loggins).

Thursday

Bank of America Fall for Greenville | Thu., Oct. 13 - Sun., Oct. 16 | 8 a.m.-12 p.m. | Main Street, 600 S Main St, Greenville | Free | Kick off Bank of America Fall for Greenville weekend with music, food + drinks.

Friday

Antiques, Fine Art & Design Weekend | Fri., Oct. 14 - Sun., Oct. 16 | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. | Greenville County Museum of Art, 420 College St., Greenville | The 36th Antiques, Fine Art & Design Weekend features dealers from across the country exhibiting the best antiques, fine art, and design in the Southeast.

We have a monthly guide filled with events + activities you can plan for in advance. Click the button below to bookmark ideas for upcoming date nights, family outings, and time with friends.

100+ MORE EVENTS

Business

The story behind 3 landmark murals in Greenville 🎨

Presented by a GVLtoday Partner

West End’s mural, displaying icons that represent the many activities in the area, overlooks Smoke on the Water’s cozy outdoor patio. | Photo provided by Emanate Brands and Environments

We Greenvillians love our murals — but did you know about the term “destination placemaking?” It’s the process of creating quality places that people want to live, work, play, and learn in. A mural helps to identify a place and define a location through its purposeful ability to tell a visual story or capture a moment in history. Leaving a memorable mark is what drives the work of Emanate Brands and Environments, whose landmark murals can be seen in and around Greenville.

Here are three GVL murals to check out this autumn as a way to (pumpkin) spice up your fall Saturdays:

🎨 West End | 1 Augusta St.
Featuring a 1 Augusta address, this mural was conceptualized as a landmark to represent all the businesses down Augusta Road. The mural has since become a social media icon of this Greenville corridor of dining and shopping. Emanate worked with the building’s owners to develop the 1 Augusta brand for the building and the eye-catching visual that would put this address on the map.

🎨 Plush Mills | 141 Traction St.
Challenged to keep the history of Greenville’s textile industry alive, the Plush Mills mural uses the legacy + locations of old Crescent Mill communities to tell the story of the common worker. The restored building’s current use as a co-work space connects the past with the present by showing how the common worker has evolved into a social and business collaborator. Watch Emanate’s video of how the mural transformed the once-derelict mill.

Keep reading to see photos of the murals — and one more mural that brought new life to an abandoned brick mill.*

SEE 1 MORE STRIKING MURAL

Weather

75º | Mostly sunny | 10% chance of rain

Development

The Peace Center’s $36 million expansion — which features a music club, listening room + recording studio — was unanimously approved by the Design Review Board. Take a closer look at what the Peace Center’s campus will look like by 2024. 🎶

Announced

Dust off your boots. Greenville Country Music Fest announced it will host a kickoff concert on Fri., Nov. 4 with Jon Langston, Dirty Grass Soul, Conner Sweeny, and DJ Slim McGraw. Buy your tickets for Friday night or a two-day festival ticket (which gets you in free). 🪕
Are you ready to party... silently? The Peace Center is bringing back its silent disco on Fri., Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Wyche Pavilion. Rent a set of headphones for $10 and dance the night away. 🎧

Civic

Early 2023 is when Greenville County says it will move into the $1 billion County Square development. The Q1 move does not include the hospitality and commercial space, which is expected to open to the public in fall 2024. (Greenville Journal)

Closed

Taco Taco (413 W. Main St., Easley) closed its doors this weekend. The owners say while Taco Taco may be closed, they’re working on bringing something new to Easley. 🌮 (WYFF 4)

Today Is

World Mental Health Day — a day created in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health. Acknowledging this day can be as simple as taking several deep, grounding breaths or phoning a friend. If you’re looking for local resources, you can find them here, provided by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a federally recognized day honoring Native American peoples and commemorating their histories and cultures + Columbus Day, a federal holiday commemorating Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic on Oct. 12, 1492.

Featured Job

CommunityWorks is hiring for multiple positions, including Business Support Program Director, who will support the team’s high-quality post-loan business support services for entrepreneurs across SC, and a Resource Development Officer, who will oversee + implement CW’s capitalization strategy to advance the organization’s overall mission. Interested? Learn more + apply.*

Stat

Did you know? At the current pace of progress, it will take another 257 years for women to catch up to men from an economic perspective. (Read: way too long.) Learn how one local banker is working to close the economic gender gap, alongside PNC Bank + Coralus, with PNC Project 257.*

Outdoors

Want to bring the birds flocking to your feeder? Attract local and migratory birds to your backyard with premium, customized bird seed from Happy Birdwatcher. Each bag is made-to-order based on bird-sighting data for your zip code and delivered to your door (in plastic-free packaging). 🐦 *

Learn

Become bilingual — but make the learning process fun. Babbel’s bite-size, 10-minute lessons are designed to fit into your busy life, helping you learn a new language in as little as three weeks. Pro tip: Get 55% off your subscription for a limited time. 🗺️ *

Drink

The fall season means it’s time for pumpkin spice + everything nice. Make this easy, 5-minute Pumpkin Pie Smoothie before work for a refreshing pumpkin fix. 🍂*

Content marked with an * is brought to you by our advertising partners and helps make this newsletter free.

It’s Bat Appreciation Month?

Bat Appreciation Month in Greenville, SC

A brown bat hangs upside down from a tree branch with its wings slightly unfolded.

The big brown bat can be found as far south as Venezuela. | Photo via Pexels

It’s Bat Appreciation Month, or as we like to call it — Bat-ober. Bats’ affinity for bug-cuisine makes them a natural pesticide and they save South Carolina’s agricultural industry over $115 million each year in pesticides.

There are 14 bats that call South Carolina their home, but let’s take a look at just a few of the bats that can be found in the Upstate:

🦇 Big brown bat | Among the largest of the South Carolinian bats, these big browns average at four to five inches in length and can eat a third of its weight in one night.

🦇 Eastern small-footed bat | Like its name suggests, this bat is among the smallest of its region. It’s also relatively rare and can be identified by its black ears and muzzle.

🦇 Evening bat | These beetle-eating bats coexist well with humans and their appetite for Japanese beetles can save your lawn from infestation.

Can’t get enough of bats? You’re in luck — the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is hosting the annual Halloween Bat Count on Fri., Oct. 28 at Sunrift Adventures (1 Center St., Travelers Rest). Enjoy bat-related activities like a bat talk, bat count, and a view of hundreds of bats emerging at sunset.

THE WRAP

Today’s issue was written by Danielle + Jessalin.

Editor’s pick: One of my favorite Halloween activities is driving around to see the best decoration displays. What house does it best in your neighborhood? Let us know.

Missed Friday’s newsletter? Introducing the Prisma Health Center of Health & Life Sciences at Greenville Technical College.

Connect with us.

Editorial: Kyle Steadings, Danielle Johnson, Jessalin Heins-Nagamoto, Kaylee Holland, Ashlea Hearn, Emily Shea | Send us a scoop, question, or feedback.

Sales: Anne Hazard | Advertise with us.

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