This weekend in Spartanburg: November 7-9

Want to practice for a possible "Jeopardy!" appearance? Mellow Mushroom in Spartanburg is having free NTN Trivia both Friday and Saturday.

Would you prefer to practice for "Don't Forget the Lyrics" instead? Check out Wild Wing Cafe in Spartanburg Saturday at noon for some karaoke.

Prefer live football over being a couch potato? Go to Gibbs Stadium at Wofford College at 3 pm Saturday to watch Wofford take on the Citadel.

Want to check out some gorgeous exhibits? Check out some of Spartanburg's art galleries, including the new Crescent Gallery (located next to the former Cafe Ishi).

Want to bang your head to some live rock? Check out Subcam, Dropside, and Nvain at Spartanburg's Ground Zero.

Finally, there are a couple of plays that are happening this Friday and Saturday. The Spartanburg Little Theater is presenting Noises Off and will be featured Friday November 7 through Sunday November 16 at Chapman Cultural Center (Spartanburg writer and blogger, Lydia Anthony of Spartanburg Spark and blog Long Purple Bike, reported on this play herself for the Spark). The other play is performed by Spartanburg Methodist College's SMC Players, and is called Ordinary People (based on the Broadway drama). Ordinary People is showing at 7 pm on Friday November 7 and Saturday November 8 at Spartanburg Methodist College's Camak Auditorium (my friend William suggested this one).

http://longpurplebike.blogspot.com/

These are only some of the things to do on the after-work playground I like to call Spartanburg. To find out more about what's happening, check out some of these Web links or your local newspapers and magazines.

http://www.upstatelink.com/

http://www.spartanburgspark.com/

http://www.smcsc.edu/

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:LSUTGl-x504J:www.offoffonline.com/reviews.php%3Fid%3D195+ORDINARY+PEOPLE+Broadway&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

The fall of Arcadia

For those of you who know me closely I grew up in a Spartanburg County neighborhood called Arcadia. One day for fun I was in the USC Upstate library, and I came across this neighborhood research analysis book for Spartanburg County. This census dated back to 1970.

Arcadia has so much potential. It is located near both I-85 and I-26, it is adjacent to the Westgate Mall/Westside shopping area, the Heron Circle area of fast food restaurants, three colleges (Spartanburg Community College, Spartanburg Methodist College, and USC Upstate), and is within a 10-15 minute drive to downtown Spartanburg and two other colleges (Wofford and Converse). I always said that there needs to be a park or community center in Arcadia so our youth will have something close-by (walking and biking distance) to do. There is the Salvation Army Community Center in nearby Saxon (which has a walking trail, park, and indoor game room), but Hayne Street is not the most walkable or bikable road. I learned recently that there was a park located by the former Mayfair Mills (before all the cotton mills went out of business). The park included a swimming pool, two tennis courts, a baseball field, and a picnic area. Why they got rid of this park is purely beyond me. I feel a bit cheated that I (and other area youth) missed out on this. I know children around here love being outdoors, as I see many of them biking or skating/skateboarding out on the streets and the Spring Street sidewalk. Even with cheaper gas prices, not everyone wants to have to drive to a park.