HOLLY HILL, S.C. — The Town of Holly Hill’s fountain is located in the heart of downtown. On Monday, flowers were donated and planted to bring life back to a space that means so much to many residents.
By Tuesday, those flowers were gone.
Resident Kurt Edwins, who owns landscape contract company Tridion Environmental, said he planted the flowers to help make Holly Hill feel more homely.
“Whereever they went, they are bringing someone happiness,” said Edwins. “Because that was the whole point of this project, was to give back and inspire the community to give back and enhance the overall livability of the town.”
Mayor Chavis said residents should make the most of the outdoor space.
“All over by word-of-mouth people have stated how bad the downtown area looks. Now, you finally have a ray of sunshine in the downtown area, go there sit down enjoy it," Chavis said. "Go and take advantage of it, what you’re so used to not having. How about stand up and fight with us and lets make that area and town of Holly Hill better.”
Edwins, who grew up in Holly Hill, has now replanted those flowers and says he will continue with the upkeep as he was a part of the original group in 1995 that designed the pocket park where the town fountain is located.
“It is an absolute pleasure to be able to be home and to do this for the community. I’ve been gone for some time. I was very fortunate to have traveled around the world to have a lot of inspirations,” said Edwins. “And so it’s just a pleasure to bring some of those experiences and creativity back to the town.”
Chavis said the revitalization of the fountain is a part of efforts to restore downtown.
“It’s been a unifier in some way, shape or form. You’ve had to shop come here to see family, places to eat,” said Chavis. “Things over time, just they got into a dilapidated state as you see now, so now it’s just trying to bring relevance back to the Town of Holly Hill that we’ve had or had in years gone by and bring it back now for the newer generation into the 21st century.”
The Town of Holly Hill secured a $2.1 million project with SCDOT to restore storm lines, add crosswalks and expand sidewalks so that outdoor dinning, planters, benches and street trees can be added to downtown.
Chavis says the fountain is the main focus of that project.
“It’s pretty much to bring a focus point to the downtown area to where we can all come together and unify and spend time together as a community,” said Chavis.