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St. Pat's in Five Points dominates, but there are other things to do this weekend

COLUMBIA, S.C. — St. Pat’s in Five Points is the big event this weekend, but if you’re not into communing with 30,000+ of your closest friends, there are some other things going on that might pique your interest.

Here’s a partial list of events – other than St. Pat’s – going on Friday through Sunday, March 14-16:

Carolina Classic Home & Garden Show, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, SC State Fairgrounds, 1200 Rosewood Dr., Columbia. Thinking about building or remodeling your home, or want to check on the latest home and garden trends? This is the place to be this weekend.

Columbia City Manager's Go Red Heart Walk, 10:30 a.m., City Hall, 1737 Main St. Wear something red and join Columbia City Manager Teresa Wilson for a walk to the State House to raise awareness for heart health in our community. Exhibitors such as Prisma Health and March of Dimes will have information on the importance of heart health.

Newberry Irish Fling, 5 p.m., downtown Newberry. The streets in downtown Newberry will be closed to vehicle traffic so that local bars and restaurants can showcase their best food and drink and live music. Admission and parking are free.

Live in the Lobby Jazz: Jane Monheit: American Songbook, 7:30 p.m. Koger Center, 1051 Greene St., Columbia. Monheit is a jazz and adult contemporary vocalist and successful bandleader. Her performance will consist of her take on jazz standards from The Great American Songbook

Soda City Market, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Main Street Columbia. Wander through city blocks full of food trucks, arts and crafts and more.

C.A. Johnson High School Gospelfest, 6:30 p.m. C.A. Johnson High School, 2219 Barhamville Rd. The concert will feature Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Le'Andria Johnson and Blanche McAllister-Dykes, Jarell Smalls, Tejon Conyers and Damon Terry, and will feature a special tribute to singer Angie Stone, who passed away March 1. Ms. Stone was a Columbia native who attended C.A. Johnson.

LifeChance: Gala of the Stars, 7:30 p.m., Koger Center. Columbia Classical Ballet’s showcase of some of the world’s most exceptional dancers, this year featuring Elisabeth Beyer from American Ballet Theatre.

A Wee Bit Celtic Artisan Market, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Flora & Fauna Marketplace, 4773 Sunset Blvd., Lexington. A day before the actual St. Patrick’s Day, don your finest kilt or fantasy attire and enjoy a celebration of Celtic lore and heritage with food and music.

Free Sundays at Robert Mills House, 1-4 p.m., 1616 Blanding St. Residents of Richland and Lexington counties are invited to tour the Robert Mills House and gardens for free, thanks to Richland County. Semi-guarded tours are at the top of the hour and guests can register on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills

WEDNESDAY, March 19: McNair Conversations on the American South with Michael Stipe, 6 p.m. Koger Center. The former lead singer of R.E.M. talks about his 31 years in the band, his transition to work in video, sculpture, and photographic and digital imagery, and completing his first solo album, set for release in 2025.

THURSDAY, March 20: Free seed packets and lemonade at Columbia Visitors Center, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Columbia SC Visitor Center, 1120 Lincoln St.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY. March 20-22: SC BBQ Shag Festival, Hemingway, SC. Come for the beach music and dancing, stay for the whole hog barbecue cook-off.

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A German manufacturer has chosen Lexington County for its first South Carolina operation.

ALLTAPE Adhesive Manufacturing Inc., a manufacturer of adhesive products, has chosen Lexington County to establish the company’s first South Carolina operation, according to a news release. The $70 million investment will create 130 new jobs.

ALLTAPE’s new facility, located in the Saxe Gotha Industrial Park, will include 125,000 square feet of production and office space.

Part of ATP Group and founded in Germany, ALLTAPE specializes in developing and manufacturing sustainable and solvent-free adhesive products. The company’s water-based adhesives are used in a variety of industry segments including automotive, transportation, foam, plastics and more.

“Launching our first production site in Lexington County, South Carolina marks a significant milestone in our expansion into the U.S. market,” ATP Group CEO Daniel Heini said in the release. “This substantial investment reflects ATP’s commitment to growth and innovation, and we are excited to commence operations in the South Carolina region.” –

Operations are expected to be online in July 2026.

“Lexington County is proud to welcome ALLTAPE and their significant investment of $70 million to our community,” Lexington County Council Chairman Todd Cullum said in the release. “This commitment, along with the creation of 130 new jobs, demonstrates the strength of our business climate and the opportunities available here. We look forward to the positive impact this project will have on our local economy and workforce for years to come.”

Related: Global manufacturer leases space at Columbia speculative building

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The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits related to the project, according to the release. The council also awarded a $600,000 Set-Aside grant to Lexington County to assist with the costs of site preparation and building construction.

“We are thrilled to congratulate ALLTAPE Adhesive Manufacturing Inc.,” Central SC Alliance Chairman Matthew Shaffer said in the release. “On selecting Lexington County as the ideal location for their first operations in South Carolina. Their innovative adhesive products are poised to strengthen our region’s thriving industries, seal new opportunities for growth and create a lasting bond of success across our vibrant business ecosystem.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Sky watchers will get an astronomical treat this week.

The 2025 March Total Lunar Eclipse takes place late Thursday night, March 13, into Friday morning, March 14.

A lunar eclipse is when the Earth, Sun, and Moon come into alignment with the Moon passing through the Earth’s shadow.

Unlike the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse, you don’t need any special eyewear to view the eclipse. For the best viewing conditions, you’ll want to get away from bright lights as much as possible.

While you should be able to see the lunar eclipse with the naked eye, a telescope or binoculars may offer a better viewing.

Lunar eclipses such as this one are also known as “Blood Moons” due to the reddish orange hue the moon will appear to have. The reason for the moon appearing to turn red-orange is an optical illusion that occurs when the moon passes into the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow known as the umbra.

The 2025 March Total Lunar eclipse will be visible from the Earth’s western hemisphere including all of the United States. Here’s an idea of when the Midlands can see the eclipse this week.

According to www.timeanddate.com, the 2025 March Total Lunar Eclipse will begin at 11:57 pm Thursday and lasts just over six hours for sky watchers in Columbia, SC.

As the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow, a partial eclipse occurs. It will appear as if a “bite” is being taken out of the Moon. This is expected to begin at 1:09 am Friday.

Totality begins when the entire Moon moves into the Earth’s umbra. This is also when a completely red moon should be visible. Totality, including its maximum eclipse at 2:58 am, is expected to begin at 2:26 am and end at 3:31 am Friday.

The Moon will slowly emerge form the Earth’s shadow and the eclipse will end around 6 am.

For viewing conditions in your area, get the latest forecast at https://www.wistv.com/weather/.

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The party was here.

The shore was nowhere in sight, but DJ Pauly D brought his A-game to The Senate March 6, spinning with all his heart, and creating a 'Situation' fueled by fist pumps, singalongs and clubgoers ready for a good time.

Born Paul Michael DelVecchio, the reality television personality demonstrated his prowess as a deejay, leading an EDM show for more than 90 minutes that never lost momentum, even when the beat slowed down to incorporate a more mellow tempo.

Star of such MTV programs as “Jersey Shore” and “Jersey Shore Family Vacation,” Pauly D, as he is generally known, has been a household name among millennials and their younger siblings since 2009. That's when he was cast as one of eight summer beachgoers sharing a shore house, a.k.a. summer beach rental in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The show’s omnipresent cameras followed the protagonists through typical young adult vacation behavior: drinking, dancing in clubs and pursuing romance in many forms, but most often casual hookups. "Jersey Shore" quickly grew from disposable entertainment to national craze, setting new viewership records and inspiring multiple spinoffs.

Pauly D in Soda City

Taking the stage around 9:15 p.m. — following an opening set by local act DJ Payne that got the crowd going as soon as “Sandstorm” was played — Pauly D was every inch the professional.

Occasionally voicing his trademark “Yeah buddy!” at the crowd’s enthusiasm, the veteran entertainer mostly avoided references to his other career in reality television. This was no celebrity milking his 15 minutes of fame with club appearances, but rather a working professional who knew how to command a stage, how and when to engage with the audience and to get the party started.

Pauly D had been a local club DJ in his native Rhode Island before he was cast on "Jersey Shore." His of "gym, tan, laundry" and the club became a template for the daily routine of the show. MTV aired six seasons of the original series and seven more of its rebooted family vacation incarnation where the older but not necessarily wiser roommates reunite to hash out old business and create new memories.

All the while, Pauly D has kept up his DJ career, opening at one point for Britney Spears.

Thursday night, the tunes came fast and furious. He spun snippets, samples and extended dance remixes of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” La Roux’s “Bulletproof,” Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok,” Nikki Minaj’s “Everybody” and "Moment 4 Life,” J Balvin and Willy William’s “Mi Gente,” Shek Wes’s “Mo Bamba,” David Guetta and Jaden Bosjen’s “Let’s Go,” Lil John’s “Outta Your Mind” and even unexpected oldies like Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”.

He played hundreds of other hits that kept the crowd on their feet throughout the 90-minute set, including a few bars of Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” used as the theme for Jersey Shore castmates Snooki and J-Woww’s spinoff series.

The venue joined in the spirit of the evening with Jersey Shore-themed drink specials. For $16 one could enjoy a “GTL Bucket” made with coconut rum, vodka, blue Curacao, pineapple and orange juice, a reference to the daily routine of “gym, tan, laundry” popularized by the roommates. Other cocktails included the “Cabs Are Heah,” essentially a Long Island Tea infused with the DJ’s thick Delaware accent; the Blowout, a rebranded TequilaSunrise named for his signature hairstyle; and the “Fist Pump,” a variation on “Sex on the Beach” which would have worked as well with its original name.

About 75 percent of the audience was female, and only a few seemed to have dressed up like a favorite "Jersey Shore" character. all were well-behaved, and most appeared to be there purely to have a good time.

Pauly D appeared to be having as good a time as anyone there.

“Let’s let ‘em hear this all the way up in Jersey,” he urged at one point.

“South Carolina, I need you to shout this s— as loud as you can” he exclaimed at another, as the familiar rhythm of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” began.

As the crowd jumped, swayed and pumped their fists in the air, the artist encouraged everyone to whip out their cellphones.

“Let’s light this place up with phones,” he suggested.

And indeed, it was lit. Literally and metaphorically.

A proposed apartment building in downtown Columbia may force No Name Deli to relocate. The mixed-use project aims to provide housing and amenities in the area.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A proposal for a major new apartment building in downtown Columbia could reshape the area, with plans for an eight-story, mixed-use development at the corner of Bull and Elmwood Avenue.

The proposed project, which is slated for discussion Thursday at a meeting of Columbia’s Planning Commission, would include 288 units and extend from Bull Street to Elmwood Avenue. Several existing buildings would be replaced, including the long-standing No Name Deli, which has been a staple in the area for 40 years. The deli would need to relocate if the project moves forward.

No Name Deli owner Jon Sears expressed gratitude for the restaurant’s loyal customers and its long history in Columbia. “I’m extremely thankful for our customers, and, uh, you know, I mean, this place was built way before me and it’s been, you know, an institution in Columbia for, for many years before, uh, Chris (Davis) and I bought it,” he said. “We’re not going to go into some shiny shopping center, we’re trying to stick to our roots and not changing it up too much.”

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The proposed apartment building would offer amenities such as a fitness center, swimming pool, dog park, recreational areas, and parking garage, as well as retail and office spaces. Developers indicated in a statement that the location is ideal for young professionals, recent graduates, and families seeking a walkable environment. The site is also located near the Bull Street development, home to the Fireflies stadium, several apartments, and local businesses.

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Richland County Councilman Don Weaver highlighted the need for more housing in the area. “It's really going to be exciting for folks in that area. The whole Bull Street development, we’ve got the new USC med school going in there, of course we already have the ballpark, a lot of new businesses, so I think this apartment complex is just going to add housing options for folks that want to be downtown in that area,” he said.

For those concerned about lunch plans in downtown Columbia, No Name Deli’s owners have reassured customers that they plan to relocate within two blocks of their current location.

The request for approval of the proposed development will be discussed at the City of Columbia’s Planning Commission meeting on Thursday at 4 p.m. If approved, it remains unclear when construction would begin.