🏝️ Court voids Folly Beach's 800-rental cap

🇵🇷 Puerto Rican whole-hog barbecue in West Ashley

At 2366 Ashley River Road in West Ashley, Palmira Barbecue is pitmaster Hector Garate's Puerto Rican take on Carolina whole-hog barbecue. He burns wood and works with local meats, folding his family's flavors into the smoke.

The red-tray room keeps it casual. Beef cheeks, whole hog, barbacoa, and house sausage come with Puerto Rican beans, collards, and hash and rice; Palmira is named for Garate's grandmother, who grew up on a cattle ranch.

Read more here.

🌱 Fed Up With Paying a Lawn Company to Spray and Leave?

A technician shows up, sprays the lawn for five minutes, and drives away. A few weeks later, the weeds, brown patches, or disease are still there, and you’re left wondering what you’re paying for.

That’s exactly why Austin Solaguren created Happy Hour Lawn Treatment. Instead of applying the same product to every property, Austin examines what the turf is telling him and adjusts each lawn’s treatment accordingly.

It’s an approach modeled after golf-course turf care, where fertilization, weeds, insects, and disease are treated as different problems requiring different solutions. Austin previously operated a Charleston landscaping company for more than four years, and now focuses exclusively on lawn treatments.

Monthly plans start at $49 for lawns up to 5,000 square feet, with no long-term contracts. It’s built for Charleston homeowners who are tired of the national spray-and-leave approach and want a local owner personally paying attention to their property.

Call Austin at 843-732-0117 to schedule a free professional quote (for Charleston Scoop readers) and find out what your lawn actually needs.

Thank you to our local sponsors who help make this publication possible!

🏖️ Court Voids Folly Beach's 800-Rental Cap

The Gist: A judge invalidated Folly Beach's voter-approved cap of 800 short-term rentals and its registration fee. The ruling said taxation and regulation belong to City Council, not voters, prompting residents to line up at City Hall with new rental applications.

Why It Matters: The decision could reshape housing, tourism and property rights on an island long divided over vacation rentals.

What's Next: A 10-day stay is holding applications without approval or denial while City Council prepares a special session to decide whether to appeal.

Read more here.

🚦 $2.26M Traffic Grant Targets Two Busy Corridors

The Gist: Charleston is seeking a $2.26 million federal grant to add adaptive signals along Folly Road and the Crosstown. The project would upgrade all 11 Folly Road signals and bring real-time timing to corridors used by roughly 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles a day, respectively.

Why It Matters: The system could react to beach traffic, crashes and events instead of relying on preset timing plans.

What's Next: Federal officials expect to announce awards between late 2026 and spring 2027. Installation would take six months to a year after funding arrives.

Read more here.

☀️ Summerville Lands $15.7M Solar Factory

The Gist: Translucent Solar selected Dorchester County for a 1.2-gigawatt solar panel factory, investing $15,675,000 and creating 167 jobs. The Summerville plant will make high-efficiency photovoltaic modules for utility, commercial, industrial and residential customers.

Why It Matters: The project adds advanced manufacturing jobs and will route about 200 containers of equipment through the Port of Charleston.

What's Next: The company is recruiting now. Equipment arrives in October and November, first production is planned by year-end and full one-shift operations are targeted for early 2027.

Read more here.

🦴 Fossil Friday with Curator of Natural History Matthew Gibson | The Charleston Museum | Charleston | Friday, August 21, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. | More
Bring fossil finds for expert identification and peek inside the museum lab.

🛹 Beginner Skateboarding Ages 5-8 | SK8 Charleston | Charleston | Saturday, August 22, 9 to 10 a.m. | More
Young beginners learn balance, pushing, turning, skate-park etiquette, and how to fall safely.

🏒 Stingrays Fan Fest | North Charleston Coliseum | North Charleston | Saturday, August 22, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. | More
Meet the coach, shop player-used gear, sample concessions, and enter hourly raffles.

🌟 CML SuperStars | Children's Museum of the Lowcountry | Charleston | Sunday, August 23, 10 a.m. to noon | More
A free, lower-stimulation museum session for children with special needs and their families.

🦈 Shark Tooth Sleuthing | Folly Beach County Park | Folly Beach | Monday, August 24, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. | More
Search for shark teeth with a naturalist while learning how sharks adapt.

💃 Moonlight Mixer | Folly Beach Pier | Folly Beach | Friday, August 21, 7 to 10 p.m. | More
Dance on the pier to Calhoun's Calling with ocean views and $10 tickets.

🎤 Nikki Glaser: The Stunning Tour | North Charleston Performing Arts Center | North Charleston | Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23, 7 p.m. | More
Nikki Glaser brings her candid, no-holds-barred stand-up to two evening performances.

🎷 Lowcountry Rhythms: The Charleston Jazz Orchestra | West Beach Conference Center | Kiawah Island | Sunday, August 23, 7:30 to 9 p.m. | More
Big-band jazz meets gospel, spirituals, and Gullah Geechee traditions by the water.

🍷 Wine Down Wednesday | Old Towne Creek County Park | Charleston | Wednesday, August 26, 5 to 7 p.m. | More
Sip wine, hear live music, and sample food-truck fare beneath live oaks.

🍺 Historic Cocktail and Spirits Series: Beer Tasting Workshop with Holy City Brewing | The Charleston Museum | Charleston | Thursday, August 27, 6 to 8 p.m. | More
Pair Holy City beer tastings with brewing science, light bites, and museum artifacts.

If you want to read any of our previous issues, check them out HERE on our website.