Events

The key event of the year is the Festival of Roses (803/534-6821, www.festivalofroses.com [1], free), held, fittingly, the weekend before Mother’s Day. About 30,000 people attend this weekend-long event, which culminates in a parade of roses downtown, with a special float carrying the Queen of Roses.

The nearly 50-year-old Grand American Hunt (803/534-6821) brings tens of thousands of hunters and their canines to the area each January for a massive raccoon hunting expedition—though the cute masked critters are not actually harmed, just tracked by specially trained dogs.