Explore family friendly events, theatres, galleries, concerts, nightlife, things to do, and more in the Greenville, SC and Upstate areas.

Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.

Wednesday, July 31, 2024
RENEW: Embracing Tranquility, Eliminating the Stress Response
Jul 31 @ 10:00 am
Greer Relief

About Doug:

Douglas Allen is a lifetime student Of Natural Medicine. Majoring in communication, He started his study in traditional Chinese kung fu coupled with Chinese medicine and herbal studies in the early 1980s. By the mid 80s, Doug began work in natural medicine, focusing on the treatment of degenerative disease. His studies brought him to Germany, where he specialized in live blood analysis, subtle energetic measurement, And the identification and remediation of electrical pollution. He has been teaching principles of breathwork and meditation for more than 20 years now and is currently working on his PhD in natural medicine.

Thursday, August 1, 2024
Ron Rash: The Caretaker Book Signing
Aug 1 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Hub City Bookshop

Celebrate the paperback release of “The Caretaker” with a book signing! Ron Rash will be at Hub City Bookshop on Thursday, August 1st and sigining books from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Stop by, meet the author and have your books signed! You are welcome to bring any copies you already own. Though purchase is not required to attend the event, book sales support our operations and allow us to bring authors to Spartanburg. Please consider buying a book if you attend the appearance. Ron will sign up to 3 books per person.

We would love to know you are coming! Please consider RSVP-ing.

About the Book:

From award-winning author Ron Rash (“One of the great American authors at work today” —The New York Times) comes a breathtaking love story and a searing examination of the acts we seek to justify in the name of duty, family, honor, and love.

“With each Ron Rash story, you expect flawed people trying desperately to survive against the odds, and a rich sense of place…What you don’t always expect is a wicked plot. The Caretaker delivers all of the above in a story that becomes a race to the finish.” —John Grisham

Blowing Rock, North Carolina, 1951. Blackburn Gant, his life irrevocably altered by a childhood case of polio, seems condemned to spend his life among the dead as the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery. It suits his withdrawn personality, and the inexplicable occurrences that happen from time to time rattle him less than interactions with the living. But when his only friend, the kind but impulsive Jacob Hampton, is conscripted to serve overseas, Blackburn is charged with caring for Jacob’s wife, Naomi, as well.

Jacob and Naomi’s elopement has scandalized the community and angered Jacob’s parents. Shunned by the townsfolk for their differences and equally fearful that Jacob may never come home from the war, Blackburn and Naomi grow closer, even as a stunning betrayal shatters familial bonds.

A profound examination of friendship and rivalry as well as a riveting story of unfolding deceit, The Caretaker brilliantly depicts the human capacity for empathetic compassion and selfish destruction, all justified as acts of love.

About the Author:

RON RASH is the author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to the critically acclaimed novels The RisenAbove the WaterfallThe CoveOne Foot in EdenSaints at the River, and The World Made Straight; five collections of poems; and seven collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, Nothing Gold Can Stay, a New York Times bestseller, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Three times the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, his books have been translated into seventeen languages. He teaches at Western Carolina University.

Saturday, August 10, 2024
Spartanburg Biolife Opening
Aug 10 @ 9:00 am
Spartanburg Biolife

COMING SOON! Join us for our Open House 08.10.2024!

BioLife Plasma Services is a state-of-the art facility dedicated to collecting quality plasma donations in a safe and clean plasma center near you.

New Donors-click here for a coupon to bring on your first visit this month!

Click here for our Buddy Bonus coupon this month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up Now!

A. C. Hobbs Author Pop-up
Aug 10 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Hub City Writers Project

Introducing Local Author Pop-up! Meet a local author at our bookshop on Saturday, ask them questions about their books and get your copy signed. A.C. Hobbs will be at Hub City Bookshop on August 10th from 11 AM – 1 PM showcasing her book Scythe and Pen — a dark fantasy novel set in the Jazz Age.

About the Book:

Demetrius Raske strikes a deal with the Devil to stop a monster stalking the city, but he may have unleashed another villain entirely…

The Capital of the United League of Nations glitters like jewels on a dame’s neck-a city of wicked splendor and possibility. The deals struck in the Senate are as ruthless as the ones struck in the city’s criminal underbelly. No one knows this better than vampire politician Demetrius Raske, who walks both worlds.

Demetrius fights for a bill that will grant humans and vampires equal civil liberties. But many citizens don’t share his sentiment, especially after the murders begin. Body after body, drained of blood, appear throughout the city, threatening the League’s tenuous peace treaty between humans and vampires. If Demetrius’s bill doesn’t pass the Senate, his campaign for a united future will be crushed. Only one man has the ability to apprehend the bloodthirsty monster-a man known simply as the Devil. And rumor has it, he isn’t a man at all. Together, they strike a deal to catch the murderer before Demetrius’s bill fails-a disaster that would push the League to the brink of civil war.

But Demetrius’s calculated moves don’t go unnoticed. He catches the attention of Gabriella Rose, a journalist whose hunt for her next big headline pushes her right into the murderer’s path, costing her everything she holds dear. Now something dark grows within Gabriella-a power her allies wish to control and her enemies want to exploit.

The only way Demetrius and Gabriella can save themselves-and the city they love-is to strike another deal with the Devil. But their villainous partner is playing his own game. And soon they will learn how the Devil earned his name.

About the Author

A.C. Hobbs scribbles dark stories from her home in the sweltering Southeast. She holds a B.A. in English from Piedmont University and further studied education at Mount St. Mary’s University. She received several collegiate writing awards, including a National Academy of Poets University Prize. When she isn’t writing, you can find her hiking, bouldering, or camping with her family and pitbull rescue.

Sunday, August 18, 2024
Boozy Book Fair
Aug 18 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
New Groove Artisan Brewery

There was nothing like the elementary school book fair – the smell of new books in the air, the rush of racing your friends to find the next installment of your favorite series, and, if you were lucky, the crinkle of money from Mom in your pocket.

Life felt so much easier back then, didn’t it? Don’t you find yourself wishing from time to time that you could just go back?

You can – but we’re doing it grown-up style.

Don’t miss our Boozy Book Fair at New Groove Artisan Brewery (4078 Hwy 9 Boiling Springs, SC 29316) on Sunday, August 18th from 1-3pm!

We will have STICKERS!!! as well as books for everyone and every interest:

-Geeks and Gamers

-Myths and Fairy Tales

-Gothic and Ghastly

-Happy Endings

-Romantasy

-Read the Rainbow

-Bookclub Picks

-Celebrate the South

-Nonfiction

-Whodunnits & Thrillers

…and much much more!

This event is FREE and open to the public, so bring your friends! Be sure to RSVP so we have the booze + books ready – we can’t wait to see you there.

Monday, August 26, 2024
Science Café
Aug 26 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

We have partnered with the local organization Women, Life, and Science to host monthly science cafes, featuring speakers from various scientific communities and practices. There is no cost, but please register here. This month’s speaker is neuroscientist and neurodiversity advocate Dr. Leigh Holcomb discussing “Getting To Know Your Brain.”

Women, Life and Science is really just that – women leaders, living a full life, have a professional career in science or peripherally, have been involved in the industry. We are seasoned knowledge experts in leadership, mentorship, entrepreneurship, women’s health, philanthropic and general life experiences. We have stories to tell and knowledge to impart. We overcame challenges, uncertainties and continue to navigate the ever evolving professional and personal balance. We share in kindness and we share openly. We are grateful for many things. We have little regrets but easily forgive ourselves for our missteps. Women, Life and Science is the open forum for dialogue, a think-tank of professional women paving the way for future women leaders. Women are stronger collectively and when we walk in unison, our success becomes ten-fold.

Sunday, September 1, 2024
Silent Reading Party
Sep 1 @ 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
The Gallery at M. Judson

Enjoy 3 uninterrupted hours of silent reading in the M. Judson Gallery space. Your ticket includes snacks, beverages, and most importantly: peace and quiet.

Silent Reading Party
Sep 1 @ 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
The Gallery at M. Judson

Enjoy 3 uninterrupted hours of silent reading in the M. Judson Gallery space. Your ticket includes snacks, beverages, and most importantly: peace and quiet.

Thursday, September 5, 2024
Books Over Drinks with D.L. Soria
Sep 5 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

Over Drinks with D.L. Soria to celebrate her new cozy fantasy, The Cottage Around the Corner. Your ticket includes entry to the event, a signed copy of the book, and a signature cocktail (or mocktail).

A feisty witch and a handsome mage must put their heated business rivalry aside to save their small town from supernatural forces in this charming contemporary fantasy romcom from the author of Thief Liar Lady. Chanterelle Cottage is Charlie Sparrow’s whole world. The cozy spellshop where she and her moms practice their witchcraft, selling goods and services to the people of small-town Owl’s Hollow, has been in her family for generations. Okay, business has been a little slow and a recent burglary hit their inventory pretty hard. And the bank may not agree to restructure their loan. But Charlie is talented and savvy, and she’ll keep things afloat once her parents finally let her buy into the business as a co-owner. Still, when a competing magecraft firm opens in town, things start to look bleak. After all, everyone knows there’s room for only one magic shop in Owl’s Hollow. So what if Fitz, the mage who owns the new Maven Enterprises, happens to be ridiculously handsome in his ridiculously expensive suits? Who cares that, when Charlie can forget for a moment or two that Fitz is her competitor, things between them are as easy as breathing? None of that matters—because Charlie is not going to get involved with the competition. In this battle of the businesses, she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Chanterelle Cottage is the last spellshop standing. But when strange supernatural events begin to plague the citizens of Owl’s Hollow, Charlie and Fitz must put their rivalry aside and their magic together to save the town. As they grow closer, it becomes harder for Charlie to keep her carefully drawn line in place—maybe Owl’s Hollow is big enough for a witch and a mage, after all.

D. L. Soria is the author of Thief Liar Lady, Iron Cast, Beneath the Citadel, and Fire with Fire. She lives with a clingy cat and spends her time trying to come up with bios that make her sound kind of cool. She has yet to succeed.

Sunday, September 8, 2024
Boozy Book Fair
Sep 8 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Thomas Creek Brewery

There was nothing like the elementary school book fair – the smell of new books in the air, the rush of racing your friends to find the next installment of your favorite series, and, if you were lucky, the crinkle of money from Mom in your pocket.

Life felt so much easier back then, didn’t it? Don’t you find yourself wishing from time to time that you could just go back?

You can – but now we’re doing it grown-up style!

Don’t miss our next Boozy Book Fair at Thomas Creek Brewery (2054 Piedmont Hwy Greenville, SC 29605) on Sunday, September 8th from 2-4pm!

We will have STICKERS as well as these book categories:

-Happy Endings

-Nonfiction

-Geeks and Gamers

-Myths and Fairy Tales

-Gothic and Ghastly

-Romantasy

-Read the Rainbow

-Bookclub Picks

-Criminally Good Reads

-Southern Reads

-Kids

…and much much more!

This event is FREE and open to the public, so bring your friends! Be sure to RSVP so we have the booze + books ready – we can’t wait to see you there.

Books Over Cookies with Lina Maslo
Sep 8 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
The Gallery at M. Judson

Join us in the M. Judson Gallery for Books Over Cookies with local author Lina Maslo!

Threads is an inspiring picture book about a girl’s survival of the 1930s Ukrainian Famine-Genocide, messaging hope, pride for one’s heritage, and context for today’s War in Ukraine.

The threads on Zlata’s beautiful birthday blouse were knotted by her mother’s hands. “Red is for love, and black is for sadness,” her Papa says. Her Mama warns her not to show it off. Ever since the Communists came from Russia to Ukraine, they prohibited the teaching of Ukrainian culture. They’ve even taken the grain from Zlata’s family’s fields. But despite the danger, her parents refuse to give up their art, language, or beliefs.

As Zlata works to help her community survive, she finds that the dream of freedom is stitched deeper into the Ukrainian spirit than she could ever imagine.

Drawing from her own family’s experience in the 1932-33 Ukrainian Famine-Genocide, Lina Maslo weaves a thoughtful story that dares us not the forget the pain of the past as it informs the present conflict in Ukraine and inspires hope for the future.

Lina Maslo is a Ukrainian American author, illustrator and designer. Her published books include Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala (Balzer+Bray), a Library Guild Selection, CCBC Choice, and the winner of the Living the Dream Book Award; and Through the Wardrobe: How C. S. Lewis Created Narnia (Balzer+Bray). Of her newest release, Threads: Zlata’s Ukrainian Shirt (FSG)., a Kirkus starred review praised: “A poignant yet accessible entry into Ukraine’s ongoing suffering—and survival.” Lina loves to explore different media such as acrylics, gouache, and pen and ink. She has a Degree of Art from New College of Florida, and currently resides in South Carolina with her husband and four kids.

Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Open Mic Night
Sep 10 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

Calling all poets and authors! Hosted by the South Carolina Governor’s School, this monthly open mic night is a great way to showcase your latest writing project. Open to all, sign up at the event for a 5 minute time slot!

Open Mic Night
Sep 10 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

Calling all poets and authors! Hosted by the South Carolina Governor’s School, this monthly open mic night is a great way to showcase your latest writing project. Open to all, sign up at the event for a 5 minute time slot!

Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Storytime on the Steps
Sep 11 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am
M. Judson Booksellers

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.

Literary Bingo
Sep 11 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

It’s Bookish Game Night at M. Judson! Join us and our friends at the Greenville County Library for a night of Literary Bingo, complete with prizes. Look for this event once a month, for a regular dose of fun.

This is a free event.

Thursday, September 12, 2024
In Conversation With Andrew K. Clark
Sep 12 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

Join author Andrew K. Clark In Conversation with Maris Lawyer to discuss his new novel, Where Dark Things Grow. This event is free to the public and books will be available for purchase.

In his debut novel, Where Dark Things Grow, poet Andrew K. Clark blends magical realism, horror, and Southern Gothic to create a beautifully rendered and dark tale. Leo is a troubled fifteen-year-old growing up in rural, Depression-era Appalachia with unstable parents, two useless brothers, his sick baby sister, Goldfish, and the memory of his deceased brother, Jacob. When his father goes missing, Leo’s attempts to help his family and find his father bring him into contact with mythical beasts, alchemists, prostitutes, and Jacob’s ghost, who may or may not be an evil spirit.

As Leo navigates his place in the physical world and magical realms around him, he struggles with the legacy of his father and his own dark desires. Will he be able to save those touched by illness, insanity, and greed? Can he shake his own connection to an ancient evil and find a better path? Step into the world of Andrew K. Clark’s Where Dark Things Grow to find out.

Andrew K. Clark’s poetry collection, Jesus in the Trailer, was published by Main Street Rag Press, and his debut novel, Where Dark Things Grow, is forthcoming from Cowboy Jamboree Press. His work has appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, UCLA’s Out of Anonymity, Appalachian Review, Rappahannock Review, and The Wrath Bearing Tree. He received his MFA from Converse College. A Western North Carolina native, Clark lives outside Asheville, NC.

Caroline Cleveland: When Cicadas Cry Reading
Sep 12 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Hub City Bookshop & Press

Caroline Cleveland will be at Hub City Bookshop discussing her book “When Cicadas Cry.” Listen to a reading of the book that Hank Phillippi Ryan describes as “John Grisham meets Nelle Harper Lee.”

About the Book

In this stunning debut by a South Carolina attorney, Zach Stander, a lawyer with a past, and Addie Stone, his indomitable detective and lover, find themselves entangled in secrets, lies, and murder in a small Southern town.

A high-profile murder case—A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg.

A haunting cold case—Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander’s case?

A killer who’s watching—Stander takes on Jenkins’s defense, but he’s up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?

Ideal for fans of mystery, suspense, and thrillers in the vein of Karin Slaughter’s Pretty Girls and Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark, as well as for readers who followed the high-profile Murdaugh murder trial, held in the same small town as in When Cicadas Cry.

About the Author

A native South Carolinian, Caroline Cleveland grew up in the small town of Walterboro, and she credits her love of reading to its quieter way of life. Her love of the written word eventually led her to law school, and later to establish the law firm Cleveland & Conley, LLC, in Charleston, South Carolina, where she represents public employers, inlcuding local governments and law enforcement. Caroline writes stories from a Southern perspective, featuring deceptively peaceful small towns and strong, complex characters who rely on their Southern sense of values. Her debut novel is When Cicadas Cry, published by Union Square & Co. Visit her website at www.CarolineClevelandAuthor.com

Saturday, September 14, 2024
Pop Up Author
Sep 14 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
M. Judson Booksellers

Stop by M. Judson for a free pop up with author Kailey Bright to celebrate her new fantasy novel, Unity!

Cassius has won. He triumphantly seized the crown from his downcast sister and successfully flipped the kingdom on its head by replacing one form of oppression with another. There’s only one thing that has slipped through his grasp—but not for long.

Nora has lost. She is a gilded prisoner within the hallowed halls of Galdor Academy and is separated from her friends, unsure if they escaped the siege alive. There’s only one thing she can do in their absence: make him pay.

As Cassius casts judgment on those who don’t pledge their loyalty, Nora does everything in her power to shift the tides and soundly prove that Cassius is not the messiah her people claim he is. And when a powerful connection ties Nora and her missing friend, Fern, back together, both seek to fulfill an unbreakable promise in hopes of unifying Iridion through something greater than fear.

From award-winning author Kailey Bright comes the thrilling action-packed finale in the UN series.

Kailey Bright is a YA fiction author and computer scientist, which means she writes code during daylight and writes about fantastical worlds under starlight. Tired of stories where protagonists suddenly get secret, plot-helpful powers, Bright seeks to write powerful and ambitious stories about characters who persevere with and through disadvantages. Her books are meant to positively impact readers who struggle with challenging societal norms and cultivating inner growth. When she’s not tanning under her computer screen’s glow, Kailey enjoys winning at mediocre bowling and drinking iced coffee at all hours of the day.

Pop Up Author
Sep 14 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am
M. Judson Booksellers

Stop by M. Judson for a free pop up with author Kailey Bright to celebrate her new fantasy novel, Unity!

Cassius has won. He triumphantly seized the crown from his downcast sister and successfully flipped the kingdom on its head by replacing one form of oppression with another. There’s only one thing that has slipped through his grasp—but not for long.

Nora has lost. She is a gilded prisoner within the hallowed halls of Galdor Academy and is separated from her friends, unsure if they escaped the siege alive. There’s only one thing she can do in their absence: make him pay.

As Cassius casts judgment on those who don’t pledge their loyalty, Nora does everything in her power to shift the tides and soundly prove that Cassius is not the messiah her people claim he is. And when a powerful connection ties Nora and her missing friend, Fern, back together, both seek to fulfill an unbreakable promise in hopes of unifying Iridion through something greater than fear.

From award-winning author Kailey Bright comes the thrilling action-packed finale in the UN series.

Kailey Bright is a YA fiction author and computer scientist, which means she writes code during daylight and writes about fantastical worlds under starlight. Tired of stories where protagonists suddenly get secret, plot-helpful powers, Bright seeks to write powerful and ambitious stories about characters who persevere with and through disadvantages. Her books are meant to positively impact readers who struggle with challenging societal norms and cultivating inner growth. When she’s not tanning under her computer screen’s glow, Kailey enjoys winning at mediocre bowling and drinking iced coffee at all hours of the day.

Storytime on the Steps
Sep 14 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am
M. Judson Booksellers

Bring your littles to the front steps of M. Judson for our bi-weekly story time! Enjoy some wonderful picture books read aloud to the crowd by our very own booksellers, and children will even get a sweet treat to go.