- Free-Times

"It's good to have you back," a customer told owner Milton Zanders, while in line at the West Columbia barbecue joint on Friday. The spot opened back up after being closed for months.

Columbia's Melon In opened for Toro y Moi in February. But the songwriter and leader Ony Ratsimbaharison moved recently, effectively ending the band's presence in Columbia.

Usually, countries concern themselves with having jobs for everyone. In the USA, we've flipped it. There are jobs and people don't want them.

The ambitious project is dubbed “Zion,” a meditative and sprawling release that tackles grand themes of the human condition with lengthy and affecting tracks.

The Columbia Museum of Art opened a work by an entrancing artist, the Toronto-based Amanda McCavour, to provide a transformative and atmospheric visual experience.

From the annual Columbia Shrimp and Grit Festival to a folk band at Steel Hands to Milah's album release show at Curiosity Coffee Bar there's plenty to check out in Columbia this week.

When Frank Turner hits the stage at 11:30 a.m. (you read that right) at West Columbia's New Brookland Tavern for a special solo matinee performance, it will be his 14th show in 11 days, and that’s before he plays The…

True BBQ, which opened in the West Columbia area over a decade ago, has been closed since early October of last year following the death of a close family member.

This week, Columbia city officials announced new initiatives to help spur business in the area. Free Times Food Writer Hannah Wade talked to local restaurant owners about what that could mean for them.

The 11th annual Tasty Tomato Festival, an event put on by local nonprofit Sustainable Midlands, will return to Columbia in late July. Here's more on what to expect:

I’m going to tell you right now nobody better F with me right now. I just left the gas station and filled my car up.

In July, an outdoor music festival is coming to Columbia and will be fueled by more than just good vibes — its stage will be powered partially by solar and bike power.

A local liquor distillery wins more awards after success earlier in the year and a new Asian food truck started in early April. All that (& more) in this edition of Table Crumbs.

The legendary James Taylor comes to Columbia, the Southeastern Piano Festival continues. All that (and more) in this week's to-do list.

At first, there’s something a little jarring about just how out of time the music of singer/songwriter Lang Owen, who releases his sophomore LP “She’s My Memory” this Friday, feels.

The romantic musical comedy "First Date" opens on June 17 at Trustus Theatre and runs through July 16.

A new Italian wine bar — complete with small plate offerings — is set to open in Five Points in July. Here's what to expect.

Colorful teas and meal replacement shakes with alluring health benefits all over social media draw customers to new smoothie stores that are popping up around Columbia. But what’s really behind the storefronts selling colorful drinks with fun names?

The bakery, which has been open since 1979, served the West Columbia community through custom cakes and cupcakes. Soon a new business will sit in its place.

Richland County Library hosts a conversation with George Clinton and West Columbia holds annual Taste on the River event. All that (and more) in this week's to-do list.

The 20th anniversary of the internationally renowned Southeastern Piano Festival, spawned by two University of South Carolina music professors, is June 12-19.

What was once a COVID-19 pandemic pivot to make wary customers more comfortable while eating out has become a permanent change at some restaurants in Columbia.

Nineteen big kids on one side of the door. Nineteen heavily armed cops on the other side of the door. The kids and teachers are heroes. The cops are cowards.

To hear Kevin Pettit, a longtime bassist and harmony singer for Columbia groups like Celtic/Appalachian rockers Loch Ness Johnny and the blues band Mississippi Kites, tell it, 48 Fables was just another band he formed to play a supporting role.

Canadian punk rock band PUP said the release of their fourth album isn’t just the group’s next record — it’s the most PUP record to date.

Pride President Jeff March announced at the annual Outfest event over the weekend he would step down at the end of the year. His tenure brought a large shift to the organization’s visibility in Columbia.

Best of Columbia 2022 voting runs June 8-July 1.

Best of Columbia 2022 voting runs June 8-July 1 at bestofcolumbia.com.

Scents like smoked barbecue and cheese pizza will linger around downtown on Fridays this summer, as the City of Columbia announced plans to host weekly a food truck event.

The vote came after baristas of the store went on strike in mid-May following the firing of the store’s manager, who baristas said was fired because she refused to stifle unionization plans.

Summer in Columbia is traditionally a time when local theaters turn to family-friendly programming, with throngs of youngsters in the audience as well as on stage.

ColaJazz, the Midland’s foremost jazz performing organization and outreach group, seems like it can be everywhere all the time.

24-year-old business owner and fashion designer Ashanti Thomas hopes to create a fashion community around his business and brand SWIFF.

Until a politician’s child is murdered in school the laws will not change.

The Vista neighborhood party Outfest, celebrating the LGBT community, is on June 4. The event headlines this week's To-Do List.

The area's first ever VegFest, a festival celebrating a plant-based diet and Vegan lifestyle, will take place in mid-June. Here's what to expect and what Columbia vegans had to say.

Lowcountry-reared rapper and multi-hyphenate Fitzgerald Wiggins, who records and creates under the name Benny Starr, is returning to Columbia.

In the latest initiative from Columbia’s arts community, more support for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion of the country is on its way.

Columbia's EdVenture Children's Museum has a new leader. The organization's board of trustees named Andy Marquart, a Tennesse museum leader, as new CEO of the children's museum on May 26.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Columbia band Brandy & The Butcher have just come straight out of The Jam Room Recording Studio with a no-frills, no-crap album of guitar-fueled hard rock.

Setting such dark material to music might seem like the punchline of a bad joke, but “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” manages to capture the story’s inherent subtext, as a grim speculation on the duality of man.

Rare is the opportunity to explore new lands. Until June 12, however, visitors to the 701 Center for Contemporary Art can follow in the figurative footsteps of great figures of the Age of Discovery by circumnavigating a constructed landscape composed…

In this edition of Table Crumbs, we check in on upcoming Main Street restaurant developments and Free Times Food Writer Hannah Wade gives initial thoughts on the Vista's Boku and BullStreet's Publico. Read more here.

Looka here y’all. As long as it’s going to be shakin’ and quakin’ around here, it’s a good idea to take your Dale Earnhardt plates off the top shelf.

Bierkeller owner Scott Burgess has been brewing beer for almost a decade. Now, he's getting his own permanent spot. Free Times Food Writer Hannah Wade talked with Burgess about the journey from a nomadic pop-up to a brick and mortar…

Indie rocker Wallows and a local ode to Woodstock headline this week's To-Do.

Bourbon and Black Rooster owner Kristian Niemi will open a new restaurant in Columbia's Vista, he announced in a podcast with Columbia's Mayor Daniel Rickenmann. Free Times Food Writer Hannah Wade has the story on the upcoming restaurant.

South Carolina-based brewery and taproom Steel Hands Brewing expanded into North Carolina, with a grand opening weekend on May 21, owners announced in an Instagram post.

Baristas at a Columbia Starbucks are on strike following a push to unionize locations of Starbucks across the country.

"Bermuda" tells the story of Mildred, a poet who’s determined to do things her own way. She’s taking a vacation to Bermuda and that’s just what she’s going to do.