Page 23 - Camden Kershaw 2020

Boykin: Where the unusual

becomes normal

Boykin Company Store owners (from left) Alice, Allie and Wayne Belger stand on the store’s front porch.

f you blink while traveling to and or Belger moved to Boykin when he holds barred event will return in 2020,
from Sumter to Camden, you might married native Alice Boykin in 1994 and Belger said.
Imiss it. If you take a few minutes he has never looked back. He has become
to stop and visit, you may never forget engrained in an area and a way of life Known by many as the world’s wackiest
Boykin. which is vanishing in this techno-fueled Christmas parade, some 70 tractors,
age. manure-spreaders pontoons and crazy
Nestled along Highway 521 sits the tiny floats, take their place in and among
town with a big heart, a colorful history “We still have the sense of community marchers, revelers --- including the
and even more to like for its population which Boykin was founded on back in annual appearance of the Fat Back
of less than 200 residents. Wayne Belger the early 1700s,” said Belger of the way Queen --- and Santa and Mrs. Claus
is fine with living a simple life in an in which residents go about their daily making their way along Boykin’s
area which is big on history, natural lives. “It’s like a large family.” main thoroughfare for an event which
attractions, acre upon acre of farmland has entertained thousands of gleeful
and a breed which serves as the official That family extends hundreds-fold each spectators for 25 years.
dog of the Palmetto State, the Boykin December, when the community hosts
Spaniel. the Boykin Christmas Parade. The no- In this Covid-19 era, a wrinkle could be
34 s Discover Camden-Kershaw County s 2020/2021