Page 24 - Camden Kershaw 2020

Boykin: Where the unusual

becomes normal
thrown in the path of the parade, but
Belger said, should the pandemic be done
and gone by late fall, the 26th edition of
the Boykin Parade will be bigger and
better than ever.

“We are making improvements on parking
and barring any unforeseen restrictions
and regulations (due to the coronavirus),
we intend on having the parade.”

Guests come from as far away as Texas and
New York making Boykin a must-see and
must-do yearly pilgrimage. The day-long
event is capped by a post-parade gospel
singing at Swift Creek Baptist Church.

The idea for the parade was the
brainchild of the late Alice Boykin, a
successful realtor, businesswoman and
community leader who helped restore
the town’s historic mill while creating
two restaurants in Boykin, including
the critically acclaimed Mill Pond Steak
House. She nurtured the area and the
parade which took off in popularity from
the get-go.
Alice Boykin led a parade committee
which has grown to a tremendous amount
of volunteers who come together to help
pull the event off.

“I don’t think any of us really realized that
it would grow in popularity like it has,”
Belger said of his late mother-in-law and
one of her lasting legacies. “Everybody
comes together as a community and works Historic Swift Creek Church
together to make it a success. It’s very
loosely organized, but everything always seems to fall in place history and charm. “Traveling across the state, when you talk
… it works.” about Boykin and the Boykin Spaniel, they know what you are
talking about.”
Boykin Company Store owners (from left) Alice, Allie and Wayne Belger stand on the store’s front porch. While the parade has provided Boykin with recent notoriety, A community which can often be overlooked while searching
there is more to the community than one event. In the early a map of South Carolina, Wayne Belger said Boykin has put
1900s, Whit Boykin experimented with crossbreeding and its stamp on history and continues to survive and thrive at its
f you blink while traveling to and or Belger moved to Boykin when he holds barred event will return in 2020, own pace in a world which is rapidly changing and wanting to
from Sumter to Camden, you might married native Alice Boykin in 1994 and Belger said. developed the Boykin Spaniel, which has since become the state continuously expand.
Imiss it. If you take a few minutes he has never looked back. He has become dog. The Boykin grist mill continues to produce some of the
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 most sought-after grits and cornmeal to be found anywhere. “We’re thankful,” he said of Boykin’s place in Kershaw County’s
Boykin. which is vanishing in this techno-fueled Christmas parade, some 70 tractors, Boykin was also the site of the last Civil War battle fought in vast landscape. “The mill pond is here and there are good
age. manure-spreaders pontoons and crazy the state with the last Union officer killed in the war having neighbors who see the value in keeping some parts of the
Nestled along Highway 521 sits the tiny floats, take their place in and among been shot during the conflict. county in agriculture and green, for lack of a better term, and
town with a big heart, a colorful history “We still have the sense of community marchers, revelers --- including the not fully developed.”
and even more to like for its population which Boykin was founded on back in annual appearance of the Fat Back “It definitely put us on the map,” Belger said of Boykin’
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 2020/2021 s Discover Camden-Kershaw County s 35