Page 31 - Classically Carolina 2017

as “Downtown Camden.” for the future,” she said.
Spadacenta said she will be working with what Searching online and visiting in person, the
city staff has already done to enhance downtown Spadacentas found they liked downtown Camden,
and integrate it with things like the city’s vision Lake Wateree, the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw
and comprehensive land use plans and a study County and more.
that led to the city’s current “Classically Carolina” “All the different elements -- it was the culture
brand. we were looking for: small-town charm with all
“It’s about me coming in as part of that team. the amenities and close to Columbia, if we needed,
Looking at it and saying, ‘this is what’s been done, but what I’ve found is that I rarely have to leave
here’s what the city is already doing that needs Camden,” Spadacenta said. “It’s comforting and
to be strengthened’ on our way to accomplishing encouraging. There is a real sense of pride here,
our goals. We all have to work together; it’s all and I like that, too.”
intertwined,” she said. Following work in newspapers, radio and theater,
Spadacenta, her husband and 4-year-old Spadacenta became the communications officer
daughter live nearby on a 10-acre piece of property for The Community Foundation for Greater
-- something her husband, an “outdoorsy” type, New Haven. She said the work involved a lot of
wanted to have. They chose South Carolina to be marketing and writing for various platforms to
close to her husband’s siblings, one of whom lives create public awareness of the foundation and
in Conway. the entities it supported. She said the sense of
They drove around different parts of the state “working for the greater good” she felt at the New
before passing through the Midlands and liked Haven foundation came bubbling back up as she
what they saw. Once her husband found the looked at the Main Street job in Camden.
10-acre parcel, Spadacenta began researching “What attracted me to this job is the similar
Camden. commitment to working to make the community
“It has a real sense of history but also a vision stronger,” Spadacenta said.

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