The scene on the Randall Street wall of the old Davenport building is Trade Street in 1938, painted large across the brick with the red and blue Greer150 logo on top of it. Adam Schrimmer of Blank Canvas Mural Company began sketching it on June 10. He painted on weekday mornings when the weather allowed and stopped when the heat got too high for the paint to go on smoothly. According to the City of Greer, many people stopped to watch him work and took pictures and video as the mural came together.
That wall is the clearest sign of what Greer's birthday year did differently. Most of Greer150 happened one day at a time. The pieces that will still be here in January are on a few downtown blocks, and the season's remaining events are scheduled on that same ground.
A Year of One-Day Events, and a Few Things That Stay
The city traces its start to March 25, 1876, when 15 men voted to charter "Greer's." The town formally took the name Greer in 1904. For the 150th, the city teamed up with the Greer Heritage Museum and promised at least one Greer150 event every month of 2026. It kept that pace. The January kickoff led to the Big Bash on March 28, then The Textile Era in April, Boom to Bust in June and Greer Uncovered in July. On August 29, the free Greer Station Groove concert filled Randall Street with hundreds of people.
Before this year, downtown's best-known public art was Scott Gerber's playful Tube Dudes. In 2017, WSPA reported that the city was asking for help naming a big yellow Gerber sculpture outside City Hall, with eight smaller figures planned. According to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, the contest winner named the big one "Silly Dude." In 2026 alone, the city added three new permanent pieces. Two of them went up within the past few weeks.
One Painter, Two Walls, Two Versions of Greer
The Greer150 mural started with a city vote. Greer City Council approved a design concept at its January 27 meeting, and the new owners of the old Davenport building agreed to give up the wall along Randall Street. The finished mural faces Randall Street right where it meets Trade.
Schrimmer then took on a second wall. He started on the side of The Great Bay Oyster House in late August. That building sits where South Main, Poinsett and Trade streets meet. The city reported that he signed the finished "Welcome to Greer" mural on a Friday, and the GreerView for the week of October 12 called it officially camera-ready. The city's photo shows the greeting in flowing cursive beside a painting of the Historic Greer Depot.
The two murals divide the job. One looks back at a single year of Trade Street. The other greets you at one of downtown's busiest intersections. A short walk separates a 1938 street scene from a fresh welcome sign by the same painter, and in an anniversary year that pairing fits.
The Butterfly Has a Backstory
The newest piece is a sculpture. In the week of October 15, city crews installed "Butterfly Dream," a commissioned metal work by artist Yuri Tsuzuki, in the pollinator garden at Center for the Arts Park. The city's photo shows a silver base under a blue top, with butterflies of many sizes running along curved metal and pollinator plants all around it. Tsuzuki works in wood and metal. She began her career as a journalist and documentarian, and she also has a public piece in Greenville's Cancer Survivors Park.
The butterflies are a deliberate choice. In 2018 Greer became the first city in South Carolina designated a Monarch City USA. The city says the designation recognizes its milkweed and pollinator plantings, its education programs and its work with local garden clubs. The city's parks page lists a pollinator garden at the Center for the Arts, 804 Trade St., and the Nancy Welch Memorial Butterfly Garden at Greer City Park, 301 E. Poinsett St. Downtown's two main gathering places each have a garden planted for monarchs. One of them now has a sculpture to go with it.
The theme carries into this week. The Día de los Muertos Festival at the Center for the Arts runs Friday, October 30, from noon to 10 p.m. The free event includes dance and music performances, an artist market, free crafts for children, food and beverage trucks, and monarch butterfly education. Inside the building, the "Honoring Our Loved Ones" exhibition is up through the end of October. It shows painting, sculpture, mixed media and contemporary folk art by 23 South Carolina Latino artists. In the city's announcement, Cultural Arts Supervisor Robin Byouk tied the show to the festival: "Since the Day of the Dead festival is about remembering those who have passed on and keeping them fresh on our minds, this exhibit goes right along with it."
The Center added gallery hours this year. It is now open Tuesday from noon to 8 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. That gives you a Tuesday evening to see the gallery before the exhibition closes. Friday is the festival itself.
A Short Loop Through Greer150's Permanent Pieces
The city hasn't published a public art map. The new pieces are close enough together that you can see them all in one easy walk:
- The Greer150 mural on the old Davenport building, facing Randall Street at Trade. Look for details of Trade Street in 1938.
- "Welcome to Greer" on the side of The Great Bay Oyster House, where South Main, Poinsett and Trade meet. This is the one the city calls camera-ready.
- "Butterfly Dream" in the Center for the Arts Park pollinator garden, 804 Trade St. Plan your stop around gallery hours so you can go inside too.
- The Nancy Welch Memorial Butterfly Garden at Greer City Park, 301 E. Poinsett St. Many of the season's events are held here.
The Last Weeks of the Calendar Fill the Same Blocks
The rest of the year doesn't need a separate map. Almost every remaining event takes place at City Park, the Center for the Arts or the downtown streets between them.
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Día de los Muertos Festival | Center for the Arts, 804 Trade St. | Noon to 10 p.m., free, with monarch education |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Greer Alive! | 301 E. Poinsett St. | 5 to 8 p.m., live music and food; no outside alcohol or coolers |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Christmas Tree Lighting | Greer City Park | 5 to 8 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Breakfast with Santa | Cannon Centre | Three seatings starting at 8 a.m. |
| Sat.–Sun., Dec. 5–6 | Greer Farmers Market Christmas Festival | Greer City Park | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | Greer Christmas Parade | Downtown Greer | 2:30 p.m., 1.1-mile route |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Greer150: 150 Years of Christmas | Greer Heritage Museum | 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. |
The Christmas Tree Lighting has free holiday craft stations, trackless train rides, roaming carolers, live music, an ice sculpture demonstration and food vendors. Greer Relief serves s'mores and hot chocolate. At the end of the night, Santa and Mrs. Claus join Mayor Danner to light the city's tree.
This year's Greer Christmas Parade benefits Greer Relief, and its theme matches the anniversary: "Christmas Through the Decades." The 1.1-mile route starts at Poinsett Street and Memorial Drive and ends at N. Main Street and Cunningham Drive. A week later, the year closes where it opened, at the Greer Heritage Museum. The city describes the final Greer150 program as "a surprising, humorous look at Christmas throughout Greer's history." The event's heading on the Greer150 page still says TBA, but the listing gives December 12 and the three showtimes, so check back before you go.
Two Deadlines Come Before December
Two of these December events require you to act in early November.
Tickets for Breakfast with Santa go on sale November 2 at 7 p.m. through the city's online catalog, under programs/classes or Special Events. Each seating has 24 tables of eight chairs, and each family can buy one table. A table costs $40 for City of Greer residents and $48 for non-residents. The three seatings start at 8 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. If you need help buying tickets, the city's number is 864-968-7008.
For the parade, reservations for the Sensory Safe Zone close November 11, 2026. Sponsor and participant registration closes the same day. Volunteer shifts are posted on Greer Relief's December calendar.
After December 12, the Greer150 calendar is done. The 1938 Trade Street on the Davenport building, the welcome on the corner of Main and Poinsett and the butterflies at 804 Trade will still be there in 2027.
Part of our work is noticing how a place shows its history, whether that's a painted brick wall or a front porch that has watched a street change for decades. If Greer's anniversary year has you thinking about how your own home tells its story, or how to show off its character when you sell, Jeff Brockelman would love to walk it with you. Book a Consultation and we'll talk through it together.
