WELCOME to Beaufort County This Week! Today is Friday, July 31 and this week in 1973 the late Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney was born in Beaufort.

I’m Matt Goldin and here are your top stories presented by Beaufort County TV!

A famous mini totem pole in Beaufort is getting a new home.

The outgoing Water Festival Commodore made quite a splash on Saturday

All this and more coming up on Beaufort County This Week!

From the Island Packet

For decades, a weathered but optimistic face with coal-black wide eyes set in circles has greeted Beaufort residents walking along the sidewalk on Boundary Street, in front of a Thai restaurant and sushi bar. On Monday morning, rush-hour traffic rushed past the face like it wasn’t there. The drivers may not have even known that the landmark piece of art, carved by a legendary Beaufort figure near the base of the palmetto tree, even exists.

On Friday, the city announced on Facebook that it is removing the tree with the face before it declines naturally or is taken down by a storm.

However, the city added, the funky art will be saved and placed in new home at Morrall Park at the corner of Craven and Carteret streets, preserving the countenance for future generations.

Well-known local artist Hugh Patrick Knox Corry — known to many simply as “Driftwood” — carved the strange face many years ago, City Manager Scott Marshall said.

Marc Sviland, a local artist and woodworker, will mount the carving before it is permanently installed at its new location at Morrall Park, Marshall said.

Driftwood lived in a shack on the side of U.S. 21 on Harbor Island. He fashioned driftwood and horseshoe crab shells into art, according to previous Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet reporting.

His legend grew large in 20-or-so years around town, from about the early 1950s to the early 1970s. Driftwood died in 1981 in a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Atlanta.

From the Island Packet

The incoming commodore of the 2027 Beaufort Water Festival celebrated the cherished appointment by dancing with her husband and sons. The outgoing 2026 leader became the first commodore in the festival’s 70-year history to end his reign by jumping from a moving shrimp boat.

The highly anticipated “change of watch” came Saturday during the Commodore’s Ball near the close of the 10-day Water Festival. In one of the festival’s most cherished traditions, Cori Talbert, who has volunteered with the festival for 17 years, was chosen to lead the 71st festival in 2027 during the ball.

Talbert succeeded outgoing commodore Dusty Vickers, who made history when he jumped over the rail of the Gracie Belle, a shrimp boat owned by Craig Reaves, Sunday during the blessing of the fleet. He swam to shore, where he delivered his final remarks.

“I can’t recollect a commodore actually jumping off a shrimp boat,” Vickers told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Monday.

Asked why he did it, Vickers said the move was planned and not spontaneous. He wanted to end the festival “with splash.” He added he had a scene from the 1994’s “Forrest Gump” in mind when he came up with the idea. In the movie, Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, jumps off of a shrimp boat when Lt. Dan, played by Gary Sinise, arrives to join him in the shrimping business. The film was made in Beaufort.

Vickers also said the unusual move seemed to fit the theme of this year’s Water Festival, which was, “Sunny Days and Fresh Waves.” He also enjoys the water, he noted.

From Live5 News

Hilton Head Island Airport is adding a TSA PreCheck lane, officials announced.

To prepare for the new lane, the airport will host a PreCheck enrollment event next month for travelers who need to sign up or renew their membership.

The enrollment event runs Aug. 18–21 at the airport on Hunter Road.

Travelers must sign up or renew their PreCheck membership to use the new lane once it opens. Once approved, membership lasts five years.

And now here are some events to get you Out and About this weekend!

***Out and About***

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