ArtFields: Rural SC town stages 10-day arts fest

LAKE CITY, S.C. (AP) — A small South Carolina farming town is hosting a 10-day arts festival that’s drawn artists from across the Southeast and is offering $100,000 in prizes.

But ArtFields, which opens Friday in Lake City, is about more than art.

Financier Darla Moore of Lake City says the festival is the latest in recent steps to revitalize and reinvent the old tobacco town between Columbia and Myrtle Beach. Moore says what Lake City is doing can be a model for other small South Carolina towns.

Many ArtFields exhibits are being held in recently renovated buildings downtown.

Sculpture and paintings are also being displayed in dozens of stores and businesses throughout town. The business owners were allowed to select which works of art they wanted to display.