CALENDAR: Special markets to be downtown, West Ashley, Mount Pleasant

Staff reports  | Putting a jingle on your stocking is just around the corner with three special holiday markets.

From noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24, the West Ashley Farmers Market will return for a special Thanksgiving Market in Ackerman Park, 55 Sycamore Ave.  It will feature fresh local produce, prepared and packaged food products, food trucks, free kids activities, live music by the Bluestone Ramblers, free parking and a blood drive with The Blood Connection. The Thanksgiving market will be the site’s last for the season.  

Then on Dec. 1 at Park Cafe on upper Rutledge Avenue in Charleston, the Holy City Vintage Market is back from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It plans to get festive with hot Charleston Fogs and delicious brunch, tarot card readings, vintage vinyl, vintage winter coats, sweaters, holiday party wear and lots of holiday spirit.   Featured vendors include Runaround Sue Vintage, Grease Kelly Vintage, fk vintage, Tinted Saga, Third Eye Vintage, Second Line Vintage, Threads Todisco, Reflections African Jewelry, Ancien. Vintage, Frenchie Vintage, Malted Mutts, Haus of Hygiene, and Graveface Records.

In Mount Pleasant, you can show at a special Dec. 7 holiday market and craft show by the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market at the market pavillion at Moultrie Middle School, 645 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant. Time:  11 a.m to 4 p.m. Free parking. Lots of activities. More info.

Also on the calendar:

Holiday Festival of Lights:  Opens 5:30 p.m., through Dec. 31, 2019, James Island County Park.  Now in its 30th year, the Holiday Festival of Lights is open every evening, rain or shine, with closing set for 10 p.m., except Fridays and Saturdays, which close at 11 p.m.  The show returns to make merry magical memories with its vibrant light show is one of Charleston’s most cherished holiday events, featuring an estimated two million dazzling lights.  More.

Lights of Magnolia: 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., through March 15, 2020, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, West Ashley.  Enjoy nine acres of Chinese lanterns, dragons and more at the venerable garden’s new evening attraction.  The lantern festival includes custom-designed installations of large-scale thematically unified lanterns, a fusion of historic Chinese cultural symbols and images that represent the flora and fauna of Magnolia. Learn more online.  Tickets are $11-$26.  On-site parking is limited, but shuttles are available.  For more information and frequently asked questions, click here.

Coming to the Gaillard.  Check out these awesome coming events at the Charleston Gaillard Center, 95 Calhoun St., Charleston:

Goo Goo Dolls: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 17.  Charleston is one of 20 cities in which the band is performing on its tour in support of its 12th studio album, Miracle Pill.  Formed in Buffalo, N.Y., during 1986 by John Rzeznik and Robby Takac, Goo Goo Dolls quietly broke records, contributed a string of staples to the American songbook, connected to millions of fans, and indelibly impacted popular music for three-plus decades. Tickets start at $25.  More.

Rach 2: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 22 and 23.  The Charleston Symphony Orchestra will present Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which may have been early music therapy for the composer.  The Gaillard explains: :”Rachmaninoff was in the midst of a four-year long depression, caused by the near-universal excoriation of his first symphony and the death of his musical idol, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He found the treatment so helpful that he wrote Piano Concerto No. 2 in only a matter of months, and even dedicated it to the doctor who treated him.” Tickets are $25 to $114.

CofC Orchestra:  7:30 p.m., Nov. 25.  The College of Charleston Orchestra will perform a fall concert conducted by Yuriy Bekker. The program will include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final scene from “Eugene Onegin)”, J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, Astor Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteño and Primavera Porteña from “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on the Bald Mountain,” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnole.” Free, with a suggested donation of $20.  More.

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas:  7:30 p.m., Nov. 26. You can celebrate 35 years of holiday magic as the groups bring its annual holiday tour to fans throughout the country. Experience the performance of the #1 Christmas music artist in history and for the first time ever, hear the entire album that started it all, LIVE!”  Tickets are $49.50 to $89.50.

Early morning bird walks at Caw Caw:  8:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, Caw Caw Interpretive Center, Ravenel.  You can learn about habitats and birds, butterflies and other organisms in this two-hour session.  Registration is not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders.  More:  http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.

AREA MARKETS

Holiday markets are springing up all over.  Click here to read where you can find 20 area holiday markets so you can buy local and be local.  More: Charleston City Paper.  In other regular markets:

• FRIDAYS/SATURDAYS:  Night Market.  Every Friday and Saturday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. for the rest of the year, you can shop with 108 vendors, including artists and craftsmen, at the night market on Market Street between East Bay and Church streets.  It’s more than four blocks of local shopping and fun. Free.
• SATURDAYS:  Johns Island Farmers Market operates each Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. year-round with more than 50 local farmers and vendors, food trucks, music and more.  The market is located on the campus of Charleston Collegiate School, 2024 Academy Road, Johns Island
• SATURDAYS: The Charleston Farmers Market is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Marion Square each Saturday through Nov. 30.  More info.

MARKET NOTES: To help you keep up:

• The Mount Pleasant Farmers Market weekly market on Tuesdays finished in September. The next opportunity to shop is a special Dec. 7 holiday market and craft show at the market pavillion at Moultrie Middle School, 645 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant. Time:  11 a.m to 4 p.m. Free parking. Lots of activities. More info.
• The West Ashley Farmers Market, typically held every Wednesday, had its last regular event of the year in October.   More.
• If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to feedback@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.