Guscio and Friends Bringing Flower Show, Buzzard Day to Life
One of the many things we love about Babbie Guscio, long-time owner of The Store and Bluffton Wall of Fame honoree, is that she is ardently focused on keeping Bluffton eccentric. You see it in the variety of her offerings at The Store and in the events she creates for the town — all the way back bringing a kick of flavor and personality to the Bluffton Christmas Parade in the mid-1970s.
Well, she’s up to it again. First, she’s bringing back the Bluffton Flower Show to The Heyward House in Old Town Bluffton beginning at 11 a.m. on March 4, 2023.
“We want to celebrate the beauty of Bluffton and there is no better way to do that than by letting our green thumbs show off their masterpieces,” Guscio told Lowcountry Chronicle.
There is a $5 entry fee to have your arrangement judged. Spring and garden-themed vendors are welcome as well, with a $25 entry fee.
To enter the judging or become a vendor, call Guscio at The Store (56 Calhoun Street) by phone at 843-757-3855 or via email at thestoresc@gmail.com.
Now for the #keepblufftoneccentric part of the equation. The following day, March 5, Guscio and Friends are launching Bluffton Buzzard Day.
What is it with this Bluffton Buzzard, you say? You may have noticed that we don’t pick up roadkill around here. That’s because the buzzard is Bluffton’s “natural picker upper,” as Guscio and others have long called it.
The Buzzard took on a whole new elevated importance in town in the mid-1980s thanks to then-Mayor George Heyward. A prominent Bluffton politico and resident near the Oyster Factory sued Heyward for wanting to keep the business open, saying that the building was a public nuisance and attracted buzzards.
Heyward was so perturbed with the legal action (the suit was later dismissed) that he declared 1985 the Year of the Buzzard in Bluffton and made the buzzard the official town bird.
Later that year at the Bluffton Christmas Parade, Heyward dressed in a buzzard costume and rode atop the town’s new garbage truck, waving at all the parade goers. He got so much feedback when he didn’t wear the costume the next year that he ended up dressing as a buzzard at the parade for the next six years after that.
There was later a youth football team and a baseball travel team named the Bluffton Buzzards, and the highway crew that pick up the trash proudly took on the moniker.
Well, we’ve forgotten that little tidbit in the annals of Bluffton history as of late, so Guscio and friends are once again celebrating the unofficial town mascot.
The Buzzard Day event will take place from 2-4 p.m. at Martin Family Park in Old Town Bluffton (68 Boundary Street).
There will be a buzzard strut contest, a buzzard-themed picnic and a pin the tail on the buzzard game for the kids.
Celebrated singer-songwriter Jevon Daly will be performing kids Kaotic Kids Show from 3 to 4 p.m., where kids will hear classic originals like “Sharks Are Our Homies", plus a brand new song commissioned by Guscio and Wally Palmer.
Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you “Bluffton Buzzard”:
