🌴 Who’s in, who’s out, and what to sip

Welcome to CHS Happenings, the weekly newsletter that keeps you in the know about Charleston events, restaurants & retail.

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Happy Friday morning, Charleston! On this day in 1775, Charleston nearly lost its cool—and maybe the Revolution.

Henry Laurens, head of South Carolina’s revolutionary government, and fiery law grad John Faucheraud Grimké met at dawn on October 17 with pistols drawn over a scandal involving intercepted Loyalist letters. Grimké swore Laurens had meddled; Laurens insisted he hadn’t—and the city buzzed with gossip.

At a place in the Upper Neck area of town referred to as New Market, Grimké fired first—but his pistol misfired, the ultimate Charleston plot twist. Laurens refused to return fire, saying he’d already “sealed the truth with his blood.”

Both men walked away, honor intact, tempers barely—and America unknowingly spared a rewrite of its Revolution.

Sometimes the most obvious things elude you. That was certainly the case for me recently.

Our metrics are exceptional. Growth and engagement are off the charts. But one very important one—click-through rate (CTR)—has been trending downward over the past month. CTR is the number of people who click on links in the newsletter divided by the total number of people who opened the email (multiplied by 100 to get a percentage).

It really is the ultimate measure of engagement. It reveals that what’s in the email is compelling to those of you who actually open it.

So in trying to ferret out the reason why the number was going down—but still quadruple what the industry average is, BTW—I thought “Maybe the stinkin’ Post & Courier paywall is a factor?” Since the Post & Courier invests heavily in its operation, and has a lot more reporting heft than this 1-man operation, I’ve been linking out to a lot of their stories.

And I had been assuming that since I live in the Charleston area and subscribe—and the Post & Courier is THE newspaper of record here, the legacy media source for a long time—most of you probably subscribe, too.

I was wrong. While the survey is just a slice of our subscriber base, I think it’s representative.

So instead of linking to the Post & Courier, if I think you’ll find one of their stories compelling I’ll write a summary of it. From time to time—but rarely going forward—I may link to the P&C. If I do, I’ll use a symbol to denote it’s behind their dreaded “you-get-no-free-stories” paywall.

Here’s the other epiphany I had recently about our engagement trend. Many of you read CHS Happenings from your phones each week.

And that’s where something called Gmail clipping rears its head. When you get towards the bottom of an email—and you’re enjoying my captivating writing—and you see the content stop. You then see a note telling you to click to view the full email.

Which, if you’re on mobile and click, takes you to a web page with tiny writing. I can imagine I’d be miffed if I had to do that repeatedly.

Gmail imposes a pretty low email design bar before clipping happens. The result will be format and design changes so ALL of you can enjoy the newsletter. Things like slimming down the Curated Happenings descriptions and ICYMI and In The Community stories. And whenever a link does take you out to one of my story summaries, you’ll go to a “responsive” web page on the CHS Happenings site.

Tech-speak for “readable” on a mobile or computer.

Congrats to Kristy B. of West Ashley, who was the 1st to guess correctly in our “Where Are We” segment last week! Our photo was a very soggy Brittlebank Park.

Friday 71° / 52° ☀️ 💧1%

Saturday 75° / 60° ☀️ 💧3%

Sunday 77° / 56° ⛅ 💧10%

SC Aquarium Waterway Cleanup with Lowcountry Boil on Capers Island I 4 PM | Isle of Palms Marina | Join Barrier Island EcoTours on a waterway cleanup, with all proceeds supporting the South Carolina Aquarium’s conservation work!

Bloom Charleston Opening Night Garden Party | 6 - 8 PM | Colonial Lake | Join the Charleston Parks Conservancy for the official launch of Bloom Charleston—a new garden and design festival celebrating beauty, sustainability, and public space.

Dial M For Murder I 7:30 PM | The Historic Dock Street Theatre | Hearts pound and trust is betrayed in this modern retelling of the timeless revenge thriller.

Fall 2025 GGR Low Country Golden Retriever Meet-Up | 1 - 4 PM | Hobcaw Brewing Company | Join us for a wonderful day of meeting great people and pups!

Mt. Pleasant’s Old Village House and Garden Tour | 2 - 5 PM | Old Village Mount Pleasant | House & Garden Tours take place from 2 – 5 PM on Saturday afternoons and feature a unique set of 6-8 properties each weekend.

Pony Up Family Funfest | 3 - 6 PM | Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding | Join us at the farm for Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding's Pony Up Family Funfest.

Harvest Festival | 4 - 7 PM | Olde Village area of North, Montague Avenue near Park Circle, North Charleston | Fall fun for all ages!

38th Annual Children's Day Festival | 12 - 5 PM I Park West Recreation Complex | Families can enjoy carnival rides, inflatable slides, live entertainment, pony rides, games, and many other activities!

Pumpkin Painting Party | 2 - 5 PM | The Whale | We’ll have all the paints, brushes, and good vibes ready—just bring your own pumpkin (BYOP) or grab one from us for a small fee.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show I 7 PM | Charleston Music Hall | Doors at 6:00 pm | Show at 7:00 pm AGE RESTRICTED - this show is strictly 18+ CASHLESS VENUE.

For a COMPLETE list of events in the Charleston area, bookmark the site below!

We’re somewhere in the CHS area and it’s your job to guess where. Just hit reply to this email, or if you’re reading on our website, email me here. The first person to guess correctly will get a shout-out at the top of our issue next week!

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Ever tried “Carry On My Wayward Son” at a karaoke bar? You can belt it out at the Performing Arts Center this weekend ‘cause Kansas is in town with Blue Oyster Cult. Check out all the live music below.

Got 15 seconds? Let us know what you thought about today’s newsletter by voting in the poll below (you’ll be done MUCH faster than cars on Johnnie Dodds at 4:00 PM on a Friday). 👇