Staff Writer

If you know of an important upcoming event or if you want to know more about what is going on in Union County, a new calendar provided through the Union County Chamber of Commerce is the place to reference.

Chamber director Torance Inman said the calendar is the brainchild of a group called Planning Effectively for Resource Collaboration - Kim Lawson with the Union County Schools, Connie Springs and Fran Love of the Union County Arts Council, Graham Williams of The Union Daily Times, USC-Union Dean Dr. Hugh Rowland, Auvis Cole of the Union County Tourism Commission and Inman, Renee Alexander and Diane Barber from the Chamber.

“We had determined with this group that we needed a community calendar for Union that was concise and in a single place on the Internet where people can go and find out what events are happening in Union, particularly for event planning purposes,” Inman said. “The justification was this: Many organizations and businesses have their own calendar for people they serve. Some are printed and distributed. Some are posted on location or on a website. Many people don't know these events are occurring.”

The group set out to find a method of having a community calendar that serves the needs of multiple groups and is user friendly - easy to consult and easy to submit events.

The calendar is being created on the Chamber's website at www.unionsc.com. Its targeted release date is the week of Aug. 18.

To use the calendar, log on to the Chamber's home page and look for a “month at a glance.”

“You can click on any event you see listed, see the date, contact information and flyers or promotional information that has been given to us to put on the calendar,” Inman said. “You also can click on upcoming events and see a chronological list of each event with contact information and flyers.”

On the same page is a quick reference calendar. Users can click on a particular date and determine if there are events scheduled for that day.

Mrs. Barber has compiled a list of 100 organizations or groups in Union County that schedule events, including the American Legion, Career Source, Habitat for Humanity, March of Dimes, the Union County Motorsports Association, the Union County Healthcare Foundation, Uniquely Union and others. Only events that are important to a large sector of the county will be posted.

“The Chamber plans to send out quarterly reminders to those organizations and groups in our data base reminding them to access the community calendar for their planning purposes,” Inman said.

There are three ways to list an event on the calendar. They may be submitted through the website, by e-mailing the chamber with attached flyers or by phoning them in.

The calendar also has archiving capabilities so people can look back and see what events occurred in the past.

“It gives everybody a central location and an opportunity to submit events,” Inman said.