Recently, Troop 51 of Pickens welcomed six new scouts who crossed over from Pack 51 after earning their Arrow of Light, the highest rank in Cub Scouts. New scouts, who are pictured in the front row, are Benjamin Poore, Timmy Williamson, Jacob Santeler, Justin Lipscomb, Dominick Maritato and Alex Malone. Also pictured are current Scouts and leaders of Troop 51. With a long tradition in the Pickens community, Troop 51 recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, chartered in November 1940. The troop meets every Monday night at its Scout Hut on Black Snake Road.

LIBERTY — It’s not often that you get a chance to travel back in time, but that is exactly what Pickens County historian Dennis Chastain intends to do on May 4 at the Rosewood Center in Liberty at 7 p.m.

Chastain will present a PowerPoint slide show featuring old aerial photographs and vintage photos of the people, places and natural wonders of the area from the Canebrake on Toxoway River near the North Carolina/South Carolina border to the 19th century town of Old Pickens on the Keowee River at the Oconee Nuclear Station.

Historic locations such as Canebrake, the Horsepasture, the Jocassee Valley, Chapman’s Bridge, Fort Prince George, the Cherokee villages of Keowee, Toxaway, Sugar Town and Eastatoee, will be described both as they appeared before and after the lakes Jocassee and Keowee forever encased them in the deep blue waters of the two Duke Power Co. reservoirs in the late 1960s. This historic tour will conclude with the story behind the former village of Old Pickens on the Keowee River at Robertson’s Ford.

Lovers of history will not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel back in time to revisit this largely lost history of this vast, storied region of the upcountry South Carolina.

Admisson is $5, or free to Historical Society members.

EASLEY — Pickens County Relay For Life will kick off this Saturday at a new location.

The event will be held this year at Easley High School, which will allow more people to attend the event and enjoy a night to celebrate, remember and fight back against cancer.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life event is a life-changing experience that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and fight back against the disease. Each year, more than 4 million people in more than 20 countries take part in this global phenomenon and raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer.

Kickoff ceremonies will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with the survivor walk set for 2:15 p.m.

Teams from all over the county will be participating, and visitors are invited to attend and enjoy a wide variety of food, fun and much more.

A luminary service will begin at 8:30 p.m., with Relay For Life participants and donors remembering loved ones lost to cancer and honoring those battling the disease by dedicating luminaria bags.

Luminaria bags are transformed and illuminated after dark at every local Relay For Life event. Each luminaria is personalized with a name, photo, message or drawing in memory or honor of a friend or loved one who has been affected by cancer. Luminaria can also be dedicated in support of a Relay participant. Each luminaria candle represents a person — mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, friends, coworkers and so many others

For more information, contact Tracey Long at tracey.long@cancer.org or by phone at (706) 491-0877.

EASLEY — Pickens County Relay For Life will kick off this Saturday at a new location.

The event will be held this year at Easley High School, which will allow more people to attend the event and enjoy a night to celebrate, remember and fight back against cancer.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life event is a life-changing experience that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and fight back against the disease. Each year, more than 4 million people in more than 20 countries take part in this global phenomenon and raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer.

Kickoff ceremonies will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, with the survivor walk set for 2:15 p.m.

Teams from all over the county will be participating, and visitors are invited to attend and enjoy a wide variety of food, fun and much more.

A luminary service will begin at 8:30 p.m., with Relay For Life participants and donors remembering loved ones lost to cancer and honoring those battling the disease by dedicating luminaria bags.

Luminaria bags are transformed and illuminated after dark at every local Relay For Life event. Each luminaria is personalized with a name, photo, message or drawing in memory or honor of a friend or loved one who has been affected by cancer. Luminaria can also be dedicated in support of a Relay participant. Each luminaria candle represents a person — mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, friends, coworkers and so many others

For more information, contact Tracey Long at tracey.long@cancer.org or by phone at (706) 491-0877.

PICKENS — Registration is now being taken for the Pickens Recreation Department’s nine 2016 summer day camp sessions.

The sessions, which will each last one week, are set for June 6-10, 13-17 and 20-24, June 27-July 1, July 11-15, 18-22 and 25-29, and August 1-5 and 8-12.

There will be no day camp the week of July 4.

All camps will be held at the Pickens Recreation Center at 545 Sangamo Road and are open for children ages 6-12 — those who have completed 5K kindergarten through rising seventh graders.

Camp days will run from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Cost is $70 per child per week or $40 per child per half week. A price adjustment is available for additional siblings for full week sessions. A nonrefundable $25 registration fee is due by May 20 and includes a camp T-shirt. Late registration fees will be $35.

Breakfast and lunch will be furnished through the S.C. Department of Education’s Summer Feeding Program, with dates to come later. There is no transportation for field trips; therefore, each week will feature on-site activities that will include sports, movies, water days, games, bike days, arts and crafts, etc.

For more information, call (864) 878-2296.

UPSTATE — Duke Energy has been powering South Carolina for more than a century, and continues to power the minds of its students by investing in innovative education programs and initiatives across the state.

Through the Duke Energy Foundation, $500,000 in grants will go to initiatives across the state that emphasize science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as well as programs that increase childhood reading proficiency.

“Supporting effective education programs that focus on fields related to science and technology are a critical focus for our company,” said Clark Gillespy, Duke Energy’s South Carolina president. “These initiatives will help strengthen the pipeline of highly skilled workers that fuel the economic engines that drive South Carolina.”

Duke Energy’s education grants this year include from Pickens County:

Clemson University Women in Science/Programs for Educational Enrichment and Retention (PEER): To provide continued support to programs that provide camps for minority engineering majors, and to provide camps, encouragement and support to women pursuing careers in science and math.

School District of Pickens County: To provide literacy teacher training for all kindergarten through 5th grade teachers.

United Way of Pickens County: To expand the successful “Camp iRock” summer literacy program countywide.

Upcountry History Museum: To support literacy development through the Upcountry History Museum Book Club.

“Camp iRock is an innovative educational program in Pickens County that addresses summer literacy loss in students advancing to second, third and fourth grades,” said Julie Capaldi, president of the United Way of Pickens County. “More than 200 struggling readers will experience intensive literacy instruction from highly qualified teachers in a fun camp atmosphere this summer thanks to Duke Energy.”

In addition to these grants, Duke Energy and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s largest children’s literacy organization, recently announced a partnership to minimize the summer slide and improve the reading proficiency of more than 3,000 current second graders in South Carolina. The $400,000 program will be available in 36 Title I elementary schools in the Pee Dee region in northeast South Carolina.

The grants are administered through the Duke Energy Foundation, which provides philanthropic support to address the needs vital to the health of its communities, with a focus on education, environment, economic and workforce development and community impact.

COUNTY — Pickens County Council member Neil Smith was recently voted as the new vice chairman of the Appalachian Council of Governments.

ACOG is a voluntary organization made up of local governments in the Upstate of South Carolina. This assembly of governments consists of 44 board members who represent 42 municipalities and six counties: Greenville, Pickens, Anderson, Oconee, Spartanburg and Cherokee.

At the end of February, the board voted Smith to vice chairman out of 43 other qualified board members. In addition to being vice chairman of ACOG, Smith is also a board member of Economic Development Information Systems, a partnership which provides the economic database for industrial recruitment for the counties of Greenville, Pickens, Anderson, Oconee, Spartanburg and Cherokee.

As new vice chairman, Smith and all other board members will continue to address regional issues and assist local governments. Regionally, ACOG provides economic/community development, transportation, aging services, workforce development, infrastructure development, and resource management for the six upstate counties. Furthermore, ACOG also provides general administrative assistance, training, planning, technical assistance, information/mapping and grants to local governments of each county. Grant services assist local governments in identifying, securing, and administering funds for a wide range of community and economic development activities including: water and sewer facilities, road improvements, housing rehabilitation, community and senior centers.

“There is no doubt Smith will continue to provide outstanding leadership while serving not only Pickens County, but also all other counties within the region of the great Upstate of South Carolina through the Appalachian Council of Governments,” the organization said in a news release.

PICKENS — The 12th annual Charles F. Rogers Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament is scheduled for May 7.

The tournament, which annually benefits a male and female senior basketball player from Pickens High School planning to attend a university, college or technical school, is set to kick off with a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start at Pickens Country Club.

Charles F. Rogers

The tournament will follow a captain’s choice format, and entry costs $75 per person for a four-person team. One mulligan is included, with the option to buy five more. Hole sponsorships are available for $50 as well, and prizes will be awarded for first-, second- and third-place teams, longest drive and closest to the pin.

Lunch will be provided from 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

For more information, contact Rodney Wakefield at 898-3718 or Butch Morris at 878-0373 or 420-7277. Entry deadline is May 5, and all checks should be made payable to Charles F. Rogers Scholarship Fund.

EASLEY — Arial Baptist Church, located at 618 Rice Road in Easley, will host a hot dog sale and churchwide yard sale this Saturday.

The event will be a special fundraiser for the church’s youth mission trip. The sale will be from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call Sue Smith at (864) 230-6072.

PICKENS — A Mother’s Day Gospel Singing will be held on Sunday, May 8, at 6 p.m. at Amazing Grace Fellowship, located at 229 Pearl St. in Pickens.

Special singers for the night will be Soul Vision from Hendersonville, N.C.