We’ve been in many meetings over the years where participants lament, “I wish we had a central events calendar in Aiken so we could plan better!” A fine calendar is an essential communications tool that we really do need if we are going to be able to take advantage of all the hundreds of activities going on in Aiken each and every week. Keeping up can be tough and so many times we hear folks say, “I didn’t realize that was going on!”
The Aiken Blend team has researched the most common Events calendars on local websites that we can all use to stay in the mix. Event coordinators, take note – here are some good resources to help you get the word out.
Below is a run down and of each community calendar we are currently tracking – just to get you familiar with their features and diversity.
The beautifully done City of Aiken Tourism Department’s website, VisitAikenSC.com, has a simple calendar geared toward informing visitors and residents about arts/culture and other tourism events that Aiken has to offer.
This is a great resource for planning your own event schedules and looking for some synergy opportunities. If you manage tourism events, you can request an account and enter details for your events up to a year ahead. The City tries to stick with tourism related event promotion, which we understand. But for tourism activities, this link will keep you in the know and allow you to be a tourist in your own town.
https://www.visitaikensc.com/calendar
The Augusta Chronicle events page allows you to submit your own information, also. Their events calendar seems to have the most categories (see below) geared toward helping promote events within the CSRA community. (Aiken has 108 listed events compared to North Augusta’s 27 listed events! #Winning) You have to create an account to submit an event but it appears relatively simple and lets you enter repeating event schedules.
Arts Benefits /Fundraisers Business Camps Community Events Concerts Education Faith Family Friendly Festivals Film Food & Drink Health & Wellness Holiday Literary Events Meetings Music Nature Nightlife Outdoors Pet Adoptions Reunions Sports & Fitness Theatre Tours
http://events.augusta.com/city/aiken
The Aiken Standard event page combines inputs from Columbia’s “Free Times” affiliate publication with Aiken events so instead of CSRA events, they are more representative of the midlands and Aiken. They also allow you to submit events via categories (see below).
Performing Arts Visual Arts Literary Arts Destinations Sports & Outdoors Learning Professional Lifestyle Civic Benefit Food & Drink Nightlife Special Audience Pursuits & Hobbies Holidays Discounts
https://www.aikenstandard.com/events
Another tourism alliance, Thoroughbred Country, maintains a diverse calendar full of regional opportunities.You can submit your own activities here, also. Per their website, “Our mission is to collectively market the four county region of Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg and Barnwell Counties as a tourism destination and to support and encourage the development of local tourism attractions, services and programs, thereby providing economic benefits to the area.”
http://www.tbredcountry.org/Calendar
Bella Magazine keeps an amazing amount of information about events happening in the community – online and via their print version. Email them your event information. Locally owned and operated!
http://www.aikenbellamagazine.com/bella-buzz/
Aiken Scene is another local-centric website where you can submit your own events. It is a locally owned and operated website serving to improve communications in Aiken.
Other helpful calendar resources include:
http://discoveraikencounty.com/events/
http://www.equestriancalendaraiken.com/
Seems like a lot of information already. Just not in one place… Ugh… Soon, we hope you will get used to clicking over to check out the calendars that interest you each week so you never have a say “I didn’t know.” We can’t wait to compare calendar entries across the spectrum next month as we all become aware of these great community tools we can use. Watch for our Social Swirl features to see Aiken in Action!
If you are aware of any other comprehensive calendars that we missed, please let us know at: Hello@AikenBlend.com
We’re a diverse bunch of collaborators who all chip in to help improve communications in Aiken -because that’s crucial to becoming an all inclusive compelling place to live, work, and play. Interested in joining the team as an Intern or Contributor? We are always looking for passionate, shiny, happy people to Engage/Exchange/Excel in Aiken. Email us at Hello@AikenBlend.Com.