The traveling Smithsonian exhibit Spark! Places of Innovation will open in Gaffney at the Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery on Saturday, January 11, 2025. The exhibition explores the unique combination of places, people, and circumstances that sparks innovation and invention in rural communities. The exhibit will be in Gaffney through February 22, 2025, and several collateral programs and events will take place while the exhibit is on display. The tour of Spark! Places of Innovation is made possible in South Carolina by SC Humanities.
The Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery was chosen by SC Humanities through a competitive application process to host Spark! as part of the Museum on Main Street program—a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations. The exhibition will tour six communities in South Carolina from June 2024 through April 2025; an itinerary of all six stops on the tour and more program details can be found at https://schumanities.org/projects/spark/.
Spark! Places of Innovation highlights innovation in rural America from the perspective of the people who lived it! Their words, images, and experiences gathered through an ambitious crowdsourcing initiative are the heartbeat of the exhibition. Technical, social, cultural, artistic, or a combination of all of these– every innovation is as unique as each community. Explore the diversity, ingenuity, and tenacity of rural Americans in Spark! Places of Innovation.
The Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery is open Monday – Thursday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 3:45 p.m., and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery is located at 210 W Frederick St, Gaffney, SC 29341.
There will be several collateral events and exhibits while Spark! is in Gafney:
Ongoing
Local Exhibit: “Crossroads of Innovation: Innovation Throughout Gaffney’s Past, Present and Future”
(featuring Revolutionary War Virtual Pop-Up Books created by students in Cherokee County as a part of the Smithsonian’s Youth In Rural America program)
Location: Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery, 210 W Frederick St, Gaffney, SC 29341
Local Exhibit: June Carr’s Photography of Gaffney’s Construction
Location: Cherokee County Library, 300 E Rutledge Ave, Gaffney, SC 29340
Friday, January 10 | 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Exhibit Unveiling
Come experience a preview of the Spark! Places of Innovation Smithsonian exhibit! Catering will be provided by Spartanburg Community College’s Institute of Innovation.
Location: Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery, 210 W Frederick St, Gaffney, SC 29341
January 18th, 25th and February 1st, 8th, and 15th
Saturday Innovation Station Workshops during exhibit hours (9:00am-4:00pm)
Discover how innovation has transformed Gaffney throughout its history by building creations with your own hands! From robotic ferry boats to the T-Bridge construction challenge, come by each weekend to create something new!
Location: Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery, 210 W Frederick St, Gaffney, SC 29341
January 18th – Ferry Boat Innovation – From Colonial to Robotic!
January 25th – Learn to Build – Automated Plant Watering System
February 1st – T-Bridge Construction Challenge
February 8th – LEDs to Build Community!
February 15th – Main Street Entrepreneurship Challenge
Saturday, January 18 | 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 21 | 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 23 | 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Mark Twain’s Take on the Industrial Revolution in Gaffney
Mark Twain is stopping by to share some of the fascinating marvels that he has noticed since taking the train into Gaffney! Come enjoy an interactive and educational presentation of Gaffney’s industrial history! Performed by local Gaffney resident, David Lush.
Location: Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery, 210 W Frederick St, Gaffney, SC 29341
Thursday, January 16 | 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, January 23 | 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, January 30 | 3:30 p.m.
Innovation Story and Play Time
Stop by the Cherokee County Library with your family to read stories and complete fun activities related to innovation and community betterment.
Location: Cherokee County Library (Gaffney Branch), 300 E Rutledge Ave, Gaffney, SC 29340
Saturday, January 25, 2025 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Communal Pen – Gaffney
Location: Cherokee County Library, 300 E Rutledge Ave, Gaffney, SC 29340
In the Communal Pen workshop, participants write to celebrate and explore our connections to place and community. No writing experience is necessary. The free workshop is led by poet and community innovator Bobby Harley. Learn more about the workshop and register here: https://communalpen.com/event/spark-workshop-gaffney/
Thursday, February 6, 2025 | 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Gaffney’s Peach-Powered Science Spectacular
Open to all 1st grade classes in Cherokee County
Gaffney is home to the Giant Peachoid water tower, which was constructed as a statement to South Carolina’s peach industry. 1st grade classes are welcome to sign-up to come enjoy a STEAM day of activities that explore the significance of peaches in Gaffney’s history. All activities will be themed around the storybook, James and the Giant Peach! Please contact us at events@getintogaffney.com to sign-up.
Location: Gaffney Board of Public Works Peachoid and Institute of Innovation Multipurpose Room, 175 Campus Dr, Gaffney, SC 29341
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Putting Together a Timeline of Gaffney’s History
Presented by State Scholar Dr. Carmen Harris
Join State Scholar and USC Upstate Professor of History, Dr. Carmen Harris, in a public discussion where we will use historical research and personal recollections to build a timeline of Gaffney’s history!
Location: Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery, 210 W Frederick St, Gaffney, SC 29341
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
National Inventor’s Day “Night at the Museum”
Join us at the Cherokee County Museum to discover the innovation of tools throughout Gaffney’s history, from early Cherokee and Catawba tools to modern 3D printing. This public event will feature interactive stations related to early Native American, industrial, and modern manufacturing tools as well as the Cherokee County Museum’s new STEAM Wing! Stop by first thing after school!
Location: Cherokee County Museum, 301 College Dr, Gaffney, SC 29340
Saturday, February 22, 2025 | 11:00 a.m – 4:00 p.m.
Innovate Main Street Downtown Festival
To conclude the exhibition of the Smithsonian traveling exhibit, Spark! Places of Innovation, the City of Gaffney will be hosting a downtown festival where organizations will showcase how they use innovation in our local community! From City departments to small businesses, attendees will have an opportunity to discover how innovation is used across different careers to continuously make Gaffney a better place to visit and stay!
Location: Gaffney’s Historic Downtown Main Street
Designed for small-town museums, libraries and cultural organizations, Spark! will be the springboard for diverse local programming in the humanities, sciences, and arts. Visitors will be inspired to learn about innovation has shaped their own communities and how they may be innovators themselves. Community members will come together in conversation about their history, present, and future.
The exhibition is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation, and local host institutions. To learn more about Spark! Places of Innovation and other Museum on Main Street exhibitions, visit museumonmainstreet.org. Support for MoMS has been provided by the U.S. Congress.
The Gaffney Visitors Center and Art Gallery is a beautiful facility located in the renovated historic post office. Learn more about cultural opportunities and tourist attractions in Gaffney: https://getintogaffney.com/.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 65 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. For exhibition description and tour schedules, visit sites.si.edu.
