If you’re looking forward to experiencing local theater, music and history on your visit to Easley, you won’t be disappointed. The city is home to two theater companies, a dance studio and a fine arts center hosting a rock academy.
Easley also offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy art and museum displays unique to the area, along with a summer concert series.
To learn about the history of Easley, your first stop should be the Easley Area Museum, featuring an interesting collection of local artifacts, including an original Gillespie rifle and Easley’s first washing machine, on display in the historic Martin House. Visitors are invited to tour the museum from 1-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Easley also is home to a number of quilt squares featured in the Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail. The quilt blocks are painted reproductions of historic squares created by local quilters. They each tell a story related to the area. Easley’s quilts include “Tulips,” “Rail Road Crossing,” “Basket of Lilies” and “Puss-in-a-Corner”. You’ll find them on the sides of buildings all over town.
If you enjoy live theater, check out the Foothills Playhouse. Established in 1981, this theater company presents a wide range of productions annually in the city’s Historic West End Hall. The diverse offerings include everything from “On Golden Pond” to “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka” to “9 to 5,” appealing to a mix of audiences.
Encore Theatre Company, part of the Fine Arts Center of Easley, showcases the talents of local theater students in several annual productions, including a musical.
In addition to its theater program, the Fine Arts Center presents student recitals in an array of disciplines, including guitar, piano, drums, violin, cello, brass, woodwinds, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, harp and voice. The Rock Academy, which includes alternative, country, R&B and contemporary Christian music, is one of its most popular programs.
Adding to the entertainment lineup is Sterling Studio of Performing Arts, offering instruction in a variety of dance styles, including ballet, tap, hip hop, clogging and jazz. Performances are held regularly.
Friday evenings in the summer, the city presents Party on Pendleton, a concert series held in the amphitheater at Old Market Square. Bands performing each year typically cover a wide range of genres, including Latin jazz, funk, blues, bluegrass, country, soul, rock, beach music and pop.
Another annual town favorite is the Dacusville Farm Show presented in late summer by the Dacusville Heritage Association. This family-friendly event features a "Parade of Power,” steam engine demonstrations, ugliest tractor contest, classic cars and trucks, and antique tractors and farm equipment, along with live music, arts and crafts, food and homemade ice cream.
And if you just want to catch a movie, you can do that, too, at Easley Premiere Cinemas.
