Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I've always enjoyed the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, but for one reason or another I have not been able to get there since 2016, so when I saw that there was a charity Ren Faire in Socastee, I thought I would check it out.

It was a nice sunny day, and the place was drawing a decent size crowd. They have a good number of craft booths, concessions and the usual Ren Faire players including kind-friendly fairies, bawdy ballad vocal groups, fire eaters & jugglers. It is nowhere near the size of the NC encampment, so you only need an hour or two to take it in, but it was a fun way to spend a Fall afternoon, and if you will be in the area next weekend, I suggest you check it out.

Here's another place I was completely unaware of. Apparently Good Life Cafe (or Goodlife Cafe in some usages) started out as a vegan place on Main Street then moved to this Taylor Street storefront last year, and slightly changed ist orientation to a "plant forward" restaurant, a term I had not heard before.

Although they have now closed their doors, several other restaurants with the same ownership remain open, and their closing sign suggests 1624 Bistro on Main as a source for some Good Life favorites.

You can read stories about the closing from The State & The Free Times

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Flour Power Cooking Studios is apparently a national chain, with their Columbia location being in the back building at Forest Village by the former Village Idiot.

Looking at their Google reviews, it appears their main business was kids' birthday parties, something that seems to have gone over well on the whole. Their Facebook closing message doesn't really give any reasons, but I wonder if the inflation in food prices over the past year or so made it a long reach for a lot of parents..

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)