Dermal Filler in Summerville, SC

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — Pumpkin season is underway in the Lowcountry.

“Woke up this morning in the 60s, so it’s telling me that it’s time for fall,” said Rob Zdenek, owner of the Pumpkin Patch at Mistletoe Lane.

Zdenek said he expects a strong season for pumpkin sales and fall enthusiasts.

“It’s looking good. I’ve had over 100 phone calls in the last two weeks from people wanting to buy within the last week,” he said.

READ MORE | "Charleston’s Food & Wine Classic returns this fall with expanded events, celebrity chefs."

The Summerville pumpkin patch received its first delivery of the season Thursday.

“I think it’s about 2,000 right now. When it’s all said and done, we’ll have about 6,000 or 7,000 pumpkins and gourds, over 2,000 mums, ciders and all that,” Zdenek said.

The patch gets its pumpkins from across the Mid-Atlantic each year. Zdenek said the Lowcountry is not an ideal area to grow pumpkins locally.

Hurricane Helene had a modest impact on Zdenek’s business last year. This year, he said gas prices could affect costs.

“Gas prices went up a little bit. Some pumpkins are a little bit higher, but basically, they stayed about the same as last year, so I didn’t put any more money on the customer this year,” Zdenek said.

Zdenek said the patch opens the same weekend as the Sweet Tea Festival and will continue bringing in new items each week through Halloween.

The Pumpkin Patch at Mistletoe Lane is open seven days a week.

SUMMERVILLE, SC — As fall approaches, the Postal Service is looking to fill Rural Carrier Associate and Assistant Rural Carrier positions in Summerville and nearby areas. These roles offer a pay rate of $21.89 per hour, with biweekly payments. Qualified candidates may have the opportunity to enroll in the USPS Health Benefits Plan immediately.

To assist job seekers and potential applicants, USPS personnel will be onsite during the hiring event at the location listed below on Thursday, September 17. 2026. They will provide detailed information about the available positions and employment opportunities, as well as assist with the application process. The Job Fair will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Location: Dorchester County Library 76 Old Trolley Rd Summerville, SC 29485

Positions Available:

Rural Carrier Associate (RCA) - At $21.89 per hour, an RCA serves families and businesses in rural and suburban areas and is responsible for the delivery and collection of mail. An RCA may also sell stamps, supplies, and money orders. Applicants must have a valid state driver's license and demonstrate and maintain a safe driving record. This position could be the first step to becoming a full-time, regular rural carrier with full benefits.

Assistant Rural Carrier (ARC) – At $21.89 per hour, an ARC primarily delivers and collects packages along designated routes in suburban and rural areas. An ARC may provide mail and parcel delivery service on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays (a weekend and holiday-only position) or provide parcel delivery up to seven (7) days a week.

Accepting a position with the United States Postal Service is the first step leading to a long, fulfilling career with a dynamic, forward-thinking organization committed to delivering for the American people. USPS promotes largely from within, offering career development to help prepare employees achieve their professional goals. Job postings are updated frequently, so check back often for additional opportunities.

Additional information regarding how to apply for a Postal Service job can be found at the following link: https://about.usps.com/careers/how-to-apply/.

Those unable to attend the job fair may apply at visit www.usps.com/careers to complete an application

There is NEVER a charge for background checks, to apply for a test. If you are ‘charged’ you have been re-directed to a third-party site.

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The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to more than 170 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is currently pursuing a transformation plan aimed at restoring long-term financial sustainability, improving service, and maintaining the organization as one of America’s most valued and trusted brands.

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

For USPS media resources, including broadcast-quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the . Follow us on , , , , , and . Subscribe to the . For more information about the Postal Service, visit and .

A solar-module manufacturer plans to create nearly 170 jobs at a new Summerville factory, fueled in part by U.S. tariffs being imposed on competing overseas-made products.

New York-based Translucent Energy said it’s aiming to be fully operational by the end of the year at 175 McQueen Blvd., off of Jedburg Road between Interstate 26 and Highway 78.

The company, which was approved for tax breaks by Dorchester County Council on July 20, is leasing a 283,000-quare foot building previously occupied by BAE Systems, Caterpillar and Corning.

Translucent said the factory will produce solar modules for customers across the spectrum, ranging from individual homeowners to large-scale utility developers.

The $15.7 million first-phase investment is expected to create 167 jobs, “anchoring the company's plan to build a complete solar manufacturing value chain on American soil,” Augustus Rylands,, managing director, said in a written statement.

The factory will make enough panels each year to create 1.2 gigawatts of energy.

“Summerville is the first step in our multiyear plan,” Rylands said, adding that the company is aiming to produce solar cells and their ultra-thin wafers “in the near future.”

He said the company welcomed the 15 percent tariffs announced by the Trump administration on Aug. 6 for certain foreign-made solar panel components.

The new import fees take effect Dec. 4.

“They give American solar manufacturers like us the long-term certainty needed to invest at scale,” Rylands said.

Translucent said the tariffs, combined with the existing federal “45X” tax credits that are still available to clean-energy manufacturers for a few more years before being phased out, “are widely expected to accelerate the reshoring of the industry that is already underway.”

Under the incentives deal that the county approved on July 20 the company’s property taxes will be replaced with a fixed fee for 20 years. Also, Translucent will be credited 20 percent of those payments for six years to reimburse it for certain expenses associated with the expansion, such as road improvements and utility upgrades.

The deal surfaced publicly earlier this summer.

“For clarity, I think some folks are worried this is a solar farm,” Dorchester County Council member Jay Byars said at a June 15 meeting. “It is not.”

The Translucent expansion was at least the fourth to spring from the solar-energy industry in South Carolina since the spring, mostly in the Upstate.

ES Foundry, for example, recently announced an expansion of its Greenwood factory.

Also, Fortified Solar said it’s investing $22.75 million in Greenville, while Suniva Inc. is shelling out about $600 million near I-385 in Laurens County, where the Atlanta-based company plans to create more than 560 jobs and quadruple its production capacity.

Town Council approved the rezoning of the Magnolia Historic Southern Inn, marking the end to a long-fought battle between the short-term rental property's owners and the neighbors who live around it.

Council voted at its Sept. 17 meeting to change the inn’s zoning from general residential to neighborhood mixed-use, which will allow owners Justin and Megan Dungan to operate more guest rooms at the property, located at 115 S. Magnolia St. However, the new zoning will still be subject to the owner-occupancy requirements in the town’s Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO.

The approval for rezoning is the culmination of a nearly two-year saga that saw the Dungans apply for different zoning three times, with each request drawing opposition from Historic District homeowners who were concerned about commercialization spreading into their neighborhood.

After withdrawing their first rezoning request in early 2025, the Dungans resubmitted a request to rezone the property to downtown mixed-use zoning earlier this year. The Planning Commission, composed of residents, recommended that council deny the request, which the body ultimately did after a failed last-minute attempt to amend the request to neighborhood mixed-use zoning instead.

This summer, the owners filed the request for neighborhood mixed-use after council had approved a similar rezoning on the opposite end of the block at 103 S. Magnolia St. Again, the Planning Commission recommended council deny the move, and neighbors again spoke in opposition to it.

The request also came amid consideration of an overlay zoning district — which was ultimately set aside from consideration at an Aug. 24 council workshop — and a change to the town’s future land use map that would make two blocks along East Richardson Avenue, including the one where the inn stands, into a downtown transitional zone.

Laura Crosby, who lives next door to the inn, said ahead of the meeting that she wouldn’t be attending because she felt defeated about the rezoning.

Megan Dungan said during the meeting’s public comment period that she felt the whole rezoning process “has become more about disagreements between neighbors than about the bigger picture and the future vision for Summerville.”

“We want the shops, the restaurants, the festivals, the growth that make our town special, while still keeping a great place to raise our family and enjoy our neighborhoods,” she said.

“I understand the neighbors' concerns,” said Dungan. “When many of them bought their houses 20-40 years ago, Magnolia Street was strictly residential. But Summerville has grown, and with that growth, Town Council has approved rezonings to support the future of our town.”

Neighbor Jim Healey said he agreed that the rezoning was important to the future of the town, but argued that it instead amounted to “taking the guardrails off.”

“It is not a bed and breakfast,” he said. “There's no breakfast. There's no innkeeper. There's no common areas. It's a short-term rental. Always has (been), always will be. Now it will potentially be bigger. What does that mean for the neighbors?”

His wife, Karyn Healey, said the property is a “residential home in a residential area” and that it should remain as such.

But Wesley Donahue, another Historic District resident and local political strategist, said that it didn’t make sense to him why neighbors living within a couple blocks of the town’s core along Main Street were complaining about the expansion of businesses into their neighborhood.

At a recent Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce, Dorchester School District Two Superintendent Chad Daugherty noted that the county could gain around 17,000 housing units in the coming years.

According to Dorchester County’s Residential Developments Dashboard, there are 14,653 units planned but not yet built.

A large chunk of that residential growth, of course, falls within Summerville. And later this fall, Town Council will vote on a rezone for 222 single-family homes and 62 townhomes on land that the owners hope will be annexed into the town limits.

Segelken Family Limited Partnership owns about 72 acres of land, mostly along Parsons Road. One tract of 62.31 acres lies within Dorchester County, while the remaining 10.27 acres are in the town of Summerville.

According to planned development documents, the owners have asked for the total acreage be annexed into Summerville. They have also requested a zoning change from Transitional Residential District to Planned Development District, which would allow more flexibility for customized development.

Town council held a first reading on the ordinance changes at its Sept. 17 meeting and voted unanimously in favor of the rezone, with Councilman Matt Halter recusing himself. Town Administrator Scott Slatton requested these items be voted on separately at future readings.

SeamonWhiteside has been retained to design the development, called Green Fields. Around 66 acres would be used for residential construction, including 222 single-family homes and 62 townhomes. The remaining 5 acres would be set aside for neighborhood commercial buildings as allowed under the town’s N-MX zoning ordinance.

Design renderings show a mix of single-family homes and townhouses. All development must comply with the town’s tree and open space regulations. Council members are expected to move approvals forward as long as the project aligns with the town’s long-term goals, as outlined in its Comprehensive Plan.

Green Fields is expected to be built out over the next 10 years, beginning with residential units and amenities. Roads within the neighborhood would connect to Parsons Road and Central Avenue.

The area in question is within a corridor that has been part of ongoing discussions since July 2025 over a road-widening project. A traffic study released in July of this year by Kimley-Horn examined current road conditions and how the development would impact traffic. Recommended improvements still included widening Parsons Road from two lanes to three, and Central Avenue from three lanes to five, along with adding turn lanes. Construction on Parsons Road is expected to start in 2028 and finish in 2030.

Dorchester County officials have said in the past that the widening would ease frequent congestion, but some residents and the advocacy group Bike/Walk Summerville say the design is flawed and needs reconsideration, arguing more lanes encourage speeding.

The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the project May 18, and the Planning and Development Committee voted Sept. 14 to recommend it to the town council. Two more readings are required before any rezoning updates take effect.

Summerville Journal Scene Editor Michael Prochaska contributed to this story.