Double R Flo-Town

Risk, Vision, and the Growth of Downtown Florence w/ Tim Norwood

• Robert Thomas & Reeves Cannon

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What does it take to help transform a downtown?

In this episode of Double R Flowtown, Reeves and Robert sit down with longtime Florence developer and entrepreneur Tim Norwood. From early business failures to building nationally recognized companies and helping lead the revitalization of downtown Florence, Tim shares the lessons that shaped his journey.

We dive into the story behind Hotel Florence, Victor’s restaurant, and the early vision that helped spark downtown’s resurgence. Tim also explains how the Florence Wine & Food Festival grew from a small 60-person dinner into a nationally recognized culinary event drawing chefs, writers, and visitors from across the country.

Along the way we talk about entrepreneurship, risk-taking, mentorship, the future of Florence, and why the next generation of leaders will shape the city’s growth.

Welcome And Tim Norwood

SPEAKER_03

Double Mark Low Tim. We have Mr. Tim Norwood with us today. Mr. Tim, thank you so much for coming. It's Mr. Tim.

Reeves

Maybe by the end of the podcast we can we can drop the Mr.

SPEAKER_02

Uncle Uncle Norwood. Tim is good. Thank you very much. So delighted to be here. I'm so proud of what y'all have done with it. And I love the entrance, the video entrance. Are primarily on there. I love it. Thank you very much.

Reeves

So those are your uh babies. Yes, I'm along with several other things in Florence.

SPEAKER_03

You've helped us with a good backdrop, and we appreciate it. Well, thank y'all for doing it.

Reeves

Yeah. Why don't we start? I'd love to just tell people kind of your development background, your business background.

SPEAKER_02

I know that's a big question, but it is kind of I am 70 years old. That's a lot of territory to cover.

Reeves

I'd love to hear the highlights from you.

From Setback To National Business

SPEAKER_02

Um well, let's see. Some well, I just you know, I grew up in Darlington and uh was in the home building business for a little while until I lost my shirt and then went through like seven years of hell trying to find out who I was and what I was doing, and uh finally got you know that uh straight uh you know, mentally, emotionally, and um spiritually all together. And um uh started uh doing some stuff with mobile homes and real estate. And um then uh old friend of mine called, Jim Brown. He called and had an opportunity for me if I wanted to do it. So I went to work with him as a as a um wannabe equity partner. You you can you can you know earn equity in this business. And so uh he and Frank Chisholm gave me a great opportunity. And um about three years into that I became an equity partner after we had we had closed, we we built our our business just grew so rapidly. And we what we did was uh we managed federal and state tax incentives, and um and we worked with large clients, you know, Federal Express, UPS, Tyson Foods, uh Walmart, Walgreens, I mean it's hardly Kelly Services. Um it's hardly a vertical in the in the industry uh that we didn't manage and own the top three or four of that, whether it's retail or temporary staffing services or manufacturing or or um or um well I already said retail is another industry that we we just handled, we just we we built it and we built it up to about 500 employees. Wow. And um and then we um we had eight ADP automatic data processing came kind of out of any nowhere and and wanted to put our business in their salespeople's bag. And and after a few months negotiating, we ended up selling there to selling our business. SMS was what our business were called was called, sold it to um uh uh ADP, and then uh I worked there about 12 years uh until it got not fun anymore. And um uh but I love uh working at ADP and they treated us so much like an independent, you know, we were you know we we were 500 employees uh out of ADP's hundred thousand. I mean we were just a tiny little, we we weren't even a rounding error on their balance sheet. But they the the the executives there loved how uh Jim ran the company and we were very numble. He ran his division, we were very numble, and we could you know turn on a dime and do something very entrepreneurial. And um so um when that left, that that we had we had our third uh president of our division came in and basically he told us as well, you boys have been y'all been running rogue here for a number of years, and so now you know that square peg y'all are you gotta fit in this round hole. And so it just got it wasn't fun anymore. Hard to get contracts done. It was just it just wasn't fun. And so I retired. Jimmy followed me the next year, um, non-competes expired, and we uh created a a business called Synergy Partners and um and built that real quickly to a very large national presence, and then I retired from there three years ago. And um so it was that's that's the highlights.

Failure, Risk, And Persistence

Reeves

Well, you said something very interesting, and I know we want to get to the Food and Wine Festival and all the work that you've done downtown with Hotel Florence Victor's and and many other things, but failure. I've heard many people say failure tends to shape us, and failure often teaches us more than success does, and you've had a lot of success. But you said at the beginning you you failed, you kind of went through hell to in that first you know, construction. So, not so much, don't take us through the bloody guts of it, but what lessons do you think as a business person have did you learn from that that catapulted you into all the success you've had?

SPEAKER_02

Um not giving up. Okay. Yeah. Sorry about that. Yeah, sorry. That's okay. Um you know, not fearing failure is a big deal. Not giving up, being persistent. Um I, you know, even though I went through that failure period, I never lost my risk-taking desire to risk, um, which that's usually what keeps people from doing anything, either risk or fear of failure. And uh, you know, we the only thing I always learned whatever I failed at, or I had a learning lesson from that. And it's it's I think the the party of your growth is being able to look in inside and what do I need to do to improve? And so many people, I think when they have that failure, it stops there. They don't try to find out what because it's like the world's against me, I quit. And um, and whatever it may be, in whatever station in life you are when that happens. I think it's the the big part is pushing through it, learning from it, and not and hopefully not repeating that mistake. Hopefully, I said, yeah, you're still gonna repeat some mistakes, but you you have to learn from them and just keep moving forward.

Reeves

That's that's that's a good word. And and we also heard a repeated theme that we've heard from a lot of you know, of the guys we've had on this who podcast who've been really successful, the ability to take risk. You don't get anywhere without taking risk. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's exactly right. That's that's what we want young people in this town to hear, hear from you. We've got to feed back into the young people in this town and help grow them so they can be successful too. But it's so good for them to hear, hold on, he failed and got back up and came back even stronger. We're all gonna fail. Uh uh. It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02

And you know, the the future of Florence is like you're saying, these young is young people. It's it's those 16-year-olds right now that may go off to college, but the key is coming back. Yes. Or it's like me, I went to Francis Marion and I stayed. I, you know, except for two years I lived in Texas. I I've been here. And um Jim Brown, my one of my business partners, he's been here.

SPEAKER_03

Y'all were at Francis Marion together.

SPEAKER_02

Together, right, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

You had a good crew at Francis Marion. Yeah, I did. I did so. Mr. Eddie Mazinga. I met another guy the other day, and I keep meeting people that were in your class there. Y'all had an interesting.

SPEAKER_02

We had uh Eddie and myself and Jimmy, um Glenn Tart, uh Billy Hoyland, um uh George McIntyre, um Tim Jackson was on part of that, a little on the peripheral. That's right.

SPEAKER_03

Y'all trained him a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And of course he was um he was a KA, but you know, we had you know we uh back then I was a PiCalpa Alpha, the KAs. We we were mortal enemies during rush season, but we were you know we were all friends. Yeah, it was it was a it was a great um uh several years ahead of Francis Marion.

SPEAKER_03

I find that Florence people stick together a little different, you know. Even when you're in Charleston, you know, I know you enjoy going to Charleston and we we go there some too. And uh I'm always attracted to even if I'm in Charleston, I'm hanging out with Florence people half the time. You know, it's yeah, we have some it's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02

We go down to Garden City where we have a house, every there, everybody's that we hang out from Florence. It's a Florence connection, but it's different Florence people, it's not the people I always see here, it's the people I see there.

Why Florence Is Ready To Grow

SPEAKER_03

I know, I know, I know. Florence is an interesting place.

SPEAKER_02

Well, we're in such a great spot as as a city, you know. We you know we're you know physically where we're located, you know, 95 and 20, the the you know, the you know, all the industrial people we have here at Honda and GE. I mean, it's incredible. And then uh where we are now with our leadership and the county and city governments are all kind of working hand in hand, and Greg Robinson doing such a great job. I mean, I I really think that uh that this our town's gonna blow up um in the next five years, which is not always a good thing, you know, because I you're having traffic issues and that kind of stuff. That's part of the progress. And but it also is opportunity for the for the the young people that are here that will have opportunity to stay here.

SPEAKER_03

Like Reeves says, if you're not growing, you're going backwards. That's right. But we gotta grow and hopefully the right way.

Reeves

Yeah. And I and I think we are both, you know, one of the things that I have always kind of scratched my head at is how we can even educationally, you know, get Francis Marion more into the middle of what's happening from an education standpoint. And that's happening with some of the development they're doing right here in downtown, and and bringing in some medical degrees and and schools and that type of thing. So I I agree, it's all synergizing, pretty cool to see what will happen next. And you and uh all of your guys have have just done a tremendous amount to to bring Florence to where it's at today and excited to continue that progress.

Building Hotel Florence Downtown

SPEAKER_02

It was so exciting when we in 2010, you know, because I was still working at ADP. Yeah. And uh in 2010, we started the project Hotel Florence, maybe 09. It runs together 09 or 10, and we opened in 13. So it was it was a lot of negotiation on the front end with the city, trying to get them. We we had we had a challenge getting the city to believe that we really wanted to do it. Wow, and uh because that they were I was still early in the downtown process. Way early. Um yeah, that every building here was boarded up or or it had some it was a bad retail location. And um, so but yeah, it was early on, and uh um but that that was you know, there there are certain parts of your life that are just fun. Uh and that was such a fun uh you know, three or four years of uh just creating the idea that we wanted to put a hotel here and and move my restaurant here, and then that three-year process, and then when we opened it, gosh, that was so much fun. And then and and it's not it's not that it's not fun anymore, but it was just that build-up. Yeah, it was and and then see the success of it, the acceptance of Florence uh of it. Uh when and that what made it even special when so many uh people saying you couldn't it wouldn't succeed. Yeah, and that we were fools for doing it. Um I mentioned Jimmy a couple of times, but Jim Jim Brown and I were uh we've been knowing each other since um 1975. And so um he was one of the worst ones. He said, Tim, you're a fool, you're throwing your money away. Who's gonna stay there? Who's gonna stay downtown? You know, yeah, yeah, all that crime down there. Of course, there was no crime because there was nobody here. Yeah. Nothing to steal, nothing to steal. So anyway, he and I got these a couple of really serious arguments about it. And uh but you know, to hear him say it, he jumped in the paddled me out, paddled the boat out to save me with uh with all the other investments he and I've done downtown.

Reeves

Yeah, but uh well that's that entrepreneurial spirit you have, you know, to that competitive spirit, go out and do something that nobody else has done to have a vision to see it. Yeah, and I yeah, I mean, I I know projects we're working on. You now having done many projects and gone to gotten to the other side and seen the success of it, has got to be incredibly satisfying.

SPEAKER_02

It is very satisfying. And and I honestly get too much credit, I I seem to get uh more of the face of it than uh my other partners, and I've got great partners. That's what made this so successful. We uh uh Gray Rains um and with the hotel experience, Ben Ziegler with the legal experience, um, Chris Scott with the development experience. Uh had the uh had an architect, Randy Key, with his experience, and I had the restaurant. So we had it just all came together and everybody did their part. And then not only that, we had you know, politically, we had so many people that uh that were part of it, you know, whether it was uh Senator Leatherman or Lindsey Graham or Dr. Carter, Francis Marion, all had a part, you know, in in the success of that. Um I tell people often that I it wasn't that I'm I had I'm not that great visionary, Reeves. I've just I just kind of read some tea leaves, you know. You know, Bruce and Lee has been so instrumental to Florence. Yes. And you know, they built that big library that opened up in like 06 or 400, something like that, which was one of the most magnificent buildings anywhere in the country. Yeah, I mean it's gorgeous. And um and then you know I knew the the uh the uh morning the uh little theater was being redone. So you know, the library, the little theater, then the performing arts center, and you know, somebody's gotta service these things, right? And then the museum, and that's probably what's that 80 million dollars of investment. Um, and then you know, Francis Mayor, we knew what they were they were gonna do, didn't know for sure, but didn't know the timing of it. But when you're looking out five years and you saw this these things were coming, and um it just made sense for us to to do it.

Reeves

Now we need probably some more housing downtown to round it out, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, I'm I'm uh I'm you know, the FDDC is an integral part of the uh downtown uh roadmap, and uh always looking for young people like y'all to join the board like that. Okay. Um there's a opening, a couple of oakings come up next year. Um what is that? The what Lawrence Downtown Development Corporation. Okay, okay and that's it's what it does a master plan for for all the downtown area. You know, of course, the downtown is really is a lot bigger than our four blocks, you know, it's being expanded and uh we're growing into it. But um one of the the master plan there is for us to have a thousand units of individual people living downtown. Uh it's 10 years, which is ridiculous. We should do that in like three. I agree. Yeah, I think we can. I think we can. We can do it in five for sure. Yeah, and um, so anyway, that downtown housing is and we've got a couple of projects. You know, we have a um a lot of there's a land, a piece of land that I think uh we call it blue chip, is where uh Ken Jackson, Marva Smalls, and Scott Collins and I are looking to build like uh nine condos over here on Dargan Street. Cool. And um, we've got the plans just about finished and kind of get it bid out now, so we see where what kind of money we're talking about. But that nine nice well, I'm not sure how you know we that's we you gotta we gotta push the market. I think high is right. Yeah, it might you're probably 400,000, 450,000, something like that. That's good for four.

Reeves

It's pushing the market.

SPEAKER_02

But pushing the market, yeah. It's pushing.

SPEAKER_03

You know, Teddy built those townhomes on Travis.

SPEAKER_02

I love them. Aren't they gorgeous?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, they look, I mean, it changes that block already. It does. But we're pushing the market a little bit. We're pushing the rent.

Housing Plans And Corridor Vision

SPEAKER_02

What is the rent? What is the rent like 220?

SPEAKER_01

22, we get it, we might get a little early.

SPEAKER_03

But I think we'll get the right.

SPEAKER_02

I think that's three bedrooms. Three bedrooms. I meant the opening was canceled last week.

SPEAKER_03

It was canceled in the remaining, but we're gonna have another one.

SPEAKER_02

April 2nd. April 2nd.

SPEAKER_03

I'd love to go through there and see them.

SPEAKER_02

Three bedrooms.

Reeves

Three beds, three baths. They're not three full baths.

SPEAKER_02

Wow, yeah, that's good student housing there, buddy. That's what we were gonna say. Yeah, that's right. You might want to raise it, make it$1,800 a unit, a room.

Reeves

Well, I mean, my son's a student at the US. That's what he's paying. That's what I'm paying in Columbia. Yeah, and I'm thinking, then I'd buy some you know, apartments and charge$1,800 to central living area and a bedroom and a bath.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It is ridiculous. But I about for you to pay that.

SPEAKER_03

That's right. Rent rents in Florence, big picture, strong. Yeah. If you look at the country and then you look at Florence, our rents are right up there. I mean, we're we get good rent money in Florida. It's good, yeah. So you know, it's good. It's good. What so what's your what's your kind of vision for downtown? Specifically, like I love Elliott's barbecue and what you did there. And we were came in that way, and it's like, okay, I see the vision of getting from that highway 52, I-95 exit back into downtown. That corridor feels like it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02

It does. And again, that's you know, the city planning. Clinton Moore has been fantastic. I don't know if y'all had Clint on here before. We need to. We need to, he's excellent. He's a you know, and and and also uh Hannah Davis with the director, she's not director, she's uh runs the downtown development corporation. Great people to have on here. But you know, there's that's part of the city's vision, you know. When we went out there, we we were pressing our luck doing what we did. Yeah, and um, but it's turned out really great. And then there's a that residential care facility or nursing home going next door, yeah. And um, and then that corridor, you know, Chase's, you know, there's a there's a couple of empty buildings and Chase is next, and then QAT's got that night. They've they've improved that property a lot. Um, but yeah, I think there's there's a there's a vision of taking that, you know, there's gonna be a a road also coming in from Carolina Bank Field out to 52. Oh, really? Yeah. And when that that's done, that'll really open up the the Floyd uh Tennis Center and uh Carolina Bank Field out to 52. Okay. That'd be a that'd be a really uh it kind of opens up that area so they don't get trapped out on cash and not know where to go and go away from downtown. That's right. Which I want every business to succeed, but you know, you know, but I'd love for them to come downtown.

SPEAKER_03

That will make it feel, you know, that all because I've always thought, man, I wish that baseball field was downtown.

SPEAKER_02

Oh gosh, I I wanted it so badly down here, but it just it just It wasn't the right spot. Yeah, you know, I've ideally in my mind I'd love to have been where Hope Health is. But I mean, how can you complain what Hope Health has done? I mean, Carl and that group are doing a great job and a lot of employees, and um but it's it's turned out great great there, but it would have been great to have that feel downtown somewhere.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but maybe that maybe downtown's gonna feel closer to that once it all fills in some.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think that's where where it's kind of going because it's not that far. It's a it's a mile from here to to Elliott's and uh and seminar. So it it's really something that can be filled in and um and that court street corridor can be cleaned up. You know, it's really you know, crossing the tracks and getting things cleaned up, and which is exactly what uh Hope Health has done. Yeah, they they cleaned that all there and that looks great. Yeah, so yeah, I I think you know, taking it down downtown, you know, going down to where the new medical school is gonna be, um, where where those apartments are. Yeah, that's a yeah, that's oh that's that area is that medical two miles it'll be eventually. Yes. But um, and have good housing in there uh would be nice.

SPEAKER_03

I tell people all the time, I say Florence food and wine, you go downtown Florence for Florence Food and Wine, and downtown feels completely different. I mean, you you see it then. Yeah, that's when this place comes to life, in my opinion. It does. And I I I'm so grateful of how well that's done. And I think it just continues to grow every year, doesn't it?

Creating Florence Wine And Food

SPEAKER_02

It does, it does. We Frank Chisholm, who was uh business he for he and Jimmy and Brad and I have been business partners for about 30 years now, and uh that speaks in a lot in itself. Oh, yeah and And um and then we start, Frank and I were sitting, we were sitting in his office one day and we were talking about we need to do something to improve Florence or add some more lifestyle to it, quality of life.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02

And um Frank's uh a wine snob. I hope he listens to this. We hope he does too. Yeah. So anyway, he he's a wine snob, and I have sitting here with Victor's and I want to build the the food experience, not only with Victor's, but around the whole, you know, I just want I want I want Tubbs to do well, I want the Hope Brothers to do well, I want it particularly independent, Redbone Alley, Holy Smoke, and you know, all these independent people that are really want to do well. And and hopefully uh when we bring in these celebrity chefs, you know, Sean Brock this year, last year we had Rodney Scott, the year before we had Vivian Howard, um, and brought Ted Matt Lee, and we brought uh the lady from Asheville one year. But it we bring in these people and they get to work together, and I think that fuels um when they're working with these James Beard award-winning chefs, yeah. I think it it can it can build up that gosh, you know, I can do this. You know, I'm I'm sitting here prepping next to this guy. He preps the same way I do. I'm actually better at it than he is. And then all of a sudden their imagination goes, and then they they can be that entrepreneur that takes the risk to open a restaurant and and and do really well at it and be a James Beard Award winner. That's awesome.

Reeves

Yeah, that's interesting. My son is a baseball manager for a USC baseball team. And I asked him, I said, Talon, what have you learned so far this year? And he said, Dad, people are people. And, you know, he went in with this idea that, you know, the coaches, the players, these guys are just something's different about them. But he said, you know, I've realized they're just they put on their pants the same way. And whether it's cooking food or playing baseball or something else, if you're alongside somebody who's been successful, and then you realize, hey, I can do that too, it levels up what we can provide here.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly, builds your confidence up. Yeah, yeah. So I hope that, you know, that's one of the reasons I was motivated to do the Wine Food Festival and um and wanted just uh have you just offer offer something. So Frank and I, we we sat around and said, let's do it. And so we um this was in 2016 or 17.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

A Simple Guide To Festival Weekend

SPEAKER_02

And um, and so we called uh three or four of our friends. We called uh Billy Hoyland, his wife, Mary Ann, Howard and Um Paula Eford and Lane and Al Gilpin, and said, Hey girls, we want to do a little wine thing here. And Frank had a friend, uh, forget his name now, but a uh African-American winemaker from California. He and his wife came in and we did it at the Waters Building. We set up 60 chairs and we sold 60 tickets and had the had a four-course wine dinner. I'm not sure. I think we had I I used to take a tele effect where I would just tell people what they need to do, which is not always a good thing to do. And I had I I had four other restaurants that told me you're gonna do the you're gonna do the first course, you're gonna do the second course, third course, fourth course, and that they didn't come across really well. We got we got through the first couple of years with the with me telling people what to do, and then we changed that. And uh, but anyway, um they had a really good first event, and then um I think the next year we uh we needed a executive director and we hired Helen Holland. She had just um finished the stint working for David Beasley, and so she became our our, she created our logo and she created the name of all our signature events and stuff. Uh, and then um we had um a signature chef or two, I can't remember who we had come in. Uh, but then Helen retired and we had COVID come in for a couple of years. And then um we brought in Matt and Ted Lee as our as first as our as our celebrities uh chef, and then they hired, we hired them to be our producers. And what they are fantastic at is developing the program, because we want to be educational and uh so that people can learn about different kinds of wine. We want to be able to taste different kinds of food, and that's what the grand tasting is on on um on Saturday morning from 11 to 2. It's a tent with probably 50 different restaurants involved in it, probably 60 different kinds of wine, and it it's and you can taste it and get and they there'll be someone there to explain to you about the wine, and um but it's it's an incredible event. We have some, but and the Lee brothers are the MCs of the whole weekend, actually. But um anyway, that we just they brought a level of sophistication that we had not had. And in context, you know, we were you know suddenly Garden and Gun is mentioned us in an article or Southern Living's mention us. I mean, just a little mention us that starts with a little bit. Yeah, that's right. And and so they they're doing that. Um, and then we we have now we have this weekend when we have wine and food festival, we'll have um all the Southern, we'll have over 20 writers in here that are gonna be writing about uh about the wine and food festival and all kinds of magazines, local palette, garden and gun, southern living, um uh South Carolina Living Magazine, South Carolina Wildlife. There'll be all these writers in here and and in Raleigh magazine, the Charlotte magazine, Charleston magazine. It's it's gonna be great exposure. It's great. But the Lee Brothers with their contacts, you know. Yeah. And uh we're also, you know, of course, our charity of the Brine and Food Festival is help for kids. And um we end up it depends, it it varies year to year based on our costs and expenses, but you know, we'll we'll give them they'll they'll$25,000,$30,000,$40,000 is what we end up. Fantastic. Uh because we don't we don't try to not make a profit, we're just gonna have operating expenses. Um, but they'll get that kind of so and then we also do a scholarship for the uh Jane, the James Beard Foundation.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, because that's that's the epitome. If you can get a Jane in the hospitality industry, if you can get a James Beard nomination, is incredible. But if you can get a James Beard Award, it's really sets you apart. And and you can that really, and that's what I want for Florence. I want somebody here to get nominated. Yes, and and somebody to win a James Beard Award. Okay, oh, it'd be incredible. That would be so good. Now, it's incidentally, Elliot at Elliot's, he's been nominated twice. Oh, okay. When he was in Asheville, he was nominated for the best barbecue in the Southeast. Wow. And he was also nominated for Best Chef in the Southeast. But that was like eight or ten years ago. And so he's here now with a new uh operation, and he's getting lots of notoriety. Maybe he'll get it. The nomination would be great, but I I think he's worthy of a nomination and uh and an award. But yeah, that time will tell on that. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Reeves

So so this food the Florence Food and Wine Festival is March 26th through the 28th.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

Reeves

If someone has never been, how do they get tickets? How do they what can you still get tickets?

SPEAKER_02

Some of some events are sold out, which is that's a good thing. Yeah. And uh, because we want to keep this uh we want it to be the best small town wine and food in the country. Wow. Small town or small event, that's gonna be around you know, two to three thousand people attended. Okay, and that's why we want to kind of keep it at that. We don't want it to be like Charleston. I went to Charleston Wine and Food Festival last weekend. It was 40,000 people there. Although they have really improved, it was a really it was a really good show. Of course, I'm retired, so I went on Friday afternoon. So it was it was a good time. I wouldn't have gone on Saturday or Sunday. I'm sure it was. But anyway, we want to be the best small town wine and food show in the country. And um, so we'll keep it limited. So some things sell out. It starts Thursday. And do you mind if I run the whole weekend with you? Please do, please do. That'd be great. So Thursday, it starts Thursday out at Seminar in Elliot's and in the beer garden, and we'll have a number of vendors. I'm not sure how many food vendors will be set up, but we'll have it'll be out there. I think it starts at six and goes to like 8:30 or 9. Last year it was a lot of people said it was the best event. And uh Rodney Scott was our guy last year. Uh-huh. And uh, so we he was doing some barbecue out there and stuff, and so that was that was great. Thursday night's called it's called the um meat and meanders, all focused on meat. And um and you meet you know, you meet two words, you meet, you eat meat and you meet, yeah, uh, and uh meander around, talk to people and stuff. And then um Thursday and then Friday we have the Sip and Saver, which we really came up with this idea uh because we wanted to promote the retailers that here in in downtown Florence. And so we have uh either 10 or 12 places that uh you buy a ticket. Um to answer your question, Reeves. You go after go online and buy your tickets for Florence Wine and Food. Um Florence Wine and Food. We had a we had a discussion with the Florence uh the uh the national uh magazine, which is Florence is uh food and wine. So we had to change ours to Florence Wine and Food. Okay.

Reeves

So the wine comes first. Yeah, wine comes first. That's right.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So uh, but anyway, um sip and say we wanted to we wanted to highlight the retail places. So uh each retail location will get uh a different different kind of wine, and there'll be a wine steward there to explain the wine, and it's a sip, you know, it's uh a couple ounces. Of course, you can stay and get a second tasting too. Uh but you the the theory, the theory is you'll go around to a dozen places in downtown and and taste wine, meet friends. I'd say the hardest part for me was getting through all 12. I don't think I've made through all 12 yet. And uh so anyway, you know, Carolina Bank does one, Beringer does one, two dress shops down here, the lingerie shop over here participates in the gallery. It's it's it's a it's a fun event. Um and then that same night we have two other parties that are or events going on. One's uh um after the sip and saber's over, everybody comes to one location. And I'm I'm I think it's a Waters building, and has like and they have like a VIP party there, and uh with more wine and more food. And that's a that's usually a really big party there, um, a lot of fun. And then Saturday morning um is a grand tasting. My wife and I, and Rick and Deborah Beasley, we went to Italy about uh 2021 during COVID, and we went to a a truffle fair. And and and that truffle it had a big, big, big tent, and inside it had a had a another circular um setup with with bars and tastings. And so I took pictures of that and we came back and we kind of recreated that here with a grand, what we call the grand tasting. So we had a huge tent, and on the peripheral level, when you go into the tent is all the food, and in the center is all the wine. And you'll about probably 50 stations of food and about 50 or 60 stations of wine. Have a stage set up at the far at the very end, and that's where we do uh cocktail uh demonstrations and tastings. We do uh a food demonstration. That's where Sean Brock would do a cooking demonstration at four o'clock. Um that event starts at 11, goes to three. Um that morning, Ray Isles, who's this is his fourth year here, he is the um wine editor of uh of the Food and Wine magazine. And he comes every year. I don't know how we get him to come every year, but he comes and he does a class uh in Victor's ballroom. Um and uh you walk in, it's beautifully done. You have like six glasses of wine, empty glasses, and then he goes through and tastes with you each wine and explains all the notes in the wine, and and and sometimes they'll have, I'm not sure he does it this year. Um it was very um enlightening for me. Uh that they said, You you taste I just tasted a white wine. I said, You taste that floral note. No, I don't taste that floral note. Yeah. Have y'all had that experience? Somebody tell you, oh, yeah, yeah. So he they pulled the flower out, and I he said, snip that flower. So I smelled that flower, and then I drank the wine, and it was like the floral note exploded in my mouth. Wow. It was incredible. And so this that's part of the learning experience that Ray Isles does with it with five or six different wines. Um he that's like a 24 people can go to that. And uh, so that goes on the same time as the uh it starts, I think it starts around 11. But anyway, those those are those are wonderful events where you end up at four o'clock with uh Sean Brock doing his um demo, and then that oh, and then that night is the final pour where we have the 300 people in front of the pack center over there, which uh really a great experience. Now, what we're adding this year, and this is probably not gonna happen again, um maybe it might, uh Vivian Howard, who came about three years ago. Now, Vivian Howard's claim to fame is she had a program on PBS, a number one program in the country, um, in all markets on PBS ETV stations called The Chef and Farmer. And she was she was had a little place up in Kinston, North Carolina, and she create and she created a huge business out of it, and and she ran that program for five years, and uh then she stopped it and she was out for a couple of years, and she's created another one called Kitchen Curious. And so she's gonna come to Florence and do some taping for that show, Kitchen Curious, on Friday and Saturday. And it's gonna be a it'll be really interesting when it won't air, that program won't air. She's gonna do it when she's gonna do it this 28 in March. It'll probably air in December, but it'll take that long, maybe even next January, but it'll take that long to get all the all her episodes put together. But that that's gonna be the kind of that's the kind of national exposure that we would love to have here in Florida. Oh, I forgot about Dan Danica uh Patrick is gonna be here. Oh wow, okay, she she owns a winery called Sunin Sununum. I don't know why you name something this hard to pronounce. Synonymum. We'll have to look at it. That is Sonunimum.

Reeves

Sonunum Danica Patrick Winery. Look it up. Look it up. I couldn't I can't say it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but she's gonna be here uh in person on Friday and Saturday, for Saturday for sure. She'll be here and she'll be at the grand tasting, excuse me, the final pour, and she'll be pouring her wine.

unknown

Cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's gonna be it'll be a cool event.

Reeves

And it sounds like an awesome event. I I have not been before. I'm I gotta be here this year. I gotta go online and get some tickets.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and and you know that if I if I had to choose one thing, I would I would do the grand tasting on Saturday morning. Okay. And if you had to do two, well, I I can't do all of them or just that one. Because it'll be sold out soon. Oh, yeah, it'll be sold out soon.

Reeves

I was trying to decide when you were going through it whether I wanted to go Saturday morning or Friday evening. Yeah, but yeah, just two both.

Amtrak Dreams And Day Trips

SPEAKER_03

I've got a funny story about the food and wine here. I was I was in Charleston a year or two ago, and they found out I was from Florence, an older lady, and she said, Oh yeah, I go to the food and wine in Florence. There's no good single men in Charleston. I can find men a lot that are there.

Reeves

We just opened up a whole new.

SPEAKER_02

And then you can come from Charleston here. Like I'd like to be we're promoting for day trippers from Charleston to get on the train at 9 15, get here at 10 45. Awesome. And then they that's just when you know they can walk over, it's two blocks, I mean, from the train station downtown, and then they can stay here till about six and then head back. That's our dream.

Reeves

So, Tim, we've talked about that on the podcast. We're actually going to do a podcast where we, the three of them, meeting.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah.

Reeves

We showed it. And if we could ever get Amtrak, even just like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, to make those times even a little bit more, yeah, it would be awesome. But to be able to take the train to Charleston or take the train from Charleston and come back to Florence, it come to Florence, either way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

Reeves

There's such an opportunity for that.

SPEAKER_03

We gotta get that more consistent.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, it's Amtrak has to defer to CSX, the the that's right, the the the uh money-making part of their business. That's right. And so, and then of course they're doing a lot of construction on the on the tracks, and when that happens, yeah it's like right now the schedule's two hours off from where it normally is. Um that's because they're doing this construction like in Virginia or something. Oh, wow. But um, but anyway, when that it'll it'll get get back to a regular road rotation, but still it's um the 6.15 from here to Charleston, get there at 7.30, and 915 here at 1045 is hard to beat. Yeah. And that they it look the challenge with trains is um if something happens, you know, a tree falls on on a on the track, you know, that's that's stoppage for a long time. Yeah, or any kind of accident happens, but that's really relatively rare. But I tell you what, if you get on that train, you better be ready to get on it because it's leaving. It stops for like five minutes and you it loads up. Oh wow. Yeah, but it's it's quick. It's you don't um there's no security, which is kind of scary. I mean you don't go through uh no wanding or anything. You just get on the train.

SPEAKER_03

It's kind of relaxing on the train. I love it.

Reeves

Yeah, we we've gotta do this. We gotta do this.

Advice To His Younger Self

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let me do it with you. That'd be awesome. We will do that. That would be so much fun. That'd be fun. Because you know, if it's an afternoon, you know, if we leave here at 6 15, you have a bar car on there. Yeah, so go up there and get a couple of a couple of bourbons or a couple of glasses of wine, yeah, a little charcuterie board, and oh yeah, have a nice time. You can the internet's great on there. You can you watch the movies or do all your email work and stuff. Yeah, yeah, it's a really cool event. That's perfect.

Reeves

So I've got one more question for you. Sure. Put you on the spot a little bit. If you could go back to Tim Norwood graduating from Francis Marion University, what would you say to that guy, knowing what you've accomplished, all the success, all the failures, to that guy who was just walking across the stage? What kind of advice would you give?

SPEAKER_02

Well, first of all, you know, I've lived my life and it's been great. Yeah. Okay. And I really wouldn't change anything, even those seven years of hell I went through, which was, by the way, was all self-imposed. I mean, nobody did it to me. I did it to myself, which is a key factor in uh moving forward. You have to realize that you're responsible no matter what. And um, but if I had to go back, um that Tim Norwood that was graduating was a very overconfident. Um it all. There's nothing that you could not do. And I still believe nothing you can't do, but I just did it. I was just a little, you know, overconfident, a little too arrogant about my abilities. And um if I could rewind that just a little bit. Honestly, I look back, I was like, why did I have any friends? I was just so yeah, I was just so overconfident. It was crazy. But um That's good, though. Well, you gotta have some of that in. You gotta have some of it, but you just you know, I just I got a little double dose of it. I wish I'd had just a little one dose. And of course, I you know, confidence is built over time on successes. And I had, you know, from the time I was my because I was a fat little shy kid when I was 12, and then you know, going through Boy Scouts and getting active in church, and my confidence grew and grew, and you know, and people tell you you're doing good, and then you start believing too much. As I miss my my mother told me one time, she said, I think I gave you too much, I got helped you get too much confidence. And uh so yeah, I think that that 22 year old kid, if I could have uh just backed off a little bit on my confidence and uh and been a little more humble and appreciative. Of where I was.

SPEAKER_03

That's good. That's good, good word for all of us. For all of us. Well, we sure I appreciate all you do for Florence, the community. You know, you inspire us. We hope we can one day do a small part in helping this city continue to grow and do well. Well, you're doing it right now. Well, thank you. You know, you sent us a message a while back and you said you guys are doing good. And I that encouraged us a lot. You know, I appreciate it. It really did. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome.