 Hello, Columbia. Welcome to CityView, where we give you an inside view of the city of Columbia. I'm your host, Lucia Yudzi. In our top story on CityView, the city, along with the American Red Cross, recently partnered for the annual LifeSaver's Blood Drive, which was held at the Colombian Metropolitan Convention Center. Yeah, I feel like it's a great opportunity to do something to save lives. I know a lot of people that have been recipients of blood and every two seconds, somebody in America needs blood. So I just feel like it's something that's easy enough for me to do. It's a cheerful place to come. It's not a, people should really come because it's a happy spot. And so they, you don't feel like you're, they're approaching, they just poke you and then leave, you know, they stand around and talk to you. A recent story that appeared in local news featured some of our local first responders. Our firefighters from the Colombian Rich in the Fire Department and also some civilians. Together, they saved the life of a local employee at a restaurant here in the city of Columbia. All the angels were around me, you know what I'm saying? I can't explain that like I want, you know what I'm saying? Just thanks God for everybody, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, you know, like I said, mostly every night, I like wake up, you know, like be crying like, you know, I bless some hills, you know? So that's a good thing, you know? So I got long ways to go now, you know what I'm saying? Thank y'all for being by my side. I'm just very thankful, very thankful that I was obviously put in that position to even try to look for him that morning. Most of the time we're fixed to open up for service. It's a little after 11 o'clock and we're fixed to open a restaurant. And most of the time I just go right on to manning to the kitchen, manning to the restaurant and that morning I stopped and paused and looked for him. I'm just very thankful that I was put in a place from upstairs to look for him. Mayor Daniel Rickerman, along with Representative Heather Bauer, recently announced a commerce-focused partnership with Ireland. Here's generously provided us a flag from Ireland. One of the senators sent that over to Representative Bauer and we're gonna have it hanging here on City Hall all week and then it's gonna participate in St. Patty's Day celebration in five points on Saturday morning in the parade. But with that, you know, this flag has got 175-year history. No surprise that Ireland wants to work with South Carolina in the city of Columbia after the week of Scout Motors being announced. We just passed a major workforce development bill in the House as well. This has been a bipartisan effort to bring the Irish-American caucus and a trade commission to South Carolina to work on bringing investments and working with Ireland to grow economic development in South Carolina. New businesses in Columbia are continuing to open. We now share with you just a few of the more recent ribbon cuttings and grand opening ceremonies. We start out by taking you to all good books. I will tell you, I'm not sure that we've ever had a ribbon cutting or an opening with these many people here excited about a business. And I think that says a lot. You know, for me, it's a little nostalgic to walk into this place and not be getting a pizza and a salad with a ton of feta cheese on it. You know, the Parthenon was a staple of my diet back in the day here at Five Points. But Five Points is evolving. We made a commitment to bring this village back up. And now we take you to North Columbia for the grand opening of Hot Heads. As the owner of Carolina Kernels for the past eight years, they are obviously invested in our community. Ribbon cuttings and ceremonies like this provide the opportunity to see our growth on the corridor. We've seen a number of businesses open over the last year and I'm excited to celebrate with all of them and all of you. It's also important, I'm especially proud to promote our minority businesses that are on the corridor as this quarter continues to build and grow. If you all have future plans to grow something else, we want you all to stay right here too. We congratulate you and your staff and your family and we look forward to your success in the community. And as we go across town to Five Points, to take you to the grand opening for Panapete Vintage. And we hope that the message gets out that people are down here, they're buying a book, they're getting some coffee, they're getting a sweatshirt next door and then they're coming to get their groove on right here with some great outfits and some great opportunities. But excited for you and I hope that everything we can do to support you to continue to grow but this is what we've been hoping for in Five Points is really building it up with small businesses that are a real reflection of our community. So congratulations. And for some good news, the annual Cornbread Festival is coming back to North Columbia. So of course we want people to come and we want you to buy the cornbread and the souvenirs and eat and drink and have a good time. But there's more to that because a lot of people we're hoping will also dine at the local restaurants, gas stations, you gotta have gas. So this festival is an opportunity not just for the festival and its participants but for the whole community to see some economic growth. The last thing I'll say is I'm looking forward to being there and I'm contemplating if I'm gonna be in the cookoff. Now some of y'all in here know that that's a scary thing. But I think that's gonna be my new challenge this year. I'm gonna participate in the Cornbread Festival. But even if I don't, I look forward to seeing everyone on April 30th for the festival. And speaking of delicious food, don't forget about our Food Truck Fridays. Food Truck Fridays will continue in the month of April and throughout the summer. For details regarding Food Truck Fridays, visit our website at columbiasc.gov. And now we'll share with you someone who actually visited our Food Truck Fridays site. Actually, I was just passing and I'm starving. And when I seen that pretty lavender truck over there and all these people out here, I decided to stop and see what they were offering. So actually, that's why I stopped today. Just in passing and hungry. When I came out here, man, just cause it's a beautiful day, decided to come out and see the works wedding which I prefer, I do like German food a lot. So I work at USC close by off campus. Was super excited to see the food trucks and the lot today. A lot of great choices for me though. I went with the worst wagon. I got a bright worst. It looks awesome. I can't wait. Once again this year, the city of Columbia showed its support for the American Heart Association and the annual Heart Walk. Not only throughout Go Red Columbia campaign, but also through fundraising efforts sponsored by various departments to support fundraising and donations for the Heart Walk. I want to say thank you to the public relations, media and marketing department for kicking off Heart Health Awareness Month with the Go Red Columbia event in honor of National Wear Red Day and for their support in promoting fundraising efforts. I would like to thank the Payment Customer Care Center for their amazing dedication to their fundraising efforts for the Heart Walk. They have been hosting a popcorn and lemonade sale as well as a t-shirt sale for the past several weeks with the goal of raising $2,500 for the American Heart Association. Their enthusiasm and passion for this initiative has not gone unnoticed. I would also like to say thank you to parking services for their partnership with the American Heart Association. They have enlisted nine sponsors with each sponsorship costing $500 to decorate a parking meter of their choice in the downtown area. During the month of April, all funds collected from these meters will be donated to the American Heart Association. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank all of the city departments that have supported the fundraising. Your donations are going to a wonderful cause and are much appreciated. Well, thank you also to our city manager who is serving as a board member this year with the American Heart Association and encourage all of our employees to support the Heart Walk and even formed a team that we are a Columbia team. Thank you again for watching our show. If you have any questions about anything here on City View, please reach out to public relations, media and marketing. You may call us at 545-3020, email us at pio at columniac.gov or make sure you follow us for updates on our website and our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for watching. Remember we are Columbia and stay tuned right here to City TV.