When we “sprang forward” a couple of weeks ago, the hour we “lost” when we re-set our clocks was just the punctuation mark in a story many of us had been following for weeks. More than any year in memory, the coming of Spring this year was something we pulled for, watching our daylight grow longer gradually.

When we “sprang forward” a couple of weeks ago, the hour we “lost” when we re-set our clocks was just the punctuation mark in a story many of us had been following for weeks. More than any year in memory, the coming of Spring this year was something we pulled for, watching our daylight grow longer gradually. Day after day, the sun arrived another minute earlier in the morning, and it set another minute later in the evening. It’s been doing this, we hear, since before there were people to notice, and yet in 2021 there were those of us who paid attention for the first time in our lives.

We rooted for the sun like a family with a member running a Marathon. Cheering for it, pulling for it, we noticed when at last we didn’t have to turn on the lights to make the coffee. This Spring the yearly rebirth it represents seems to mean more than ever.

A couple of recurring events in the Shops at Sea Pines Center remind us, too, of how something that comes around rhythmically can be new, even when it is expected. The word is out. The monthly First Thursdays Art Market and the weekly, seasonal Farmers & Makers Market have both awakened to more color, more life than ever with the coming of Spring.

Celebrating in the Plaza

The First Thursdays Art Market, in the sun-kissed plaza of The Shops at Sea Pines Center, extended its hours to 7 p.m., bringing the popular event to the brink of what a lot of us think is the most beautiful time of day in the plaza. The French call this time of day, “l’heure du berger,” the hour when the shepherd brings the flock back home. That’s a good fit for the feeling people get here after a day at work or play, routine or adventure, here in our subtropical paradise.

Since getting its start last Fall, “First Thursdays” has grown to include more artists, more art forms, and more fun than ever. The First Thursdays Artists include artists from Sea Pines and beyond now, and works in mediums ranging from wax to steel, from watercolors to sculpture.

Musical entertainment too has flourished at First Thursdays. Our Lowcountry original, the singer-songwriter Sara Burns continues her gentle musical insights outside VIVID Gallery. Jazz Corner favorites outside Lowcountry Produce include Davey Masteller. On the patio at Hazel Dean’s local musical treasures such as  John Cranford have been performing. Later this spring, young Hilton Head Island musical prodigies, The Nice Guys will be joining us in the plaza again, returning from college in Charleston. The music of these local artists puts a feeling in the air that has come to be a First Thursdays hallmark.