Uh, Cheraw is home it's just unique it's a pretty town our slogan is the prettiest town at Dixie well I was born here and I don't mind saying my age in 1940 I stayed here through high school attended college in Baltimore Maryland and I taught in Georgia a year after graduating came here in taught for years and decided I wanted to go back to the big city but my love stayed for Cheraw because it's home it's not like being in the city it's a small town they're there for you in time of need you're on a first-name basis with everybody so the closeness here is to use the teenage word is awesome so I had those close connections with year I traveled all over the world but Cheraw will always be home Cheraw Fish Hatchery was started out as a federal hatchery in the forties transitioned to a state operated and run facility in the late 60's early 70's we raised largemouth bass and smallmouth bass which we are the only producer of smallmouth bass in the state of South Carolina we have 31 production ponds on site ranging from 1/10 acre to acre and a half is our largest pond what we do is we have I guess a quota so to speak of what our production needs are and so once those production needs are handed down to individual facilities individual hatcheries we look at our quota we look at our available pond space we delineate those pond spaces to produce the number of fish and or the size of fish that we need to produce once we harvest those ponds we achieve our numbers or we count our numbers they're distributed throughout the state the different public bodies of water whether it's a public lake or public fishing access of a river annually we have a kids fishing day event in September where our pond one is designated specifically for that purpose so year-round we maintain that pond with feeders and we stock it accordingly we keep a tally of what is harvested on kids fishing days so we'll supplement stock that pond and it'll have 60 to 70 kids primarily it's to attract I guess newer anglers to fishing and so it's great for the community because like I said you've got your kids you got your parents brothers cousins nephews and they'd come out and get to enjoy a morning of fishin' it is a small community from what I've gathered you know meeting with folks and like said a lot of people that I've met that come here see at least on a regular basis or what have your kids fishing day for example there's the people that come every time and they're here anytime we need help or you know vice versa the Town Cheraw is just so quaint so friendly I'm originally from Asheboro North Carolina and it reminds me a lot of my hometown just a little smaller scale with a lot more history here in Cheraw I came July of 1988 and the business has been here since 1898 so I've been here for 31 years one of my goals when I got out of pharmacy school was to possibly open a pharmacy and I've been down here ever since I think being a good neighbor pharmacy is just being welcoming to the people that come in our doors treating them just like I would treat a member of my own personal family and I want them to feel like they can come and talk to me at any time it's not an interruption that's why I'm here is to help to serve them sure it's a business but first and foremost if they can come to me and feel confident then they're going to want to come back and and that's a good for all of us I think there's lots to do lots to learn about the history of Cheraw State Park a lot of historical areas in the town that are just waiting to be explored and you can just learn a lot about our culture I think the community is really close community the businesses especially in those that you know have the ability to do so they are trying to bring things here for everybody so all age groups when I think about growing up here I think of like family and just kind of close-knit friends the friends that I had in primary school were my same friends when I got into high school and we're still friends to this day and they still come back home on the ones who don't live here so really close in family or unit this different activities here for us to do a lot of people think just because it's a small town there's not a lot if you come out on a Friday night it means no doubt that the stands are packed at the football game they come out to the basketball games baseball Cheraw supports their athletics the things that I did when I was living here they are still trying to hold onto those things on people who have left they come back for those traditions so they might not live here but then fourth of July they come over to visit family and they're making sure they're downtown for the fireworks show and the different activities that are taking place so it's definitely a traditional town the things that we did when we were young are the same things that we trying to do and keep in place where I kids so I kids keeping place for very kids and there's continuing to have that tradition and know that you have that hometown feel when you come to Cheraw this is our town Cheraw South Carolina this is our town this is our town this is our town Cheraw South Carolina