New water lines enable more events at BCC South Brunswick facility

CAROLINA SHORES—Brunswick Community College’s new South Brunswick Islands Center is ready for more community events now that county water line installation is complete.

Gaye Varnam Fulford

The wedding of Elouise Sheree Gause and Willie Rodman Williams III at 5 p.m. last Saturday, July 28, is one of the first non-school events at Brunswick Community College’s South Brunswick Islands Center in U.S. 17 at Carolina Shores. More events can take place at the facility now that water line installation has been completed.

The center, which opened in December, had been restricted to having classes and other BCC-sponsored events until water lines were installed, SBIC director Gaye Varnam Fulford said.

The facility has gotten the go-ahead from the fire marshal and is now fully operational, according to BCC officials.

Jerry Thrift, vice president for operations at BCC, said this week the building is now tapped onto Brunswick County’s water system. Its sprinkler system has been connected and inspected, and the county has bestowed a certificate of occupancy.

Thrift said the facility is now available for rentals, with a number already booked.

“We are grateful to the efforts of the county to get water to the facility,” Thrift said.

SBIC received its original inspection from Brunswick County Emergency Services last September, Fulford said.

The facility was approved for classes in its classroom section, but its 7,800-square-foot banquet hall could only be used for college-sponsored events, and campus police had to be on site to conduct fire watches. “Open-flame” devices like candles were not allowed.

Fulford said several college-sponsored events have already taken place at the facility, including the Brunswick County Chamber

of Commerce Womanless Beauty Pageant, the Waterway Art Association exhibit and Little River Chamber of Commerce Taste of the South. 

Now that water line and sprinkler systems are fully activated, groups and individuals can rent the large banquet hall for events, she said.

One of the first was this past Saturday’s wedding of Elouise Sheree Gause and Willie Rodman Williams III.

For rental information about the facility, call Fulford at 755-7419.

For information about course offerings, call Timothy Randall, BCC’s coordinator of workforce development, at 755-7383.

Laura Lewis is a staff writer at the Beacon. Reach her at 754-6890 or email llewis@brunswickbeacon.com.