Standard time returned in West Columbia on Sunday at 2 a.m. When we turned our clocks back an hour, daylight savings time ended.

The time change can be discombobulating. You may have had to update the clocks in your home and readjust your internal clock for bedtime and waking in the morning to get used to an extra hour of morning daylight.

The change in time also signals longer nights. The longest night of the year is Dec. 21, the winter solstice. Then it will start to gradually get lighter each afternoon until daylight savings time returns on March 9, 2025.

The time change locally is marked by the City of West Columbia  with its annual Fall Back Fest held on State Street. This year the eighth annual Fall Back Fest was last Friday and it featured local artists painting on the street, live music from The Big Time Band and Six One Five Collective and the Meeting Street Artisan Market Night Edition.

“The Fall Back Fest is always one of the best events of the year,” said West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles. “So many people told me they had a wonderful time. It was a chance to get people out in the streets to enjoy the West Columbia River District with plenty of good music and good food and drink on a perfect fall evening.”

Miles also thanked the people who worked to make the festival a success.

“Fall Back Fest was a representation of our strong community spirit and a credit to the city staff that put it together and the volunteers who worked to make everything so much fun.”

Lainie Lewis, owner of State Street Trading Company at 134 State Street, said the 2024 Fall Back Fest may have attracted the largest crowd to date. She kept her shop open past 9 p.m. in order to serve those attending Fall Back Fest.

“I had my best day sales wise since i opened,” she said. “There were lots of Texans who came to town for Saturday’s Texas A&M versus University of South Carolina football game,” a 44-20 win for the Gamecocks. Lewis said despite the loss by the Aggies, the fans had a great time on Friday.

“The people I talked to who came in for the game fell in love with West Columbia  and thought it was so cool that the whole evening was free,” Lewis said. 

Jim Oaken is the owner of State Street Pub. He said the Fall Back Fest always brings out customers in high volume, and Friday’s crowd was no exception.

“It’s great to see so many people come out,” he said. “We met so many new people. Many of them said they did not know we were here and they would come back because they had such a good experience at the Fall Back Fest. I give a lot of credit to the City of West Columbia for putting it on.”

Fall Back Fest, just like West Columbia’s Art on State event in the spring have become traditions. The events are popular and good for West Columbia. So expect this event to draw more visitors in the future to enjoy all of what West Columbia offers.