2016 Westie Awards

It’s hard not to recognize that we’re on the verge of a new era is West Ashley. Things are turning around for our chunk of Charleston, which had largely been ignored in previous years. But the 70,000 people (and growing) who make up West Ashley cannot be ignored any longer. Charleston now has a mayor from our part of town and he vows to usher in a renaissance for West Ashley.
There has been a lot of changes in 2015 for West Ashley — some bad, but mostly good. And last year, like every year, there were a handful of folks who really helped make West Ashley a better place to live and work. The Westie winners may not all be as visible as Mayor John Tecklenburg, but he and the other 11 others are doing their part, either behind the scenes or in public eye, to make West Ashley “Better Than It Has To Be.”
That slogan, which still is written on the base of West Ashley’s most beloved landmark, the Coburg Cow, is what the Westies are all about. And that’s why West Of uses a golden cow to commemorate our winners every year. Sure it’s just gold paint over plastic, but these 12 winners are surely forged from the purest gold known to man.
From doctors and nurses to neighborhood leaders and city councilman, from restaurateurs and community volunteers to city planners to champions of the local art scene, the 2016 class of Westie Award winners are a special group indeed. None more so than Cynthia Hurd, recipient of the very first Westie Award given posthumously. A West Ashley librarian who died senselessly in the Mother Emmanual shooting last year, Hurd represented the spirit of The Westies in her personal and professional life and continues to be an inspiration now that she is gone. The library once known as the St. Andrew’s Regional Library where she worked was renamed in her honor. To her and the others who make up the 2016 class of Westie Award winners, thank-you for making West Ashley better than it has to be.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE 2016 WESTIE AWARD WINNERS