Drive Hutson Avenue on a Saturday and you will pass a new Guthrie's drive-thru with cars looping the lot. Walk two minutes off Main Street the same afternoon and you will find Carolina Wren Park setting up chairs for a block party that has run on the same volunteer schedule for years. Both are signs of a town adding new business. They are not the same story.
Anderson's growth includes activity on two tracks. Chain restaurants have opened along corridors that carry traffic past town, while downtown's historic core has existing restaurants and recurring events. The fall calendar offers examples of downtown activity.
The Corridor Is Filling In
Guthrie's, the chicken-finger chain built in Haleyville, Alabama, opened its newest location at 306 Hutson Ave in March, its sixth restaurant in the region and part of what the company describes as continued expansion across the Carolinas. It brought about 25 jobs with it. A few miles over on North Main Street, Biscuitville opened in July on a 1.49-acre lot the company bought for $925,000 in December 2024, tearing down the old Western Sizzlin' and Carlee's and Tony's building to put up its signature barn-roof design, its mural of local neighborhoods facing the parking lot instead of Main Street's storefronts. Metro Diner set up near the Miracle Mile Shopping Center, positioning itself explicitly as a stop between a day of shopping at Anderson Mall and a picnic at Lake Hartwell.
These openings add restaurant options along Anderson's commercial corridors. Downtown's restaurants and events provide another part of the local dining and activity scene.
The Downtown Bet Looks Different
Downtown offers another example of growth two blocks over, where John and Dixie Benca are planning to open a second location of the revived Steak and Ale chain. The couple already owns McGee's Scot-Irish Pub, a downtown fixture for more than 30 years, and their connection to the original Steak and Ale goes back to their first date, when they both worked there. Benca has said the new restaurant is not meant to compete with McGee's but to complement it, filling a different lane for diners while McGee's keeps its more casual role. He expects the project to add up to 80 jobs, more than three times what a fast-casual drive-thru brings, and to serve as a Southern training location for the brand as it rebuilds its footprint.
These projects represent different kinds of investment: Guthrie's and Biscuitville are chain restaurants, while the Steak and Ale project is being developed by the owners of McGee's. John Benca, one of those owners, is also Anderson County's elected Auditor. He is targeting a second-quarter 2027 opening, with football season as the informal deadline, though he has been careful to call that timeline precise but full of caveats. If it holds, Anderson will have gained a full-service concept anchored by two owners who have spent three decades already proving they can run a restaurant here.
The restaurant plans are one part of downtown activity this fall; the calendar offers another view.
What the Fall Calendar Actually Says
The downtown calendar includes established, recurring events.
- Anderson Farm to Table returns October 6, the city's yearly celebration of local food and farms.
- The Anderson County Bicentennial Parade steps off October 4 on South Main Street.
- Oktoberfest at Carolina Bauernhaus Brewery and Winery runs October 3.
- The Piedmont Pickle Fest, now in its fourth year, follows at the same brewery on October 11.
The Downtown Block Party series, which runs concerts at Carolina Wren Park through the year, is organized through the efforts of J. Carey Jones and the volunteer team at Anderson's Main Street Program. Carolina Wren Park itself, an amphitheater-style green space with a central fountain just off Main Street, hosts the block parties, movie nights, and Shakespeare performances that give downtown its rhythm, along with a scavenger hunt built around two dozen small bronze wren sculptures hidden in storefronts and unusual corners of the historic district.
Together, the festivals and year-round programming illustrate the range of activity represented on the downtown calendar.
Why the Split Is the Point
It would be easy to fold all of this into one sentence: Anderson is growing. That sentence is true and says almost nothing. The more useful read is that Anderson is growing on two separate tracks that will keep behaving differently.
Corridor development brings jobs and convenience, and the locations described here are associated with traffic, site availability, and interstate access. Downtown activity includes restaurant and event plans around Main Street and Carolina Wren Park.
Both tracks are active at the same time: chain restaurants have opened along the corridors, and a downtown operator is planning a second full-service concept. Guthrie's opened in March and Biscuitville in July, while the planned Steak and Ale project is expected to serve as a training location, add up to 80 jobs, and operate alongside McGee's rather than in competition with it.
If you already live in Anderson, this fall offers a chance to notice activity in both areas. The locations on Hutson Avenue and North Main Street are part of the corridor growth described here, while Main Street and Carolina Wren Park are part of the downtown activity.
Anderson's downtown calendar includes recurring events, and the planned second Steak and Ale location adds another restaurant project to the area.
If you are curious what any of this means for property near downtown Anderson, or you are weighing a move into the Upstate more broadly, Josue Scott is glad to talk through it. Let's Connect.
