'The Fonze' to help rev up Realtors

Could happy days be here again for the state's sluggish real estate industry?

Unlikely, but perhaps that's what officials from the South Carolina Association of Realtors had in mind when they lined up their celebrity keynote speaker for the trade group's annual conference, which takes place in Charleston later this month.

Henry Winkler, who played the uber-cool 1950s greaser, biker and lady killer Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli in the classic 1970s-80s TV series Happy Days, has been tapped to set the tone during the opening general session, when the Realtor of the Year also will be named. Winkler's biography notes he is now a producer and motivational speaker. As the leather-jacketed Fonzie would say — with two thumbs up — "Aaaaaaay."

The four-day statewide real estate conference, which runs Sept. 21-24 at the Gaillard Auditorium and has the theme "Branching Out," will offer a host of seminars on topics such as home staging, effective blogging and short sales. During the two days preceding the event, association volunteers plan to build a Habitat for Humanity home in Mount Pleasant. See www.screaltors.com for full details.

Matri-money

The Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau lined up a cast of characters to judge its $80,000 destination wedding giveaway. Mixed in with local wedding-circuit celebrities are LaDonna and Darnell Suggs, winners of the 2008 wedding giveaway on NBC's Today Show, and Laura Bennett, a regular on the Bravo cable television series Project Runway. The panel will review applications and videos from engaged couples nationwide. Registration for the all-inclusive wedding package ended Friday. The winners of the promotion get a rehearsal at Middleton Place; ceremony, reception, lodging and golf at Wild Dunes Resort; a night in the presidential suite at the Mills House Hotel; and brunch for 50 guests aboard SpiritLine Cruises. The CVB will announce the lucky pair in October.

Going Upstate

Charleston-based project management firm RhodesDahl, which has worked on the South Carolina Aquarium and Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park, has been retained to oversee two tourist attractions in the works in Greenville.

The Go Experience, estimated to cost $14 million, aims to stretch beyond the traditional visitors center through interactive exhibits. The idea behind the $18 million Blue Wall Centre is to provide visitors with a mountainous ecosystem just 30 minutes outside of the Upstate city for kayaking, fly fishing, climbing and other activities.

The client list at RhodesDahl, which specializes in working with nonprofit groups, includes top aquariums across the country. It is partnering with Chicago-based architecture firm Studio Gang on the Upstate projects.

The conceptual designs are expected to completed by the end of the year, after which Greenville officials will get on with the toughest task of all: scaring up the estimated $20 million or so from public and private sources to complete the attractions.

Odor beaters

For those of us who couldn't be paid enough money to clean out our malodorous garbage cans, a business is stepping into the breach to take care of the highly unpleasant household task.

Green Canitizer LLC, a local startup, says its stock in trade is servicing reeking trash receptacles once the contents are emptied. Founders Ed Courtenay (the South Carolina Stingrays hall of famer) and D.J. Church (the local pro hockey team's trainer) wash out and sanitize the olfactory-offensive cans using eco-friendly products before putting them back on the curb. The process takes place inside the company's truck, so the wastewater is contained.

"Most people use bleach to clean their trash cans," Courtenay said. "They swish it around with a garden house and the water goes down the storm drain."

Courtenay first learned about the concept while coaching hockey in the United Kingdom. The concept is popular in Europe and a few other cities in the United States, he said.