Abby, Jenny, and Rich Rosenthal — 1979
For five decades, Spoleto Festival USA has brought artists and audiences together in Charleston for unforgettable performances, unexpected discoveries, and lifelong memories.
As we get ready to celebrate the Festival’s 50th Anniversary in 2027, we’re inviting our community to help tell the story of those first 50 years — and the stories are already finding their way to us.
This is one of them.
In the late 1970s, my mother, Jenny, was working for the public library in uptown Charlotte, and my father, Rich, was the County Librarian in rural Lincoln County, North Carolina. My parents met at a professional meeting in Charlotte on January 31, 1979. My mother, no doubt charmed by his three-piece, harvest gold corduroy suit, agreed to a date with my father the following week.
They went on a few more dates, and in the early spring, my mother asked my father to go to Charleston with her for Memorial Day weekend—for what would be their first overnight date—to attend some Spoleto performances. In spite of the fact that there were no personal computers, cell phones, or the Internet, my mother made all of the arrangements.
They stayed in a corner room with a shared bathroom at 2 Meeting Street. They attended several performances at Dock Street Theatre, including a chamber music performance featuring whale songs, and drove out to Seabrook Island for an outdoor jazz concert where they were joined by another concert goer wearing a t-shirt that said “Boogie ‘til you puke”. My father, a native New Englander, also had his first close encounter with a palmetto bug while strolling the Low Battery.
They had such a great time that they drove back to Charlotte and announced that they were getting married. Their wedding was in November 1979 and I was born in 1982.
I attended the College of Charleston and my paternal grandmother, a classically trained vocalist, took me to my first Spoleto performances in 2002. I remember being awestruck by the Compagnie Käfig cast member who wore a beanie to cover the bald spot he had from doing so many spins on his head. The performance was at the Garden Theatre—now an Urban Outfitters—just blocks from my college apartment.
I moved back to Charleston after graduate school and my parents drove down from Charlotte every year to attend Spoleto and relive the early days of their relationship.
My parents moved to Charleston in 2020. I’m sure that living in close proximity to me, their only child, was the primary reason for their move, but I am just as sure that Spoleto was a close second.
We love Charleston for many, many reasons, but Spoleto has a very special place in our hearts.
– Abby, Jenny, and Rich Rosenthal