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TOWN MOTTO: “I caught it in Clarendon County.”

POPULATION: Approximately 32,502.

FACTOID: The county is home to the first population of landlocked striped bass in the United States.

LOCAL PRIDE: The 58-pound world-record channel catfish was caught in Clarendon’s own Santee-Cooper Reservoir.

APRIL ATTRACTION: The Striped Bass Festival.

WHAT IT IS: Started in 1979, the annual weeklong event is the local “salute to the striped bass, which put Clarendon County on the fishing maps of the world.”

WHEN IT IS: April 22–30.

EVENTS: A parade, fireworks, celebrity catfish wrestling, and the striped bass beauty pageant.

WORD ON THE STREET: “We had the beard contest at last year’s festival, but not for this year,” says festival chairman Lamar Kennedy. “We can’t get everyone to grow a beard every year.”