Million dollar listings, new parks + ice cream sandwiches
Did you have as busy of an April as we did? (So 👏 many 👏 festivals. 👏) In case you've been saving this month’s COLAtoday emails in your inbox for a rainy day, we're revisiting our top 5 stories from this month.

1️⃣Start a bidding war [3,800+ views] – I turned my habit of obsessively checking downtown Columbia’s MLS listings intro a newsletter, compiling a swoon-worthy list of our favorite houses on the market at five different price ranges – from $150K-1M+.

What you said:

“If I am not mistaken, this house [2602 Blossom St.] was on an HGTV show because it had a monkey cage in the basement that was unearthed by the former owners. The original owner had pet monkeys…” – @madplatter

Can someone please verify this? (And send us the show + episode – we’re intrigued.)

2️⃣10 foodie instas to follow [2,400+ views] – If we’re being honest, the real reason we’re all on Instagram is to figure out what’s next on our local dish wish list. From @colatownfoodie to @messykitchgirl, Columbia Instagram feeds have no shortage of meals to drool over.

What you said:

“In the words of the lovely @colatoday ladies, I'm a lover of local craft beer, rosé and Soda City hauls...and also twinkly lights, dancing in my kitchen and bribing @_the_real_prince_harry_ to take cute pictures with me 🤷🏼‍Welcome to the overflow y'all.” – @theoverflowfoodblog

3️⃣Five Points got an ice cream sandwich shop [974+ likes, 95+ comments] – Speaking of fantastic food instagrams, The Baked Bear’s ice cream sandwiches overtook our feeds last weekend when they opened in Five Points, and we weren’t mad about it (except for the fact that I was out of town and couldn’t partake myself).

What you said:

“reason number 1,578 to move back 🖤” – @coffeeforlunch

4️⃣Golf course ➡green space [287+ likes, 101+ shares, 42+ comments] – It was announced last week that the Irmo Chapin Recreation Commission plans to turn the 116-acre Coldstream golf club near Lake Murray (donated to the commission last year by Mungo Homes) into 4.5 miles of hiking + biking trails, which could one day connect to the planned 7-mile Lexington County section of the Three Rivers Greenway (a.k.a. the Saluda Riverwalk at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden to the Lake Murray dam).

What you said:

“We need more trails and outside adventures! Not enough around and what we do have is too far for convenience. Awesome idea. Hope it's done soon.” – Bryan

“This is the equivalent of Central Park for Irmo. Good on ya, Mungo Homes.” – Jim

5️⃣Main St.'s getting a rooftop bar [439+ likes, 13+ comments] – News broke that the owners of Drake’s Duck-In on Main St. were renovating the upstairs of the building – maybe into a rooftop bar/restaurant. Initial plans showed a seven-seat bar, space for ~12 tables, a rear open deck, a small kitchen + an office.

What you said:

“OH MY WORD I'm so excited!!! I'm hoping that Columbia will create more rooftop and sunset and river-facing patios.” – Auretha

We’ll be posting up at Bone-In BBQ this afternoon to ring in BullStreet’s newest addition (within walking distance from our office at SOCO) with a frozen grasshopper (or two). Come meat us and help us cheers to another outdoor patio in town.

– Beth