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BY NIKKI GLENN



“What happened to Jim?” asks a petite blonde with a confused expression, standing in front of the once Jim N’ Nick’s Bar-B-Q. “Jim” seems to have been scraped off, leaving only Nick’s name on the window. The thick smoke from the massive metal cooker drifts through the air, bringing with it the smell of sweet, tangy sauce and cooking meat. A middle-aged man with laugh lines and kind brown eyes strolls slowly down the street, pulling two bobbling toddlers in a bright red wagon down the cobble stone street. A graying chocolate Lab lopes along next to them.
     Whether you’ve lived in Charleston your whole life or are just visiting for the weekend, if it’s the second Sunday of the month, King Street is the place to be. A half-mile stretch of the road—from Calhoun to Queen streets—shuts down at 1 p.m. and reopens at 5, allowing Second Sunday festival-goers free reign to stroll and take in the sites that restaurants, retailers and musicians put out to promote their goods.
     College kids with various folk instruments, including a huge bass and fiddles, perform for a small group, using their open black fur-lined guitar case to collect tips. Little kids with grabby hands and big smiles swarm by Caviar & Bananas’ colorful dessert platters. An older man with white hair and happy blue eyes pushes a stroller with a scared-looking toy poodle perched inside. Another dog lover, Coker Price, talks about bringing his black and white Lab mix out for Second Sunday. “I love doing stuff outside. The weather is one of my favorite things about living here,” Price says. “But a lot of events like this don’t let you bring your dog, and I just hate leaving her inside all day while I enjoy the awesome weather.”
College of Charleston junior Ashley Volpe is on a mission. “The sales are what bring me here. If I can get 75 percent off anything, I’m there,” she says. “The music just makes it that much better. Who doesn’t want to listen to live music while they’re shopping?”