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CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) - Bringing the city together cohesively is a goal already in the works for the city of Conway.

This comes after the passing of the city’s downtown master plan.

June Wood, the city spokesperson said it was passed by the city’s council this past November.

“It’s a conceptual road map for our future in downtown Conway and the riverfront,” said Wood.

It’s all a part of taking an idea and making it a reality.

Ideas that started from public input sessions to even stakeholder meetings are something that has pushed the master plan to come to fruition just months later.

Wood said it was important for the community to have a voice in it.

“It’s a way for us to look at where we should make future investments in future fiscal years and it’s a great way for us to be able to include businesses so that they can decide how they want to be a part of Conway in the future,” said Wood.

One project checked off before the holidays was turning an empty parking lot into what is now the Terrace, a three-level grass area that sits off Laurel Street.

The open space is now intended for multiple purposes, including a pocket stage for performances, concerts, to even showing movies.

Other projects include the Riverwalk extension and extending existing alleyways that sit just blocks away from the riverfront.

Although it sits close by, many inputs of the city have called for access points that join these known features throughout the city together.

One business just walking distance from the river walk has already played a part in the master plan.

As they opened their doors for business on Thursday, the General Manager of Hop N Wich, Stephanie Davanzo, said it is all a part of bringing more people to Conway.

“Hop N Wich is going to be a great addition to that, " said Davanzo. “I don’t feel like downtown Conway has a lot of places that are going to do as many events and live music and stuff like that we’re going to do. I think it’s going to bring a lot of people to Conway from the Myrtle Beach area. I think it’s going to be awesome; it’s going to be a great addition definitely bring more people to this area for sure.”

City leaders also said how bringing higher educational institutions like Coastal Carolina in is another essential to the Master plan, meanwhile, another project includes talks of additional parking as more residents and visitors are taking advantage of Conway’s nightlife.

“The downtown riverfront master plan translates into ideas, what is the future of Conway, what will Conway look like in five to 10 years, what goals can we set for ourselves in future fiscal years to continue to encourage the economic development that our businesses were engaged in and creating the plan,” said Wood.

The city plans to work on more projects for the next fiscal year starting in the spring of 2023.

Click here to view the comprehensive master plan in-depth.

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CONWAY, S.C. (WPDE) — Some Horry County residents will soon see a familiar face on primetime television for her American Idol audition.

Conway resident, Mariah Faith, went before judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie to sing for a chance at the golden ticket.

Faith is reflecting on life before American Idol and what she has been through to get to where she is now.

She thought she had things all figured out back in 2019 -- graduate from high school and play gigs until someone noticed her. However, life had different plans.

In her senior year of high school, her father passed away. She said he was her inspiration and with him gone, she decided to quit singing and focus on getting a job.

“It just wasn't realistic anymore for me to just drop everything and go sing, so I kind of had to go pick up a real girl job,” said Faith.

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She then became a hairstylist and quit singing for a year.

However, with her passion for singing gone and dealing with the loss of her father, she turned to alcohol. When things seemed to be getting out of control, she knew it was time for a change.

“I sobered up. Cold turkey! I'm over it! I'm over feeling this way! I want my passion back. I want to feel like myself again,” said Faith.

She said her father was a narcotics counselor and felt she had let him down, but it was also Faith’s 7-year-old sister who inspired her to get sober.

“I just had this train of thought like when Marina is 16 and she's having a bad night or she's somewhere she didn't want to end up and she tries to call me and I can't come to get her because I've been drinking and that is the most decapitating thing in the world,” said Faith. She added, “To imagine my sweet baby sister crying for help and I can't help her because I'm crying for help because I'm an alcoholic.”

Now with more than a year of sobriety under her belt, she feels a renewed passion for singing and wants to inspire others with her story.

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“I wake up every morning with a brightness to me that I didn't have. I felt lackluster when I was drinking because it was just suffocating me and taking up my whole life. I was tired of it. Over it! Done with it!” said Faith.

Besides her family and sobriety, the city of Conway has also been a major inspiration to her.

“The world needs more southern hospitality. It does! Growing up here was the best experience. Everyone looks out for the next person. You treat your neighbors the way you want to be treated. There's just something so special about this place. It's the sweetest little town, and I couldn't be more grateful to grow up here,” said Faith.

If you want to see Faith performing live before she’s a famous Idol star, you’re in luck! You can see her perform Friday at Bar Louie from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

You can catch her audition on American Idol Sunday at 8 p.m. on ABC 15.

“American Idol” showed off its new stage in Hollywood on Sunday night to celebrate the 21st season of the show.

It’s the same space where “I Love Lucy” and “Golden Girls” were filmed.

And it’s where two South Carolina residents continue their Idol dream. Viewers voted Mariah Faith of Conway and Warren Peay of Bamberg into the Top 20.

Six contestants did not make it to the next round. On Monday, the top 12 will be revealed — 10 selected based on viewers’ votes and the judges will select two others.

Host Ryan Seacrest announced 33 million votes were received after last week’s shows and the videos of performances had gotten almost 1 billion views.

In the video before he performed, Peay, an appliance repairman, was shown gardening, saying how much he loves digging in the soil and nurturing plants. He also talked about a time in his life when he struggled with alcohol but once he began working at his church he was able to overcome it.

He said he wanted to dedicate his singing career to Jesus Christ.

He sang a Zach Williams song, “Up Here Down Here.”

Judge Lionel Richie said he knows if you let go and let God, everything falls into place. He called Peay’s performance “beautiful.”

Judge Katy Perry teased him, saying he looked like he had a hair dryer blow out on his long beard. Once again, he wore his signature cowboy hat, which he revealed last week had a photo of his girlfriend tucked in the lining for good luck.

“I’m glad God sent you to us,” she said.

Judge Luke Bryan said the song choice was “world class.”

“Stay you, and America will speak,” he said.

Mariah Faith, a hairdresser, was shown in her home, which is in the backyard of her mother’s four-acre property. Her grandparents, who were in the audience, live two minutes away.

She said her mother doesn’t want her to leave and she doesn’t want to, either.

She sang “Cry to Me.” by Solomon Burke.

Once again, Bryan talked about her soulful country sound. Last week he called her voice a “bluesy, soulful, raspy thing.”

Richie said she had taken an old song and made it new, while Perry compared her to Bonnie Raitt.

The contest continues with a three-hour show Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC.

CONWAY — A Conway manufacturing plant is set to mass produce a device for a New York-based firm that could help solve water shortages across the globe.

Allied Manufacturing entered into an agreement with Healixa in April to build the Long Island technology company’s Global Aquaduct, a product which can harvest potable water directly from the atmosphere and then produce 200 liters of clean water per day.

The selected Conway plant, off of U.S. 501 near Horry-Georgetown Technical College, typically builds equipment for major airlines but is dedicating 150,000 square feet of its existing facility in a move that could eventually create 500 new jobs for the area, according to Healixa CEO Ian Parker.

Parker said his company, which acquired the technology from an inventor last year and has since patented the device in 132 countries, simply chose the 27-year-old Horry County company through networking opportunities.

“The owner of the Allied Manufacturing facility is good friends with an owner of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility up here that I know well,” Parker said. “We did several projects together and he told me if I was looking for someone to manufacture equipment, I should contact Jag Singh and his son down in Conway.

“We met them, went through a project plan and soon decided they were the right team for the job.”

Singh said back in April after the deal that Allied was honored to build the water harvester devices for Healixa and the dedicated space in his Conway plant will allow it to “prioritize the production ramp-up and ensure we’re able to deliver upon the impressive initial demand.”

By 2025, it is estimated that 66 percent of the world will live in water-stressed areas. Four billion people — almost two thirds of the world’s population — experience severe water shortages for at least one month each year, according to numbers from organization United Nations Children’s Fund.

Parker said while typically attributed to third-world countries across the globe, water crises are even spreading into the United States.

“The whole concept behind Healixa is to basically promote, acquire or develop technologies that will improve the quality of life for people around the world,” Parker said. “We often times are always thinking about water problems as a third-world problem but it’s not; it’s a global problem.

“It’s right here in our backyard; Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, California and the number of droughts that we’re seeing on a per year basis are only increasing everywhere.”

While there are other water harvester companies in operation across the world, Parker said his company’s device is unique in the fact that it freezes water vapor out of the air as opposed through the use of dehumidification or condensation efforts to draw water in.

“We are actually freezing the water vapor out of the air so we are going from a gas to a solid. And by doing that, what that means is that where other atmospheric water generation technologies would be limited by relative humidity; we’re not,” Parker said.

The device is powered by a small solar panel that allows it to trickle charge its battery, giving it the ability to be placed around the world in situations after natural disasters, or in third-world countries where there is no clean water to drink.

“When you think about the places that need it, often times we are talking about places that don’t have a reliable grid,” Parker said. “There were atmospheric water generators sent after a hurricane that hit Puerto Rico a few years ago and those devices basically just sat here because there was no power.

“It was a good thought but they didn’t actually work. In this particular case, you would be able to send them to those type of situations and get them down to temperature within, let’s call it, 24 hours. The only thing you need is sunlight.”

Parker said the device right now is marketed to United Nations non-governmental organizations, military, and eventually will be geared to governments for water treatment solutions. The first units will be ready for market by Allied in the first quarter of 2023.

Horry County, as a way to diversify its economy in recent years, has recruited manufacturing companies to expand into area business parks including the Cool Springs Business Park near Aynor, Loris Industrial Park, Myrtle Beach International Technology and Aerospace Park in Market Common and a soon-to-be-built industrial park on Water Tower Road in North Myrtle Beach.

Some have also lobbied that interstate I-73 is crucial to attracting new industries, including the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, but funding was denied by the South Carolina Senate in April.

Parker noted the amount of traffic along U.S. 501 he encountered during a recent trip to the Conway plant and when asked about the need for an interstate, was intrigued.

“We’ve been stuck there a couple of times,” Parker said. “We are going to see if we can do something about that.”

Mariah Faith has gone from Conway hairstylist to singing contestant after getting a golden ticket for her performance Sunday on “American Idol.”

The 22-year-old will now compete with other contestants during Hollywood week, which begins airing April 2, for a chance to become the winner of the singing reality TV competition.

Faith said Wednesday from her Conway home that she has had “an outpouring of positivity thrown my way” and “I’ve received thousands of messages.”

The singer, who said her voice was hoarse from so much screaming, believes people have related to her story that she shared during her audition.

The Carolina Forest High School graduate talked about her stepfather, Brian Cornwell, who moved the family to Conway when Faith was 8.

Her stepfather recognized Faith’s talent and moved her to South Carolina where she began singing and taking dance classes.

“My stepdad was my No. 1 supporter,” she told judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan during Sunday’s episode.

Then her senior year of school in 2019, her stepfather went to pick up a gift for her sister and he never came home, Faith said. He had a heart attack and passed away.

“It was tough and it was a struggle, but it taught me a lot,” she said, adding that her stepfather molded her into a better person.

For her audition, Faith sang “Whenever You Come Around” by Vince Gill. However, judge Perry accused her of playing it safe. “There’s a lion that needs to be let loose,” she told Faith.

Perry asked Faith to sing Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” It was that song, and her voice, which is a mix of country and soul, that landed her three yeses from the judges.

Faith plans to stick with the genre of country during the competition. “When I write my own music, it always comes out with a twang.”

The singer bragged about Conway quite a bit, she said, adding that her home city gives her great pride.

“It’s a small town,” Faith told the judges during the Nashville audition. “It probably takes all … of 10 minutes to walk around literally all of it.”

Faith’s family and friends hold a watch party every Sunday at The Boathouse in Myrtle Beach. The March 19 show was the first time she saw her audition.

“I was ugly crying” when I was watching, she said.

Faith works as a hairstylist around the corner from the restaurant at Knot Two Shabby.

While she does hair full time, it was actually her back up plan. She studied cosmetology her last two years of school at Horry County Schools’ Academy for Technology & Academics.

Her plan was “to do so many gigs until I throw up,” Faith said. But after her stepfather passed away, she wasn’t able to afford her dream financially.

Her father’s death also sent her down a path of substance abuse. She is on a sober journey now, Faith said.

“I’m a year sober,” she said.

She admits that she wouldn’t have made it this far “if it weren’t for me cleaning up my act,” Faith said.

For her, the experience so far has been amazing.

“(I’ve) watched the show my whole life,” Faith said. “It’s finally my turn.”