The annual food festival is held the 3rd Thursday of May. Local cooks prepare mouth-watering delights. It's a celebration of the area's finest cuisine and beverages. Sample Hartsville's signature dishes while strolling through the grounds of beautiful Kalmia Gardens of Coker College. This 30-acre botanical garden and historical Thomas E. Hart House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kalmia Gardens is especially beautiful in the spring when azaleas, dogwoods and camelias are in bloom.