By 9 a.m. Saturday, the first riders of the shortest LOWVELO route will have left Ocean Boulevard on Isle of Palms. They'll cross Breach Inlet and loop through Sullivan's Island before heading back to the finish line they started from. About twenty-eight hours later, 8 to 10 Sullivan's Island homes will open as galleries for the 27th annual Art on the Beach, each with a chef serving tastings in the kitchen.
Both events raise money for organizations based off the island. LOWVELO supports cancer research at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, and Art on the Beach supports Charleston Pro Bono Legal Services. For one weekend the island provides the course and the venues. The Saturday route and the Sunday market are open to anyone who walks out the front door.
Saturday, November 7: the island as the short loop
LOWVELO26 offers five distances this year: 7, 14, 27, 50 and 80 miles. All five pass through Sullivan's Island, but the shortest two are the ones built around it.
| Route | Start | Departure | How it reaches Sullivan's Island |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7-mile Island Ride | Ocean Blvd., Isle of Palms | 9 a.m. | Crosses Breach Inlet, one loop of the island, back to IOP |
| 14-mile Island Ride | Ocean Blvd., Isle of Palms | 9 a.m. | Same loop, ridden twice |
| 27, 50 and 80 miles | Brittlebank Park, 185 Lockwood Dr., Charleston | 7:45 a.m. | Over the Ravenel Bridge, through Mount Pleasant, then Sullivan's and IOP |
The Island Ride is 7.4 miles with about 137 feet of total climbing. That makes it the route where Sullivan's Island streets carry the most of the day. The organizers publish the GPS route on Ride with GPS, which is the best guide to which island streets the loop actually uses.
The Town's fall message lists the ride from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. on "various routes along Island roads," a broader window that takes in riders arriving from the 7:45 a.m. downtown start as well as the 9 a.m. island loops. LOWVELO's rider playbook says the ride uses open roads and that they aren't closed for it. Cars and bikes will share the island's streets all morning.
The full lane closures are off the island. The City of Charleston's regional road closures dashboard lists the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, Calhoun Street, East Bay Street and Lockwood Drive as closed for LOWVELO from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on November 7. That affects anyone planning an early drive downtown.
The scale is larger than a neighborhood ride. MUSC Hollings Cancer Center reported in March that LOWVELO25 riders raised $1,132,416 in 2025. Total rider fundraising since the first ride in 2019 has passed $4.6 million. Part of that money comes from miles ridden on Sullivan's Island roads.
Riders end at the finish-line festival on Isle of Palms, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shuttles run back to Brittlebank Park every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the Isle of Palms County Parking Lot opens at 6 a.m. for the island-ride start.
Sunday, November 8: the island as the gallery
Art on the Beach is a self-guided home, art and food tour. Island homeowners open their doors, artists hang work in the rooms and a Charleston chef cooks in each kitchen. The Town lists the day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., which covers both ticket tiers.
Here's how the day breaks down on the ticket listing:
- VIP, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: early access to three of the homes and a private party at one of them before general admission opens. Listed at $250 before fees.
- General admission, 1 to 5 p.m.: the full self-guided tour at your own pace. Listed as "Last Call" at $175 before fees, so the remaining supply may be limited.
- The tour map: emailed to ticket holders on the weekend of the event and posted on the Art on the Beach website.
According to Stroll magazine's profile of the event, Sullivan's Island resident Carol Antman founded the tour in 1999 to celebrate local art and raise money for a cause. Charleston Pro Bono Legal Services has been the beneficiary since 2015, and Art on the Beach is now that organization's largest annual fundraiser. The money pays for free civil legal help for Charleston families who couldn't otherwise afford a lawyer.
This year's featured artist is Lisa Anne Tindal. Stroll reports that her figurative collage Love Remains will hang on the tour and is available for purchase.
The organizers say they give island residents priority access to tickets to thank the community for hosting the tour for more than 25 years. That's an acknowledgment that the event relies on neighbors willing to open their homes and live with a Sunday of visitors on their streets.
The free door on Middle Street
The home tour is ticketed. The Art on the Beach Community Market is free. Now in its fifth year, it fills the island's downtown from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with local artists, makers and small businesses. The event FAQ places ticket check-in at the market on Middle Street, so tour guests and anyone out for a Sunday walk end up in the same place.
The 2026 vendor list hasn't been posted. Last year's market gives a sense of the mix, with vendors including 5 Rings Turning, Alexandra Reed Fine Art & Design, Bright Star Designs, FEEL handbags, Little Bird Charleston, Plum Bird, Rick Sargent, S.a.l.t. Handcrafted, Saltina Graphics and The Painted Katie. Those names were the 2025 roster, and this year's lineup may differ.
The market was added after the tour had been running for two decades. Every other part of the weekend requires a ticket or a registration. The market requires only a walk down Middle Street between 11 and 3.
The Thursday after: the island's own history group, on someone else's church
The week after Art on the Beach brings one more event for an off-island cause, this one run by an island organization. On Thursday, November 12, at 6 p.m., Battery Gadsden Cultural Center hosts preservation advocate, author and photographer Bill Fitzpatrick at Sunrise Presbyterian Church. Battery Gadsden's speaker events are free and open to the public.
His talk, "The Road to Taveau Church," follows a wooden church on the west branch of the Cooper River. Its National Register nomination dates it to the 1830s and notes a long association with Black Methodist worship. Fitzpatrick photographed the deteriorating building in 2014. When he became board chair of Preservation South Carolina in 2021, he brought the church forward for preservation. The center describes the building as having nearly collapsed and as now nearly restored.
Fitzpatrick has photographed more than 1,000 of South Carolina's National Register landmarks. He's the author of "South Carolina's Sacred Spaces," published in 2019. The center's event header uses that book's subtitle, "Seventy Churches and Temples That Helped Shape the State's History and Culture." The talk itself is the Taveau Church story.
The island calendar after the crowds leave
After November 8, the calendar is mostly resident business. The Town's fall message and meeting schedule set out the next several weeks:
- Off-leash dog hours on the beach continue on the winter schedule through April 30, per the Town's fall message. Dogs may be off leash from 5:00 a.m. until noon and must be leashed from noon until 5:00 a.m.
- Town Council meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, at Town Hall. The December workshop is December 7, and the December meeting is December 15.
- Sullivan's Island Station Lighting and Fireworks is set for Friday, December 4.
- The Polar Plunge starts 2027 on January 1, and the Charlie Post 5K follows on January 23, 2027, from 8 to 11 a.m., starting at the Fish Fry Shack.
Hurricane season also runs through November 30. The Town Administrator's message asks households to keep emergency supplies on hand and have an evacuation plan ready. It also points residents to the Everbridge emergency notification system and the monthly Town newsletter for updates.
The Station Lighting on December 4 is the next big date that belongs to the island itself. Before it come one Saturday morning of bicycles on the island loop, one Sunday of open homes and a free market on Middle Street.
If you're thinking about what owning on Sullivan's Island looks like across a full year, Charleston Beach Life is glad to talk it through. Schedule a Free Consultation with Russ Knapp.
