Bluffton SC city council member and civic leader Bridgette Frazier’s vision for a creative economic boost in the Lowcountry is coming to pass after years of planning. Frazier recently broke ground for Ma Daisy’s Porch, a space for food businesses, Gullah Cuisine, and the first-ever Gullah cultural center in Bluffton.,Â
Gullah Heritage: Bridgette Frazier Breaks Ground and Fulfills a Legacy Powered by Gullah Cuisine
Entrepreneurship runs in her veins, and Ma Daisy’s Porch is Frazier’s plan to create an on-going celebration of Gullah culture, address brain drain or the loss of young Gullah talent to major cities, and economic development. As a development, Ma Daisy’s Porch will serve as a supplier of jobs, housing for some employees above buildings, and a de facto incubator for locally-owned Black businesses. One of the activities pre-planned for the Gullah cultural center will be crafting classes, where visitors can learn how to make sweetgrass baskets.
Frazier will be opening a restaurant, bakery, and open-air market at Ma Daisy’s Porch. She is currently the owner of Chef B’s Eatz:Fixin’s & Gullah Fare, a food truck and catering company that can be reserved for events but also partners with local businesses like Southern Barrel Brewing Company Tavern as a supplier of small bites and Gullah fixins.
Partnerships are essential to Bridgette Frazier who believes in collaboration as a sustainable solution in local economies. Along with Billy Watterson of Burnt Church Distillery, she co-chairs Blacequity to promote and support Black-owned businesses in Bluffton and surrounding communities. The pair created a Black Business Directory to assist visitors and townspeople in locating Black businesses to support as well as Black Equity University, a course designed to teach the foundations of business ownership.
Present with Frazier at the ground-breaking were Watterson, other community partners as well as family. Queen Quet blessed the grounds and a hospitable Frazier served food to guests.
Ma Daisy’s Porch, so named for the grandmother who helped raise her, has a projected opening in the fall.
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Robin Caldwell
Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and academic researcher focusing on Black history, heritage and culture. Public historian primarily in Black American historical foodways: antebellum and regional.
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Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and academic researcher focusing on Black history, heritage and culture. Public historian primarily in Black American historical foodways: antebellum and regional.
