The Sun Fun Festival of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was first started in 1951 as a way to celebrate the beginning of the tourist season in the seaside community. Parades and family oriented events helped draw crowds down to the beach and the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. Early events included Human Checker Board games and a local "law" requiring everyone to wear shorts or a bathing suit or face a fine. Funds went to help build the area's first hospital, Ocean View Memorial Hospital. Beauty contests soon joined the fun of the festival and in 1952 the first Miss SC pageant was held at the Pavilion. Author Mickey Spillane was one of the judges. Long sponsored by Hawaiian Tropic Sun Tan Lotions, the festival now includes Miss Sun Fun and Miss Bikini Wahine. The Sun Fun Festival is the longest running event in Myrtle Beach area history. It is consistently named one of the Southeast Tourism Society’s Top 20 Events. However, the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce cancelled the festival for 2012 and 2013, citing that "it does not bring visitors to the beach as it did in early years and it doesn't pay for itself". [1]
On February 25, 2016, The Oceanfront Merchants Association announced the festival will once again be held. Buz Plyler, owner of Gay Dolphin Gift Cove, will be presenting sponsor. [2]
Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous 60-mile (97 km) stretch of beach known as the "Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. Its year-round population was 35,682 as of the 2020 census, making it the 13th-most populous city in South Carolina.
The Grand Strand is an arc of beach land on the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, United States, extending more than 60 miles (97 km) from Little River to Winyah Bay. It is located in Horry and Georgetown Counties on the northeastern South Carolina coast.
Ocean Center is a convention center located in Daytona Beach, Florida. It opened in 1985 and is the fifth–largest convention center in Florida.
Daytona Beach Bike Week, also called Daytona Bike Week, is a motorcycle event and rally held annually in Daytona Beach, Florida. Events occur throughout Volusia County, including the DeLand Bike Rally in Downtown DeLand on the first Saturday of Bike Week and other events in DeLeon Springs. Approximately 500,000 people make their way to the rally area for the 10-day event. The festivities include motorcycle racing, concerts, parties, and street festivals. The event is usually held on the first full week of March and contends with the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as the most popular motorcycle rally in the United States.
Myrtle Square Mall was the first enclosed shopping mall in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States, located in the heart of the city. It bordered the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, Kings Highway, Oak Street, and it was in very close proximity to residential neighborhoods and many oceanfront hotels. Its size, for the time, was quite large with a total area around 442,965 square feet (41,152.8 m2) set on 48 acres (190,000 m2) of land. The parking lot contained more than 2,800 spaces.
Waccamaw Corp. was a home furnishings business that started in 1977 as Waccamaw Pottery, a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina based pottery company founded by George Bishop that sold pottery and crafts.
Broadway at the Beach is a shopping center and entertainment complex located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Broadway at the Beach is owned and operated by Burroughs & Chapin. The $250 million attraction is set on 350 acres (1.4 km2) in the heart of Myrtle Beach and features three theaters, over 20 restaurants and over 100 specialty shops as well as attractions, Clubs for the night, and hotels, all surrounding the 23-acre (93,000 m2) Lake Broadway. Broadway at the Beach receives upwards of 14 million visitors annually.
Robert Edge Parkway is a connection highway in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It begins at U.S. Route 17 (US 17) and Main Street, crosses the Intracoastal Waterway, has an interchange with South Carolina Highway 31 (SC 31) or the Carolina Bays Parkway, and terminates at an intersection with SC 90. The project consisted of upgrading Firetower Road, adding a new interchange for SC 31, expanding Main Street in North Myrtle Beach to accommodate the increase in traffic, and a 1,000-foot bridge (300 m) over the Intracoastal Waterway which includes a 10-foot-wide path (3.0 m) for walkers and bicycles. Formerly known as the Main Street Connector, the road has been named for Robert Edge Sr., the first mayor of North Myrtle Beach starting in 1968. For twelve years before that, Edge was the mayor of Crescent Beach, one of the four towns which, through Edge's efforts, became North Myrtle Beach. The road opened September 3, 2009.
Myrtle Beach Convention Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It hosts various local concerts, conventions, and sporting events for the Myrtle Beach area.
The Myrtle Beach Pavilion was a historic pay-per-ride, no parking fee, 11-acre amusement park that was located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the corner of 9th Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard. It was just a few blocks down from another Myrtle Beach amusement park, the Family Kingdom Amusement Park; both in the "heart" of Myrtle Beach. "The Pavilion" had well over 40 different attractions for kids and thrill-seekers alike, and included the wooden rollercoaster Hurricane: Category 5. Despite all the best efforts made by citizens to save the park, it was lost to redevelopment in 2007. While the park was officially closed and became a vacant lot on 9th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard in 2007, some of the rides and attractions were moved to Broadway at the Beach. Broadway at the Beach and the land at 9th Avenue are both owned by Burroughs & Chapin.
Harrelson Boulevard is a four-lane highway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, named for Myrtle Beach's first mayor Dr. W. Leroy Harrelson Sr., who was elected to office in 1938. It starts at U.S. 17, and goes to Myrtle Beach International Airport and runs near Coastal Grand Mall. The highway is also the southern terminus for Grissom Parkway. It replaced the two-lane Jetport Road.
WGTR is a country music radio station owned by iHeartMedia. Licensed to Bucksport, South Carolina, it serves the Myrtle Beach area. The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to broadcast with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 20,000 watts. WGTR goes by the name The Gator and its current slogan is "#1 For New Country, Gator 107.9". Its studios are located on the U.S. 17 Bypass in Myrtle Beach, and its transmitter is in Murrells Inlet.
Black Bike Week, also called Atlantic Beach Bikefest, Black Bikers Week, and The Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival, is an annual motorcycle rally in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area, held on Memorial Day weekend. Called a "one-of-a-kind event" and "an exhibitionist's paradise" by Jeffrey Gettleman, Black Bike Week is "all about riding, styling and profiling," in the words of Mayor Irene Armstrong of Atlantic Beach, South Carolina.
The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk & Promenade, located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, runs 1.2 miles (1.9 km) along the oceanfront from the Pier 14 at 14th Avenue North to the 2nd Avenue Pier at 2nd Avenue North. The promenade officially opened in May 2010 at a cost of nearly $6.4 million. National Geographic has ranked Myrtle Beach Boardwalk number three in the United States, while Travel and Leisure ranked the boardwalk number two.
Horry-Georgetown Technical College (HGTC) is a public technical college in Conway, South Carolina. It is a part of the South Carolina Technical College System.
The 1962 U.S. Women's Open was the 17th U.S. Women's Open, held June 28–30 at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Gay Dolphin Gift Cove is located at 916 North Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States, and calls itself "the nation's largest gift shop". As of 2011, the Gay Dolphin had 26,000 square feet (2,400 m2) and store owner Justin "Buz" Plyler said the store averaged 70,000 items.
Welcome to Myrtle Manor, also known as Trailer Park: Welcome To Myrtle Manor, is an American reality television series on TLC that premiered on March 3, 2013, with filming of the first season taking place from August to November 2012. TLC ordered a second season in May 2013 that consists of ten episodes and debuted on January 16, 2014. Filming for the second season began the last week of June 2013 and completed in October 2013. The series' production company, The Weinstein Company, announced that the series would be renamed Trailer Park: Welcome To Myrtle Manor beginning with the second season in order to leave the option open for spin-off series set in other trailer parks across the United States.
Carolina Country Music Fest (CCMF) is an outdoor country music festival that takes place in June of each year in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The festival was founded in 2015 by Charlotte-based company Full House Productions.
On the night of April 25, 2009, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel of Chili, New York, United States, left a hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she had been staying with friends over spring break. Drexel walked to another hotel a short distance away, and from there, texted her boyfriend to say that she was heading back to her hotel. It was the last time she was known to be alive.
33°41′35″N78°52′41″W / 33.693°N 78.878°W