Issue 35, May 26, 1997
The annual Sun Fun Festival runs June 6 - 9 this year. Major events include the Sun Fun parade down Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach on Saturday morning at 10, the Miss Sun Fun Pageant on Friday night at 7:30 at the Grand Strand Senior Center on 21st Ave. N., and the Miss Bikini Wahine Contest at the Pavilion on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Other events include a 5K beach run on Saturday morning at 8 and a miniature golf tournament on Monday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Hawaiian Rumble course on U.S. 17 in North Myrtle Beach.
These will also be the usual sandcastle and bubblegum blowing contests and the like all along the strand. Celebrity guests will include soap star Michael Damian and Sherry Hursey (she plays Al's girlfriend on 'Home Improvement'). There will be no grand marshal this year. A full schedule can be picked up around town, or call the Convention Center at 800-488-8998 or 803-448-1629.
Some new shows have recently opened (or will soon) along the coast. In the building formerly housing the Euro Circus at Fantasy Harbour / Waccamaw, Splash had debuted. It bills itself as a water extravaganza, with water cannons, a 30,000-gallon aquarium, and synchronized swimming. Also featured are an ice skater, a juggler, a bird trainer, stunt motorcycle drivers, and laser lighting. The show plays at 3 and 8 p.m. this week, then 6 and 9 p.m. June through August, and 3 and 8 p.m. from September 1 through November 8. Tickets are $25, $10 children. The local Myrtle Beach newspaper reviewer was rather critical of this show, complaining about the lack of water effects and the abundance of skimpy costumes. I will try to catch it soon and give you my opinions. Call 803-236-8500.
Also opening at Fantasy Harbour is another celebrity impersonation show, Hollywood Superstars Revue, at the Gatlin Brothers Theater on May 29 (the Gatlin Brothers are taking the summer off and will return in September). Marilyn Monroe, Tom Jones, Garth Brooks, and others will be imitated (what, no Elvis???). Call 803-236-8500 for this show also. Ronnie Milsap has ended his run in Myrtle Beach, and a new show will open in that theater shortly.
A fifth film has premiered at the super large screen IMAX Theater at Broadway at the Beach. 'Super Speedway' is a look at Indy racing, and will show at 12, 2, 4, 7, and 9 p.m. It joins 'The Living Sea', 'Great American West', 'Rolling Stones', and 'Special Effects'. Tickets for most shows are $6.50 with discounts for seniors and children. The longer Rolling Stones movie is $11.25. Call 803-444-3200.
The June lineup (and a little beyond) for the House of Blues at Barefoot Landing has been announced:
June 2 - Jerry Jeff Walker
June 3 - Run DMC
June 4 - Nappy Brown
June 5 - Firehouse and Slaughter
June 6 - Third World
June 7 - Bo Diddley
June 8 - Kansas
June 9 - Jump Little Children
June 10 - Lemonheads
June 11 - Popa Chubby
June 12 - Cracker
June 13 - .38 Special
June 14 - Cravin Melon
June 15 - Kool and the Gang
June 16 - 7 Mary 3
June 18 - Bobby Blu Bland
June 19 - Dogstar
June 20 - Neville Brothers
June 22 - Taylor Dayne
June 25 - NRBQ
July 3 - AWB
July 5 - Spinners
July 7 and 8 - Widespread Panic
July 28 - Robin Trower
August 14 - Dennis Leary
A founding father of modern Myrtle Beach passed away recently. George Bishop III, who founded Waccamaw Pottery as just a pottery shop and then oversaw its expansion into one of the nation's first large outlet shopping centers and later added the Fantasy Harbour entertainment complex, died May 10. In establishing his stores west of the Intracoastal Waterway (then devoid of anything), he ignored the doubters who said tourists would never re-cross the bridge on their vacations. Before moving to the strand, he raised a family in West Columbia, S.C. (two blocks from the house I grew up in).
It's absolutely official: the proposed massive theme park to be built by Timberlake Properties at the site of the old air base is dead. Santee Cooper has refunded the deposit money and taken back the land. Over the years the company announced grand plans and claimed several major financial backers, but everything fell apart in the end. The land will go back on the market.
In real estate news, land has been purchased near Fantasy Harbour for a time-share resort to be called Harbour Lights. 240 condos will surround two lakes and overlook the Intracoastal Waterway. The Myrtle Beach Hilton Hotel is to be sold soon; the new owners plan no changes. The Embassy Suites chain has purchased the Radisson at Kingston Plantation and the resort will be renamed and transformed in the process. Some of the residents in the unincorporated county lands near Pawleys Island are talking of forming a town to enforce building appearance codes and keep the area quaint looking and uncluttered.
The discount airline Air South has added new flights form Myrtle Beach to Columbia on Saturdays and Columbia to Myrtle Beach on Sundays. This airline has been struggling to remain financially solvent recently.
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