Why Do I Love Myrtle Beach?
By Randal Wallace
Why do I love Myrtle Beach? There are so many things I like about living along the Grand Strand that it would be hard to count them all. We have the greatest assortment of restaurants, retail stores, golf, nightlife and entertainment venues that you can find in the southeast. We have a beautiful oceanfront with weather that makes it enjoyable 8-10 months a year. The standard of living is unsurpassed, in my opinion. However, these are not the things I love most about living in Myrtle Beach. It's the people that make up this community that I love the most about being here.
Myrtle Beach is a truly unique part of the world. I think that is because it is a city made up of people who have come here in large measure from somewhere else. It is true that, at times, it seems like the world's biggest small town. That everyone seems to know everyone else, but when you really dig around you find that most are from somewhere else. That if you come here and work hard at becoming a part of the community, it accepts you. That accepting nature is why so many of the leaders of the community are from all over the world, not just Horry County or the United States.
I think when you combine this with everyone's reliance on the tourism industry, you have a community that sticks together. It is a large city with a small-town feel. Our year-round population is only 23,000, supporting 250,000 at any given time. So the people really know each other, from the well-to-do to the ones that are struggling. The folks who live here know each other and care for each other, and stick together like a large extended family.
I remember growing up here in the 1980's. My family fell on hard times when my dad lost his job and my parents divorced. My mother was a school teacher who also babysat kids part-time at area hotels like the old Bali Hai, the Caravelle and St. John’s Inn. My brother and I worked at the old Rice Planters Restaurant. I can assure you, there was plenty of trouble for a teenage boy in a single-parent home to get into in Myrtle Beach S.C.
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However, everywhere I turned there was someone around who took the time to make sure I found as little of that trouble as possible (though I admit I found my fair share). The people for whom I worked at Rice Planters kept my schedule full. The school teachers who worked with my mother had their eyes on me constantly. Mrs. Emma Burrouge was one of those teachers who encouraged me to study and work hard long after I left her classroom. She went out of her way to listen and direct my path through those many years.
St. Philip Lutheran Church was another place where the members of the congregation were quick to get me involved and keep me involved. They elected me to the Church Council and let me usher long before I was supposed to be old enough. They let me hold responsibilities, and let me know when I had done a good job. It also seemed to never matter if the cost was too high for me to participate in any activities, somehow it was taken care of, a kindness that I never forgot.
It was the people who helped me through those years who were the deciding factor in my desire to return to Myrtle Beach after I graduated from college. I wanted to serve the community that had so completely embraced me so many years before.
One of the real thrills of my time in public office is that so many of those people have lived to see me serve on the City Council. Mrs. Burrouge came to see me in the first debate of the 1999 election. There have been countless members of St. Philip who have contributed to my campaigns and put signs in their yards for me. That is what I have always loved about this town: the people who make it up.
Myrtle Beach is a great community because of its generous spirit. It is a wonderful place for so many reasons related to its beaches and businesses, but it's the friendly, generous nature of its people that brings tourists here year after year. It is a sense of community that holds so many here once they get here, too. It is hard to ever leave once you get the sand between your toes and become a part of such a welcoming place. A place made up of so many from different cultures and places around the world. It is the people who make it such a great place to live – and the beach does not hurt, either.
A Myrtle Beach native, Randal Wallace has been a member of the Myrtle Beach City Council since 2001. His essay is the first in a planned series of “Why Do I Love Myrtle Beach?” entries, written exclusively for MBSun.com by a selection of the area’s personalities and public figures.
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