The Fall has It ALL in Myrtle Beach

With great lodging rates and beautiful weather, autumn has become a favorite time of the year for many Myrtle Beach visitors. The pace is a little slower, but there is still much to do and see around here. Whether you’re in to arts, shopping, eating, or simply relaxing and having a good time, the fall has it all! Here’s a list of upcoming area events and festivals (click the links for more info):

St John’s Greek Festival – September 27 - 30

St. John's Greek Orthodox Church of Myrtle Beach, located off Highway 17 Bypass in Myrtle Beach, celebrates Greek culture with traditional Greek food, music and family activities. 

Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival – September 28 - 30

Hosted at the Atalaya Castle at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, this festival features works from more than 100 artisans. The unfinished, Spanish style castle is the perfect scenic backdrop to the beautiful art, delicious food, and live music available.  

Arts and Crafts Festival 2011

 

Oktoberfest at The Market Common – September 28 - 30

Located just a couple miles north of the campground in Valor Park, Oktoberfest at The Market Common celebrates German heritage with vendors, games, music, food, inflatables, and a large selection of German beer. 

Oktoberfest at Market Common in 2011

Irish Italian Festival – September 29

From 10am to 4pm Main Street in North Myrtle Beach will transform into a multi-European cultural center where thousands of attendees celebrate with food, music, street performers, and art/craft vendors.

Fall Bike Week – October 1 - 7

“The Ride” is the theme of this year’s Fall Motorcycle Rally. Participants party and vendors set up in the same locations as the Spring Rally: SBB, The Beaver Bar, Jamin’ Leather, Spokes and Bones Saloon, etc. The fall rally is a little more laid back, with less traffic and a shorter duration. 

Ocean Boulevard’s Oktoberfest – October 6

From noon to 11pm, 8^th Ave North to Mr. Joe White Ave, Ocean Blvd. will be closed to host a celebration of German food, beer, and wine with live music and kid’s activities.  

Surfside Beach Family Festival – October 6

This family oriented event will have food, vendors, live entertainment, and activities for kids. Located on Surfside Drive, just a few miles south of the campground. 

Family Festival on Surfside Dr.

 

Art in the Park – October 6 & 7, November 3 & 4

From 10am to 4pm at Chapin Park in Myrtle Beach exhibitors will display and sell original art from all around the southeast in mediums such as paint, woodwork, metal, fabric, pottery, and photography.  

Taste of the Town – October 9

Located at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, this event features booths from more than 50 restaurants from all over the Grand Strand offering samples of their cuisine. In addition to food sampling, there is live music and awards are presented to participating area restaurants. All proceeds benefit St. Michael’s Catholic School. From 4pm to 10pm. 

Taste of the Town 2011

RIOZ - 2011 Winners People's Choice Favorite Entree

National Sculpture Society 79th Annual Awards Exhibition– Now until October 28

On display in both galleries of the Rainey Sculpture Pavilion at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, the Sculpture Expo features works from many master sculptors. The collection includes a variety of animal and human subjects. Entrance is included with Brookgreen’s general admission ticket.  

Harvest Home Weekend – October 13 & 14

Harvest Home Hayride

Brookgreen Gardens continues its annual fall tradition with a weekend full of family fun activities including storytelling, crafts, pumpkin painting, hayrides, musical performances, and other demonstrations. Join the PirateLand Recreation Crew for a group day trip to Brookgreen on Saturday October 13. Click here to visit our activities page for more details and sign up information. 

Little River ShrimpFest – October 13 & 14

Here’s a good reason to visit the Little River waterfront area on Mineola Avenue. On the very North end of the Grand Strand, this event showcases seafood and music in a quaint small town setting. They will also have arts and crafts, kid’s activities, and a Shrimp and Grits Cook-Off.

 

Myrtle Beach Wine Fest – October 20

From 11am to 7pm located at The Market Common, the Wine Fest has pay-as-you-go sampling of over 100 wines from the U.S. and other countries. There will also be specialty vendors, food, and live music. 

Annual Arts and Fall Festival at Broadway at the Beach – October 20

Local talent from area shows are featured in this festival focused on dance, music, and theatre. In addition to performances, there are tons of shops and restaurants to visit at Broadway, and they’ll have a fireworks show at the end of the night. 

PirateLand’s Annual Spooktacular Celebration - October 26 & 27

We’re celebrating Halloween and family fun here at the campground with a festival of our own! Our guests will enjoy activities throughout the weekend, but our Spooktacular Festival is Saturday evening. This FREE festival includes homemade carnival games such as pumpkin bowling, zombie doss, duck guess, pin the patch on the pumpkin, candy corn guess Carved pumpkin contest and Trunk-or-Treating. Hotdogs and drinks will be sold for $1 each. At the end of the night be sure to visit our FREE Haunted House. We also have a special campsite rate of 3 nights for $90.00. Please note: this event is for PirateLand registered guests and residents only. 

One of our resident's carts at our 2010 Spooktacular Festival

Haunted House helpers in 2011

One of our Pumpkin Carving entrants

Our Haunted House Hostess in 2011

S.C. State Bluegrass Festival - November 22 - 24

Hosted at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, this annual Thanksgiving tradition showcases some of the biggest names in Bluegrass. Just to name a few; Longview, JD Crowe & The New South, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and Bobby Osborne & The Rocky-Top Xpress will be in attendance. A complete line-up is available by clicking here. And if you’re looking for a place to stay during the Bluegrass Festival, check out our 4 night campsite special for $90.00!

5 Things To Do With Your Kids This Holiday Season

Make something! Whether it’s cooking, making crafts, or building model cars, making something with your kids is a great way to spend time together. Be sure to pick a project that will interest them as well.

See a Holiday Show! Here in Myrtle Beach, there is tons of live entertainment with a Christmas theme. You can have a similar experience without professional theatre groups. Local high schools, colleges, parks, and churches often produce holiday shows. They may lack some of the bright lights and quality acting, but the value here is in the quality time you’re spending together.

Give something together! Maybe your local soup kitchen could use some help, maybe you have some things to donate to a local community service drive, maybe you make crafts to give as Christmas gifts, either way, showing your children a lesson in giving is an invaluable lesson.

Join them in getting messy, destroying something, or freely dancing /singing!  We added this strictly for kids’ enjoyment. Remember when you were a kid and you wanted your parents to ‘let loose’ just a little? Please note: with the singing and dancing - skill and appropriate timing are necessary. We wouldn’t want to embarrass the kids, or maybe we would, lol! It is something to consider.

GO CAMPING!  Of course we’re a little bias, we’re recreational people and we work at a campground, but that doesn’t change the fact that some of our fondest memories are from times camping with our family.  

 

Great Food + Great People = Great Times!

Can hardly believe we just finished up another Annual Thanksgiving Celebration at PirateLand. Something you may not know, unless you have worked at this campground during Thanksgiving, every year when it’s all said and done, the crew members look at one another in astonishment and ask “Did we really just have a dinner for 500 people?”

Yes, folks we sure did! And it would not have been possible without some serious hard work and dedication. Our four night camping special helped bring in a big crowd. Have you ever wondered how many turkeys it takes to feed everyone? Well this year we cooked 18 of them. Yep that’s right, and they were cooked and carved right here in our vacation rental ovens by a few long time crew members. 

Jo Ann Mayhew, our Housekeeping Manager, has worked at this resort for over 15 years and she heads up most of the cooking – 18 turkeys, 6 hams, 50 pounds of mashed potatoes (NOT instant), 12 pounds of mac and cheese, and enough gravy to go around twice! Can you imagine going from oven to oven to oven ….18 times to check those turkeys? These rentals are about 400 square feet total and have three bedrooms so you know we’re not working in a gourmet kitchen here! Jo Ann has an extensive catering background so she knows how to make it work with what we’ve got! We are so thankful to have Jo Ann and her crew!

If you’ve been to our Thanksgiving Dinner then you know we don’t make all the food, guests bring dishes too! We usually get a variety of sides, and a whole lot of deserts. It’s always iffy with Pot Luck and we’re always worried we won’t have enough food, but our volunteer servers make sure we make it last. Our volunteers are usually campers, residents, and even off-duty crew members. They are so generous to spend their valuable time helping us out and making the dinner possible.

  

Local businesses also lent a hand by donating goods and prizes. Meritta Bread supplied the dinner rolls, and Coke and Reddy Ice hooked us up with soda and ice! They’ve been helping us out for years and we are so grateful to have their support. We had a prize wheel again for guests to spin for a chance at one of our special prizes. We had over 20 local restaurants, shops, and vendors donate tickets, gift certificates, and promotional merchandise. 

2011 marks a special milestone, not only because it’s our 45^th Anniversary, but this year was Patch’s first Thanksgiving Dinner! If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Patch, our Pirate Mascot, make sure you check out the activities schedule for his appearance time next time you’re camping with us at the beach! He likes to take pictures and the wee little ones think he’s a lot of fun!

We’re so grateful for y’all coming out and sharing Thanksgiving with us! We hope to see you again next year.