Major festival back in Myrtle Beach

This time next week, Shriners will take over Myrtle Beach, marking the first time in more than three years the Southeast Atlantic Shriners Association has had its fall festival here.

If Mayor John Rhodes has his way, the group's return will be permanent.

"We would like them to seriously consider making Myrtle Beach their permanent home for the fall festival," he said. He's been asked to speak to the Shriners' general assembly meeting during next week's gathering, and he said he's going to talk about why they should choose Myrtle Beach.

Where the fall festival is held depends on who's leading the organization that year. Sometimes it's in Virginia Beach, sometimes in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

But Rick Guignon, SASA's director general this year, said the group always has the biggest turnout when the gathering is on the Grand Strand.

"This is a family vacation center where people can come and be themselves," Guignon said of the beach's popularity. Already, he said, more than 5,000 people have registered for hotels, and he anticipates between 7,000 and 10,000 will attend. "No other venue gets the population of Shriners that Myrtle Beach does."

The festival begins Sept. 15, and much of it is open to the public - it's one of SASA's big fundraisers for the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

There are quite a few firsts for the group during this year's festival, Guignon said, including having staff members from Shriners Hospitals offering free screenings for children from birth to age 18 for orthopedic conditions.

Guignon said the festival will feature some former patients who will attend most of the functions and answer questions for families about the services the hospitals offer and what it's like to be treated there.

The screening will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 17 as part of Family Fun Day at the former Myrtle Square Mall site on Kings Highway. Family Fun Day runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and has some firsts of its own - including the opportunity for people to see about 80 percent of the festival's parade entries up close.

It will also be the first time a Shriners event has offered space for other Masonic organizations to join the festival and raise money for their own groups. Daughters of the Nile, DeMolay, Eastern Star and others will have food-and-beverage booths during the Family Fun Day and can keep the money they raise or donate some to the Shriners Hospitals, Guignon said.

Rhodes will serve as grand marshal for the parade on Sept. 18, which could be the largest the city has seen. Guignon said it could last six hours with all the entries anticipated. The festival includes 19 Shrine Centers from the region, each with 40 to 60 individual clubs.

There's a benefit golf tournament Sept. 15, and Guignon said there's still room for a few more players and hole sponsors. There are four hole-in-one opportunities with prizes such as cars and vacation packages. There's a benefit concert at Carolina Opry on Sept. 18, and the Opry has promised that if the Shriners sell out the theater, the Opry will donate $21,600 to the hospitals.

To get tickets to any of the events or learn more about them, visit www.sasafestival2010.com.

SASA's 12-month fundraising goal is $250,000 between the festival and individual fundraisers throughout the year. The money all goes to the hospitals.

Rhodes, whose father is a Shriner, said he knows the good the 22 Shriners Hospitals do, treating children for orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the families' ability to pay.

He said he's pleased the Shriners chose Myrtle Beach because it's a nice post-peak-season boost for the city.

"Our goal is to get heads in beds, and this is the kind of family-oriented business we go after," he said. The city is donating some in-kind services, such as police patrols during the parade, and some permits - the cost of drawing business, the mayor said.