Escape to Florence for ice skating all month long

OPEN THIS WEEKEND | Through 01.02

Escape to Florence to lace up, glide on, ice skates

Folks clamoring to glide on ice might enjoy an easy escape in the next month to the Florence Civic Center, 3300 W. Radio Drive, at Interstates 95 and 20.

Public skating, in two-hour sessions, will be:

▪ 6 p.m. Dec. 3-4, 10-13, 16-20, 26-27, 29-31 and Jan. 2.

▪ 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Dec. 5.

▪ 3 p.m. Dec. 12-13, 19-20, and 26-27, and Jan. 2

Admission is $7 ages 13 and older, otherwise $5, and skate rental is $3.

Details at 843-679-9417 and www.florenceciviccenter.com/events/detail/ice_skating.

SATURDAY | 12.05

Santa spends part of day at Myrtle Beach State Park

The sixth annual “Santa on the Beach!” will make a sleigh stop, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, at Myrtle Beach State Park. Many events are free with park admission: $5 ages 16 and older, $3.25 S.C. seniors, $3 ages 6-15.

The day’s menu, in the park pier vicinity, comprises

▪ Photos with Santa on the beach, 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m., with visitors’ own cameras.

▪ Camel rides, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., for $7 cash, with exact change appreciated.

▪ Holiday crafts, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. – Create your own palmetto reindeer from cabbage palms, for $3, while supplies last.

▪ Christmas sing-along with Chicken Music Television puppets, noon-12:30 p.m., with countdown of top four yuletide videos, as we count down the

▪ Pet costume parade, 2 p.m. on pier, with one leashed pet per person.

▪ Marshmallow roasting, at $1 for three marshmallows.

▪ A bake sale, with proceeds benefiting park educational programs.

▪ Children’s chalk drawing, parachute games, bubbles, coloring, and jump ropes.

▪ “FantaSea Playland Fun” area of carnival games, for $1 admission.

The park, on U.S. 17 Business, south of city limits, is open 6 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. Details at 843-238-0874 (nature center), 843- 238-5325 (park office) or www.myrtlebeachsp.com .

SATURDAY | 12.05

Atalaya Holiday Celebration at Huntington Beach State Park

The “Atalaya Holiday Celebration” at Huntington Beach State Park will fill the former winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

Although the 2014 event was canceled because of weather, the soiree this year happens rain or shine, for $3 for ages 6 and older, plus park admission: $5 ages 16 and older, $3.25 S.C. seniors, $3 ages 6-15.

Walk through decked out rooms, shop at a holiday crafts sale, and let youngsters indulge in their own crafts section.

Scheduled musical performers are the Pawleys Island Concert Band at 11 a.m., Resurrection Ringers noon, Cornbread ’n Biscuits 1 p.m., Jill Trinka 2 p.m., and Cantorion 3 p.m. Lunch meals catered by Murray and Mike also will be sold.

This park, on U.S. 17, between Murrells Inlet and Litchfield Beach, is open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.

Details at:

▪ 843-235-8755 (nature center), 843-237-4440 (park office), or www.huntingtonbeachsp.com.

▪ Friends of Huntington Beach State Park: 843-650-6666, www.friendshbsp.com, or email korsz@sccoast.net

WEDNESDAY | 12.09

Technology group celebrates with awards gala

The Grand Strand Technology Council will have its annual Awards Gala, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, 8121 Amalfi Place. Myrtle Beach.

This gathering, for the first time ever, is black-tie optional, and it will include a comedic roast for John Sanders, the council’s chairman emeritus, who with wife Carole have moved to Carlsbad, Calif., but will return for this nightlong celebration of the group’s technology, leadership, and innovation accomplishments within the community.

Tickets are $100, or $90 for members.

Details at 843-900-6478, www.gstechcouncil.org, or email jason@gstechcouncil.org.

SATURDAY | 12.05

Make a wish for cause in Marti Parnell’s memory

Enjoy a meal at the “Marti’s Wish” fundraiser for the Waccamaw Community Foundation, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at Pavillion Discount Beverage, 215B U.S. Business 17 N., Surfside Beach, at Second Avenue North. Proceeds will benefit research for, and education about, signet ring cell stomach cancer, which earlier this year, claimed the life of Marti Parnell on Oct. 15 at age 58.

Plates are $8 each, prepared by Alan McNeill, a local barbecue competition chef, along with chicken wings, pizza and Lee’s Inlet Kitchen’s clam chowder. Local musicians will entertain, the Fireball Fire Truck will be hand, and an auction will include golf bags, a grill, a chain saw, lodging, and other donations from area distributors and businesses.

Parnell spent 36 years working at Ocean Lakes Family Campground near Surfside Beach, where she trained hundreds of employees about hospitality and tourism, and her husband of 23 years established “Marti’s Wish” to fulfill her last wish to spread awareness about H. pylori bacteria and its link to this type of cancer that remains difficult to detect.

Reach the host site at 843-238-5266 and foundation at 843-357-4483 or www.waccamawcf.org.

Donations by check also welcome at Waccamaw Community Foundation, Attn. “Marti’s Wish,” Waccamaw Community Foundation, 3655 U.S. 17 Business, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Escape to Florence for ice skating all month long."