Living Here | What you need to know about the Grand Strand’s beach tent bans

Looking for shade on the sand?

Laws on area beaches changed in 2014 to address shade structures on the beach, where officials said the tents can get in the way of safety personnel and that there isn’t enough beach along some part of the Grand Strand to accommodate numerous large tents.

The new ordinances mean beachgoers in Horry County, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach can no longer use tents. Surfside Beach still allows the canopy-style shading, as long as the tents do not block beach accesses or the view for lifeguards.

The ban is year-round in Horry County, from May 15 to Sept. 15 in North Myrtle Beach and Atlantic Beach and from Memorial Day to Labor Day in Myrtle Beach.

Verbal warnings can be expected for visitors, but those who continue to disobey the law could see stronger penalties, among which include fines and jail time.

Leaders on the Grand Strand spent months working to address beach tents, which law enforcement officials said cause a hazard while responding to emergencies and beachgoers say are needed to give elderly and children shade.

Shelly Boegly of Omaha opted to visit Surfside Beach where the tents are still allowed this summer.

“There’s no way we could spend all day at the beach without a tent,” she said. Between her family and her sister’s there are four children between 5 and 10 years old.

Boegly said she understood that there could be a safety issue with rescue workers having trouble navigating their way through beach tents to get to water if someone needed help, so she usually sets her family’s tent up close to the dunes.

“I see both sides,” said Boegly’s sister Megan Gratz. “I wouldn’t want to be in the way of somebody getting help. But I don’t want my kids to get fried.”

In Myrtle Beach, Sgt. Philip Cain with the city’s beach patrol said they haven’t seen many tents this year and even with those, there have been no issues with enforcement.

“We’ve seen very few and the ones we have seen have all complied voluntarily,” he said.

This story was originally published September 27, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Living Here | What you need to know about the Grand Strand’s beach tent bans."