Myrtle Beach boardwalk wins state’s top tourism award, the Governor’s Cup

The boardwalk in Myrtle Beach took the state’s top tourism award Wednesday, but not just because it’s popular with visitors.

To land the coveted Governor’s Cup, the boardwalk also generated $2 million worth of free publicity and sparked other development in the heart of the city’s tourism hub, which was facing an uncertain future with the closure of its longtime anchor, The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, and an economic downturn that would become known as the Great Recession.

“The solution to both of these challenges: the Myrtle Beach boardwalk,” state tourism officials said when giving the award to city leaders during the Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Travel at Embassy Suites at Kingston Plantation Resort. “It became an immediate hit.”

The boardwalk lured new businesses to the area and prompted others along Ocean Boulevard to spruce up, not just along the main drag but on the boardwalk side, too, said Duane Parrish, director of the S.C. Parks, Recreation and Tourism department, which awards the Governor’s Cup every year.

Parrish, who grew up visiting Myrtle Beach, went to the downtown area before the conference started Monday and reminisced about the history — including the band Alabama’s start at The Bowery — and reveled in the new investment the boardwalk has sparked.

“I was talking about all those stories down there, and how it had transformed,” Parrish said. “The boardwalk transformed downtown. It just elevated the whole area.”

The $6 million boardwalk, which opened in 2010 and runs from First Avenue North to roughly 15th Avenue North, made the Ocean Boulevard area more appealing to more folks — especially families who, after the Pavilion closed, didn’t have as many options of things to do with their kids downtown, said Chris Walker, president of the Oceanfront Merchants Association. Now, even locals who hadn’t been to that area in years are frequent visitors, Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said after picking up the award.

So what would the area be if the boardwalk had never been built?

“We probably would have still been catering to that teenage crowd. We were becoming a more one-sided area without as many dimensions,” Walker said, adding that teenagers don’t have as much money to spend in Boulevard businesses as families. “[The boardwalk] kind of changed our visitor base. One hundred percent of people have a reason to go down there now.”

The boardwalk has given Deanna Taylor, who spends winters here and bought a condo in Myrtle Beach in 2013, a new place to hang out and meet people. Before the boardwalk, she’d walk on the beach. On Wednesday, she was sitting on one of the boardwalk benches reading a John Grisham book and taking in the sunshine.

“When the boardwalk came, it was just such a great addition,” she said. “I just love the sun and to hear the ocean waves crash — and to watch people.”

Bob and Sue Sobkowich, from Upstate New York who are considering moving to the Myrtle Beach area, were checking out the boardwalk for the first time Wednesday afternoon, spotting restaurants and a daiquiri bar they plan to try out on their next visit.

“We didn’t see this when we used to bring the kids here,” said Bob Sobkowich, recalling those trips years ago. “So far, we love it. It’s a sunny day. It’s nice to walk. We get to see all the shops.”

The Governor’s Cup is the latest in a string of accolades for the 1.2-mile boardwalk. It’s regularly been listed by the likes of Budget Travel and National Geographic as one of the top boardwalks in the country, as well as being recognized by Travel + Leisure magazine. State leaders said all the mentions and other national publicity is worth about $2 million and that 11 million people visit the boardwalk area each year.

City and business leaders say the investment has paid off, giving tourists a new reason to visit the oceanfront area and sparking new developments, including the SkyWheel and the LandShark Bar and Grill, which both opened in 2011.

Rhodes says it’s worked so well — “The boardwalk is one of the finest investments the city council has ever made” — he wants an even longer boardwalk, the longest in the country. That will take time and money, Rhodes and Parrish said, and must involve funding from private businesses who would operate along the extended boardwalk.

“I would love to see us be able to go from one end of the beach to another,” Rhodes said. “It’s a pretty big dream. You never know what’s going to happen. It’d be something, wouldn’t it?”

This story was originally published February 11, 2015 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach boardwalk wins state’s top tourism award, the Governor’s Cup."