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North Myrtle Beach cancels 2021 St. Patrick’s Day events, citing COVID-19

By Maya Brown
A man walks along with the parade as floats move along Main Street in North Myrtle Beach during the St. Patrick’s Day parade Saturday.
A man walks along with the parade as floats move along Main Street in North Myrtle Beach during the St. Patrick’s Day parade Saturday. Josh Bell jbell@thesunnews.com
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.

North Myrtle Beach will not have its annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration again this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement posted on Friday.

This year’s parade and festival were scheduled for March 13. The city also canceled those events last year because of COVID-19.

“The city hoped the COVID-19 pandemic would have run its course by now, however, the pandemic continues, and time has proven that large gatherings lead to significant surges in new COVID-19 cases, some of them deadly,” the Facebook post states.

The decision comes as Horry County recorded a total of 24, 302 confirmed cases and 366 deaths as of Friday afternoon, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. The agency reported 403,928 confirmed cases and 6,730 deaths in the state.

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