Car show driven out of Myrtle Beach, organizers say. Did residents complain?
A long-running Myrtle Beach area car show is leaving the area and pulling into its next stop – Charlotte, N.C.
The announcement comes a week before another large car show will take place in Myrtle Beach at the end of October.
Organizers of Mustang Week, which has been operating in the Myrtle Beach area for 23 years, announced Wednesday on its Facebook page that the popular car show will move the event to Charlotte next year.
A message left with organizers was not immediately returned by publication.
The event draws thousands of visitors and car enthusiasts to Myrtle Beach and along the Grand Strand each September.
Organizers have said that the decision was made after difficulties over the years with city officials in hosting the large event in city limits.
“This wasn’t a decision made overnight,” the post said. “For years, Mustang Week did everything we could to keep Mustang Week in Myrtle Beach. Over the past several years, challenges in hosting Mustang Week events within the city limits of Myrtle Beach grew exponentially, making it increasingly difficult to run Mustang Week or even to ensure its long-term future.
“Charlotte opened its arms and welcomed the Mustang Week community,” the post said, adding that Charlotte is known to be a racing community.
The city welcomes events and never wants to see events leave Myrtle Beach, said city spokesperson Meredith Denari. However, each year, residents complain about the noise of the vehicles, she said.
“Residents will email in, call council members to talk about their frustrations,” with the number of vehicles and the noise,” Denari said.
Denari said in a follow-up email that Mustang Week has not been held within the city limits for several years, instead taking place at the Myrtle Beach Mall.
The event will now be at the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s zMAX Dragway venue on Aug. 24-29, 2025, the post said.
This is not the first time that the event has had issues with the city. In 2022, organizers announced that city officials declined to renew its 2023 contract with the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. However, after an unknown benefactor stepped in, Mustang Week was saved and came back to the city for its 2023 event.
At the time, city officials said that the convention center was not designed to handle such large, outdoor events.
“While organizers have expressed interest in returning to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, past Mustang Week events held there created significant public safety and operational challenges,” Denari wrote. “Many residents and business owners raised concerns about noise, speeding and racing activity during the event. For these reasons, the Convention Center is not an appropriate host site for Mustang Week.”
The event is estimated to bring more than 30,000 people to the Myrtle Beach area over several days.
“(Mustang Week) provided a boost to our local businesses during a traditionally softer period for tourism, and its relocation will have an impact that our community will notice,” according to an email statement from Stuart Butler, president of Visit Myrtle Beach.
Butler thanked Mustang Week for its many years of partnership with the Grand Strand. Visit Myrtle Beach said that moving forward, it will make sure that the “benefits Mustang Week delivered are fully replaced.”
“We are working closely with county and municipal partners along the Grand Strand to recruit and support events that provide real value for businesses, enhance the visitor experience, support resident quality of life, and further strengthen the Myrtle Beach area’s late-summer and early-fall calendar of festivals, sports tournaments, and cultural events that generate meaningful returns for our economy,” Butler said in the statement.
The decision to move the event to a new location comes just a week before Jeep Jam will take place in Myrtle Beach. The event also brings thousands to the city with Jeeps lining up along the city highways to take part in events at the former Myrtle Beach Square Mall.
The three-day festival is estimated to bring more than 30,000 people and nearly 3,000 Jeeps to the city. It will be from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 this year.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 10:59 AM.
