Atlantic Beach | What to expect Memorial Day weekend
Atlantic Beach officials are expecting another busy weekend during the annual Atlantic Beach Bikefest this year as other areas of the Grand Strand take steps to get control of lawlessness.
Bikefest began as a rally for black motorcyclists in the early 1980s in Atlantic Beach. Since then, the festival has grown to the point that attendees not only fill the four-block town, but the crowd spills into other areas of the Grand Strand.
Three people died and seven were injured in eight shootings on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach causing Grand Strand officials to take a number of steps to make sure their residents and tourists are safe.
Atlantic Beach officials also are taking steps to make sure the motorcycle continues to be safe.
Atlantic Beach police Chief Timothy Taylor said he is working on agreements with three chiefs from across South Carolina to help out on Memorial Day weekend as well.
About 20 SLED officers and a number of Highway Patrol officers will be stationed in Atlantic Beach to help the town’s two-person full-time police force.
Atlantic Beach officials expect to have packed streets all weekend, with vendors lining 30th and 31st avenues South. The town has allowed vendors on 31st Avenue South in the past, but did not have vendors on that street last year.
Atlantic Beach Town Council members passed an ordinance February that has vendors shut down their booths at 2 a.m. Vendors could operate until 4 a.m. last year.
Taylor has secured four all-terrain vehicles and four golf carts that will be used on Memorial Day weekend.
He also said he plans to put a banner welcoming festival goers to town that includes the number to a temporary phone he will use that weekend for anyone who needs police assistance.
There again will be a traffic chute at 30th Avenue South – the entrance to Atlantic Beach Bikefest – has been used for at least 10 years. The chute is organized by North Myrtle Beach and manned by S.C. Highway Patrol.
The chute will go into effect around 5 a.m. May 22 and come down the morning of May 25.
Contact MAYA T. PRABHU at 444-1722 or on Twitter @TSN_mprabhu.
This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Atlantic Beach | What to expect Memorial Day weekend."