Myrtle Beach ambassadors get prepared to inform Bikefest attendees

Volunteers signed up to greet visitors during Atlantic Beach Bikefest will not only have to have smiling faces -- but an intricate knowledge of the 23-mile traffic loop.

About 25 volunteers learned the ins and outs of the Memorial Day weekend traffic loop during a training session Wednesday, where officials said they will be relying on those residents to welcome visitors and help them get around.

“You are critical to our educational plan,” police spokesman Lt. Joey Crosby said. “Please be out, please be interacting with the crowds. Let them know [what they need to know].”

Crosby spent about 30 minutes going over the traffic loop in detail to make sure the volunteers are well educated and able to convey that information to festival goers.

This is the first time the city has used volunteer ambassadors during Bikefest in about seven years. Myrtle Beach resident Karyl Brown is one of about 45 residents who have signed up.

“I want to convey that we are a welcoming town,” Brown said. “That we appreciate everyone’s business. When you’re in the business of hospitality, you have to be welcoming to everyone.”

The establishment of community ambassadors and the traffic loop are part of a larger plan to improve safety on Memorial Day weekend, which turned deadly last year when three people died and seven were injured in eight shootings on Ocean Boulevard.

The 23-mile loop will be in place nightly from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. May 22 to 24 to ease congestion on Ocean Boulevard, which police said can lead to street parties, which, in turn, can lead to violence.

The traffic loop routes drivers from 29th Avenue North on Ocean Boulevard south and around to Kings Highway, north to Harrelson Boulevard – which turns into George Bishop Parkway – west to Waccamaw Boulevard, which runs next to U.S. Highway 501, onto S.C. 31 heading north to Grissom Parkway south, then onto U.S. 17 Bypass and down 29th Avenue North.

Krystal Dotson, who is helping the city coordinate the ambassador program, said the volunteers are there to provide a visible presence and help share information with the public.

“You’re there to bridge the communication gap between community residents and out-of-town guests,” she said.

Volunteers will work in four-hour shifts from noon to as late as midnight May 22 through 24. Volunteers will be given bright orange T-shirts and assigned to work a four-block area.

“At no point are we asking you to arrest anyone,” Dotson said. “Take no law enforcement action.”

Ambassadors may even get a bit of a trial run after volunteers expressed concern that all of these plans had been put in place for Memorial Day weekend – when most of the attendees are black – but no effort has been focused on the Harley-Davidson motorcycle rally held the week before where most of the attendees are white.

Betty Lance, a Myrtle Beach resident and former city police officer, said it gives the perception that people are being treated differently.

Crosby said the difference between the two weekends is the much smaller number of people in the city limits of Myrtle Beach during the Harley rally versus the amount of people in town on Memorial Day weekend.

However, Crosby said he will try to arrange for ambassadors who are available to volunteer on May 16 during the Military Appreciation Days parade and picnic so they have a presence among the military crowd as well as the Harley crowd that weekend.

Police chief Warren Gall said that the ambassadors will serve as a reminder to the festival goers that Myrtle Beach is a place where people live, work and raise their children and not just a place for people to party and cause trouble.

“There are some who mess up, there are some who get rambunctious and cause problems ... but this is about putting a smile and a positive spin on what’s been going on,” he said. “In the past we’ve done this and it’s made for some good will and kept the problems down.”

In 1999, the city established “friendship teams” that volunteered to welcome motorcyclists to the city for 10 years during both rallies in May – the Harley event and Bikefest. City spokesman Mark Kruea said over the 10 years participation dwindled and the teams were not as effective.

Brown said she attended Wednesday’s ambassador training and plans to participate on Memorial Day weekend because she wants to “put her money where her mouth is.” Brown also volunteered with the friendship teams.

“Everyone wants to complain about Memorial Day weekend,” she said. “Everyone says it’s too crowded and they plan to leave town. I’ve never been inconvenienced that weekend.”

Those who don’t want to volunteer on Memorial Day weekend will be able to pick from several other large events held throughout the year, with a focus on the Carolina Country Music Fest on the former Myrtle Beach Pavilion property June 4 to 7 or Oktoberfest on Ocean Boulevard. Each will have its own training with information specific for that event.

For more information about volunteering as an ambassador, visit www.facebook.com/cityofmyrtlebeachambassador?fref=ts or call Dotson at 918-1800.

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach ambassadors get prepared to inform Bikefest attendees."