Best Moving Company in Folly Beach

I remember back in the day when my big sisters would wear bell bottoms. Now they are coming back in style thanks to Lainey Wilson;) It used to be the jeans of choice for hippies when my sisters wore them. According to the website, Thrillist, this is the most hippie town in South Carolina.

Thrillist found the most hippie towns in all fifty states. So what do we mean by hippie? It used to be all about VW buses, flower power, free love and the smell of patchouli. But now all things hippie are coming back in style. Asheville of course was named the most hippie city in North Carolina. Where can we find it in the Palmetto State? According to Thrillist the honors go to Folly Beach!

I can believe it! Our former sales manager, our beloved Billy Grooms, retired there a few years ago and he went from suits to board shorts, growing his hair to his shoulders and generally feeling a little more “free” to be himself. Folly Beach is just a few miles from nearby Charleston and is home to “Bert’s Market”. It is a 24 hours store where their motto is “We may doze but we never close”. Love it. To learn more about the most hippie towns in all fifty states, get all the details from Thrillist right here.

Folly Beach is also one of the most beautiful beaches in South Carolina. Picture compliments of my friend Billy.

This South Carolina Beach Is One Of The "Greatest Beach Towns In America"

If you grew up in the Carolinas chances are you have a favorite beach town you grew up going to. Or one you take your family to now. We have no shortage of fantastic seaside escapes. Even growing up in North Carolina I have to admit I’m typically a South Carolina beach person. While I tend to go to the general vicinity of the Myrtle Beach area (thanks to friends who have houses and free is for me). I’ve already read quite a lot of these types of articles and now have several other SC beaches on my must-visit list. Just need to find the time to get to them! Recently I came across yet another publication naming some of the best beach vacation spots. And my interest peaked like always. And of course, somewhere in South Carolina was included when Thrillist created a list of “The 20 Greatest Beach Towns In America”. But with so many fantastic destinations, which made the cut to be recognized?

The list compiled by writers at Thrillist details 20 of the nation’s beach towns in a variety of states. In addition to a general summary of the destination, they also make sure to let you know the must-eat spots and what you can’t leave without. You can read their full article here. Or keep reading to see which South Carolina town was named one of the 20 Greatest Beach Towns In America! And a couple of others that stuck out to me as personal favorites of mine or bucket list destinations!

FOLLY BEACH — In a referendum locals viewed as a battle for the future of this barrier island, Folly Beach residents narrowly voted to limit the number of short-term rentals that can operate on one of Charleston’s most popular beach communities.

The vote for tighter restrictions is expected to slowly shrink the number of short-term rentals that can operate here.

“It looks like the citizens want to have a year-round community, not just a weekly community,” Mayor Tim Goodwin said after the results were in.

A narrow majority of voters, 53 percent, said “yes” to the only question posed by the Feb. 7 referendum. The results will be certified on Feb. 9.

Island residents were asked to decide whether short-term rental licenses on Folly Beach should be capped at 800.

According to unofficial returns from the Charleston County Board of Elections, just 77 votes separated the results.

Some 655 of the island’s registered voters agreed with the restrictions, compared to 578 who did not want to see the limit imposed.

At the heart of the one-question issue was a central concern shared by many Charleston-area beach communities: How do communities balance all that comes with being a tourist destination while still preserving what makes a place special?

Tuesday’s vote adds a fresh layer of local oversight but the impact of the decision could take years to materialize. Goodwin and city staff estimate it could take about three years for Folly Beach to drop down to that 800-mark.

Property owners have had to apply for short-term rental licenses since 2018. Currently, there are more than 1,100 active licenses on the barrier island, which accounts for some 40 percent of the island’s properties.

Under the proposed ordinance, owners with short-term rental licenses may continue to operate and keep their licenses until there’s a transfer to a new owner or family member. No new short-term licenses would be granted until the number of active permits falls below 800 — a figure based on the number of pre-pandemic licenses in 2020.

A waiting list would be established for future permits, but there are a lot of unanswered questions about further specifics or effects the limit would have.

Katherine Meader, who is one of those owners, voted “no” to the cap. As a mother of five, she said her vote was about protecting the future of her five children.

“They’re the ones who are going to carry it on. I just want them to be able to do the same thing that their mom has done without having to get in line behind someone who may have moved here a year ago,” she said. “I don’t want my kids to have to get back in line to apply for a license that might already be at its cap.”

Others saw short-term rentals and the flow of transient guests staying in them as a threat to the established community and its longtime residents who don’t want new neighbors every week.

Two advocate groups were especially vocal about the vote: Save Folly’s Future, which was pushing for the cap; and Folly United, which opposed the cap proposal.

Neither leader of the rival vote efforts could cast a ballot because they do not live on Folly Beach, but pro-cap John McFarland sat outside the polling place from 11 a.m. until polls closed at 7 p.m.

For Colleen Lamar, the vote “yes” was about preserving a place she loves.

“This will be my home until they carry me out in a box,” she said.

The referendum, at times, pitted neighbor against neighbor, with dueling yard signs along residential streets.

Folly is the latest beach community to make a decision about how to handle short-term rentals. Sullivan’s Island banned short-term rentals more than two decades ago. Isle of Palms could be next. On Feb. 6, the eve of the Folly Beach vote, a roomful of people attended a special workshop hosted by Isle of Palms City Council on short-term rentals.

A months-long discussion came to an end Tuesday night as voters decided on the fate of short-term rentals on Folly Beach.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - A months-long discussion came to an end Tuesday night as voters decided on the fate of short-term rentals on Folly Beach.

Just 78 votes ended up separating the debate of the number of short-term rental licenses allowed on Folly Beach. The final vote rang Tuesday night after lines at the polls began at 7 a.m. officially capping the number of rentals, like condos and Airbnbs, to 800 across the island.

There were more than 1,200 people that voted, which is about half of the number of registered voters on the island.

“This is probably the most people I’ve ever seen vote, even in a presidential election, that I can remember,” Goodwin said.

This special citizen vote tallies 655 voters for the cap on short-term rentals and 577 against it.

This issue stems back to October when a citizen petition to cap the number of short-term rentals came to city council, which was then put up to a citizen vote.

Ann Peets, who supports the cap, says she doesn’t want the permanent residents leaving because of disruptive renters.

“It’s a very tight-knit community and we feel like if people keep leaving that’s going to be lost,” Peets said.

Those against the cap on rentals, like Elton Culpepper, says he doesn’t want his kids to not have a rental option on inherited property.

“I feel like the property value will go down and they should be able to short term rental it,” Culpepper said.

Bill Murschel says he’s been renting on the island for over 25 years. Although he could not vote, he says he worries how this would affect his vacations.

“I don’t want to be priced out of the market,” Murschel said. “I want to have plenty of choices when I contact a local real estate office and pick my place.”

Mayor Goodwin says he signed the original petition and voted for the STR cap.

“We know they bring in tax dollars,” Goodwin said. “We never want to see short term rentals go away totally. It’s just where do you want your city to be in reference to a community versus businesses.”

He was asked if he thinks this will have any effect on people investing on Folly Beach in the future.

“I don’t think so,” Goodwin said. “You know, before this got started, like I said, the number was 800. That didn’t stop people from buying and selling out here... Nobody’s going to be totally happy with the vote. So, now it’s just a matter of the community coming back together and healing and let’s get on with the rest of the world.”

Goodwin says it will take several years for the number of current STRs to dwindle down to 800 from either people selling their property or no longer renewing their licenses. He says there’s currently around 1,200 on the island.

The vote will be certified on Thursday and will immediately take effect.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Folly Beach received a significant amount of federal funding for emergency renourishment following beach damage from Hurricane Ian.

Published: Thu Mar 02 2023|Updated: Fri Mar 03 2023

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - Folly Beach received a significant amount of federal funding for emergency renourishment following beach damage from Hurricane Ian.

The September storm washed away sand dunes and caused erosion to take away parts of the beach.

The $27 million of funding will work to get the beach back to normal with sand replacement.

“This is not a full renourishment, but it does allow us to get a little more beach back in place for the protection of infrastructure and recreation,” Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin said.

Around 900,000 cubic yards or 90,000 dump trucks of sand, will be replaced, and the city plans to use sand from the Folly River.

“That kind of does two things,” Goodwin said. “It helps us refurbish the beach with beach sand that just kind of washes around in the river, and it kind of opens up the river for the boaters, gets rid of some sand bars.”

The mayor believes beachgoers will be excited about the project, but they are not the only ones who will benefit.

Safety is a concern when the beach is in its current state.

“A lot of people don’t understand but especially in medical emergencies, we have a lot of equipment to carry, so it’s helpful when we can bring that one a cart or a four-wheeler, and with a small beach that’s impacted by the storm, it makes it pretty difficult or impossible to do, so getting this sand is a huge help for us,” the City of Folly Beach Director of Public Safety Andrew Gilreath said.

The sand is also crucial for those who rely on the beach for business.

“Just makes the beach so much deeper, so much more room for everybody, everybody’s not shoulder to shoulder stuffed on the beach, so once we get that new beach it’ll be glory days for us,” Sun & Ski Beach Service Owner Andy Pracht said.

The project most likely will not get underway till after the busy season.

“Everybody just has to work together to get through the summer,” Pracht said. “It’s going to be crowded. It kind of is what it is. Hopefully, we could have a new beach by this summer but we’re not going to. So, if we have one by next summer that would be awesome.”

City officials say this will be the first emergency renourishment Folly has needed since 2018.

They say It will be a few months before a timeline is laid out for the project.

A contract should be awarded in late summer/early fall and construction will start shortly after.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

I love living in Charleston because of its history, but I also love it because I’m a beach bum.

For me, summer 2023 will officially begin May 5, when Charleston County Parks and Recreation kicks off the first of its Moonlight Mixers at the recently reopened Edwin S. Taylor Fishing Pier. I look forward to making a little history myself that evening by being among the first to dance on Folly Beach’s new pier.

Crowds flocked to Folly’s first pavilion, built in 1925, then expanded six years later to include a pier, boardwalk and oceanfront hotel.

Sharply dressed couples twirled under the sparkling dance floor ball to the jazz riffs of Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. The open-air structure included an arcade, soda shop, grill, and bathhouse with changing rooms and showers.

Wooden ramps allowed classic Buicks and Packards to cross over the dunes onto the beach, where more than one had to be pushed out of the soft sand when left unattended as the tide inevitably came back in.

Among the pavilion’s patrons was composer George Gershwin, who spent several months at Folly in 1934 collaborating with DuBose and Dorothy Heyward on the first opera ever composed in America, “Porgy and Bess.” A local celebrity, Gershwin judged beauty contests at the pavilion, as some of the biggest names of the day played big band, swing and jazz — Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Fats Domino among them.

The pavilion served as the center of local social life over the next 25 years until April 1957, when the pier, pavilion and hotel all went up in flames so high they could be seen from Charleston’s Battery.

Within three years, a new Ocean Plaza was built on the site, featuring a new pier with a 1,700-foot boardwalk. Exciting new additions included a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, carousel, bumper cars, spinning swings, shops, and concession stands for cotton candy, snowballs and ice cream. Each spring, the town would put up a giant sign across Center Street proclaiming “Welcome to Folly’s Playground!”

With the new pavilion came new musical genres and dances: R&B, rock ‘n’ roll and beach music. The list of bands that played the Folly pavilion reads like a Who’s Who in Music in mid-20th century America: Otis Redding, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, The Temptations, The Tams, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, The Swinging Medallions, The Drifters, Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts, Pat Boone and Wolfman Jack.

The elegant dance attire of the 1930s was replaced with poodle skirts, saddle oxfords and T-shirts, later giving way to bare feet, short shorts and halter tops, as headliners included Grand Funk Railroad, The Marshall Tucker Band and the Allman Brothers.

Other aspects of Folly Beach were changing also. Shipping jetties placed within Charleston Harbor began causing Folly’s beach to erode, diminishing the wide sandy beaches available for swimmers and sunbathers. Cars were banned beyond the dune line.

By the end of the ’60s, crowds began thinning. The carnival rides packed up and moved on. Bands played less frequently. Fishing became the pier’s primary use. Some community events were still held there and the pavilion was available for rent, but the magic was gone.

The pier burned down again in 1977. Though arson was suspected, no charges were ever brought. A Holiday Inn (now The Tides) was built on the site in 1985, but nearly a generation passed before a new pier was completed near the original pavilion site in 1995. It was named for Edwin S. Taylor, who had owned the iconic Atlantic House restaurant that was tragically lost in Hurricane Hugo.

As that pier reached its expected 25-year lifespan and succumbed to hungry shipworms about two years ago, the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission closed the site and began building a new pier, which opened briefly in December and fully in February. Come May 5, I look forward to being among the next generation to make memories on the Folly pier’s dance floor.