What's Actually New In Myrtle Beach This Summer

Every summer, Myrtle Beach makes national travel lists for the same three things: the Boardwalk, SkyWheel, and traffic on Highway 17. If you live here, none of that is news. What is news is where the 2026 openings are landing. Look at the addresses. A 10,000-square-foot brewery with a playground in Carolina Forest. A $6.4 million waterfront taproom at the Grande Dunes Marina. A distillery in the former Key West Grill space at Broadway. The venues opening this season are pointed at people who fold laundry here, not people booking three nights at an oceanfront tower.

That is the shift worth paying attention to.

The tell: the map has moved inland

For years, the Grand Strand's biggest openings clustered where the rental units are. This year's list reads differently.

Two of these sit inside residential submarkets. One sits at a working marina. The Broadway and Mall additions are still tourist-adjacent, but even they are backfilling dead retail rather than pushing more capacity toward the beach. The range of arrivals in this class is striking: a distillery-brewery hybrid that required three years of planning, a kosher Mediterranean counter on Kings Highway, and a celebrity chef's entertainment compound taking over a former department store.

If you live in Carolina Forest or off 501, the practical read is simple: your closest weeknight option just got shorter.

The Carolina Forest brewery is the one to test first

South Coast Beer Project opened June 1 at 5020 Carolina Forest Blvd. It is not a taproom trying to look family-friendly. It was built family-friendly. The spot includes a full-service restaurant inside the brewery, 400+ seating options, a lawn to relax featuring a video wall, and a full playground along with plenty of outdoor space.

That combination is unusual on the Grand Strand. Most local breweries assume a childless Saturday afternoon crowd. This one assumed the opposite and built accordingly. If you have kids under ten and have been avoiding brewery patios for the obvious reason, this is the field trip.

The waterfront play at Grande Dunes

357 Brewers is the more ambitious build. The $6.4 million facility features a 15-barrel brewing system, an outdoor beer garden with scenic Intracoastal Waterway views, and an upscale pub menu, plus a rotating lineup of craft beers, small-batch specialties, and events like live music and beer tastings. Summer 2026 opening at the marina.

For residents on the north end, this closes a real gap. The Intracoastal has plenty of restaurants and almost no places to sit outside with a beer while a boat comes in. That is the whole pitch.

The Broadway anchor, in plain terms

Ole Smoky opened this spring at Broadway at the Beach. It is worth understanding what it is not. It is not another chain restaurant slotting into a rotating storefront. Ole Smoky Distillery and Yee-Haw Brewing Co. opened in May 2026 at Broadway at the Beach, 1214 Celebrity Circle in Myrtle Beach, a 40,000-square-foot venue combining a working distillery, a craft brewery, a full restaurant, an outdoor beer garden with lake views, tasting rooms, guided tours, and live event spaces — the first Ole Smoky location in South Carolina and the first joint location for both brands outside of Tennessee.

That is a real production facility on the property. Take out-of-town family there once and it will hold up. The tour is the point.

Down the road at Myrtle Beach Mall, Guy Fieri's Downtown Flavortown opened at Myrtle Beach Mall with a full-service dining space, tiki bar, bowling, arcade games, and a big family-friendly entertainment setup. Reasonable rainy-Saturday option. Not a destination.

The free thing residents underuse

The most useful entry on the summer calendar is also free.

Beginning June 8, "Hot Summer Nights" returns to the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk and Plyler Park. From Monday through Saturday, the party kicks off at 5 PM and keeps the energy going until 8 PM. On Sundays, the fun starts a little earlier, 1 to 4 PM.

The part locals forget: live concerts are held 6-8 PM every Wednesday and Friday, and after the Wednesday-night concert, a fireworks display goes off over the Atlantic at 9 PM throughout the summer. Every Wednesday. All summer. You can walk down after dinner. Details on the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance page.

If you have not used the Boardwalk on a Wednesday night in a while, it is a different Wednesday night than you remember.

Farmers markets, not just Saturday

The Grand Strand runs four weekly farmers markets during the season, and the timing spreads out enough that you can build a real weekly rhythm without repeating a Saturday morning. Weekly through mid-December: North Myrtle Beach on Fridays at 925 1st Avenue South; Valor Park at The Market Common on Saturdays; and closer to home for many Myrtle Beach residents, Surfside Beach on Tuesdays at Surfside Drive and Willow Drive.

That Tuesday market matters if your weekend is already spoken for.

Events worth blocking off

Skip the tourist calendars and hold four dates:

• July 3, Red, White & Blue 5K at Barefoot Landing. Early enough that you finish before the crowds show up.
• July 4, Salute from the Shore. F-16s and vintage military aircraft fly over the South Carolina coast; the flyover begins at 1:00 p.m. Ten minutes on your own porch or the beach access nearest to you.
• July 16 to 18, Family Golf Week. Paired teams across selected Myrtle Beach courses. If you have kids or grandkids in town, this is a better anchor than another aquarium visit.
• July 28, DCI Drum Corps International at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium. Genuinely one of the most interesting nights of live performance on the Strand, and few residents realize it stops here.

For a fuller list, Visit Myrtle Beach's events calendar stays reasonably current.

Family Kingdom, sixty years in

The park is 60 this year. That matters because they built something to mark it. A custom RMC-manufactured single-rail roller coaster is coming this summer, standing 100 feet tall and reaching speeds of 50 mph, with a track layout designed exclusively for Myrtle Beach.

For context: the Swamp Fox has been the park's tallest ride since 1966. The new coaster is 28 feet taller. This is the biggest single addition in six decades of the park's history. If you have driven past Family Kingdom on autopilot since your kids aged out, this is the summer to look again.

Quick hits, for the running list

• Zeytin is quietly one of the better new Mediterranean spots on the Strand, worth an early weeknight visit before the word fully spreads.
• The District inside Captain's Quarters Resort added Strike Zone Mini Bowling and a large arcade, all open to the public, which makes it an actual rainy-day option and not just a resort amenity.
• Bohemian Bull Tavern opened in Murrells Inlet at 2859 Hwy 17 Business if you are already heading south for the MarshWalk.
• The Whistling Duck on Surfside Pier, open since 2025, has become the local pick for oceanfront charcuterie and sunset drinks without the Ocean Boulevard chaos.

Reading the season

Take the map view again. A brewery in Carolina Forest with a playground. A brewery on the Intracoastal with a deck. A Tuesday farmers market in Surfside. Free fireworks every Wednesday at 9. These are not aimed at the person renting a condo for a week. They are aimed at you.

That is the actual story of Myrtle Beach summer 2026. The town is spending its new capacity on the people already here.

If you or a neighbor is starting to think about what a home in a different Myrtle Beach submarket looks like — closer to Grande Dunes, deeper into Carolina Forest, or lighter and lower-maintenance somewhere along the coast — Michelle Schneider is happy to walk through it, quietly and at your pace. Let's connect.