Planners contemplating booking Myrtle Beach will quickly learn that this famed southeastern beach destination has everything needed to execute a hugely successful meeting, from inviting overnight accommodations and spruced up meeting rooms to beautifully landscaped golf courses and popular attractions, including the Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade.
Myrtle Beach is also home to an intriguing lineup of off-site venues—among them, local historic sites, a longstanding popular eatery, a riverboat and a penthouse—that welcome group functions away from the host hotel or resort.
Calvin Gilmore Theater
The Calvin Gilmore Theater, now celebrating 30 years, is the original theater and a landmark in Myrtle Beach, according to Jordan Watkins, spokeswoman for the venue.
“The Calvin Gilmore Theater offers unique and refreshing event spaces with great versatility for a variety of gatherings,” she says of the home of the Carolina Opry and other shows. “Add tickets to the best shows in Myrtle Beach, with five award-winning productions to choose from, and you have a gathering that attendees will not soon forget.”
Event spaces include the upper art gallery area, the auditorium, the outdoor theater grounds and the open theater lobby, which Watkins says is a standout setting with 25-foot ceilings, a crystal chandelier and little to no need for added decorations.
“With our dynamic spaces we have hosted black-tie fundraisers, cocktail receptions, casual gatherings, Christmas parties, corporate annual meetings, award ceremonies, picnics on the beautifully landscaped grounds and more,” she says.
Barefoot Princess Riverboat
The Barefoot Princess Riverboat is the Grand Strand’s only tour and dinner riverboat, on which groups will enjoy networking and sightseeing over a Southern meal, typically consisting of pulled barbecue pork and grilled chicken, or if the planner prefers, a prime rib dinner, low country boil or all-you-can-eat pizza.
According to Sara Roland, the riverboat’s director of marketing and sales, there is no better place to spend quality time with fellow attendees than cruising on the water.
“We’re the only venue a group can utilize to enjoy time on the water with dining and dancing,” she says. “Fresh air and sunshine is the best medicine for busy minds.”
Aside from private dinner cruises, the Barefoot Princess Riverboat also accommodates entertaining sightseeing-only tours, hors d’oeuvre cruises and sunset cruises that are perfect for relaxing and mingling with coworkers after a day of meetings.
The Bridge at North Beach Plantation
Located at the group-friendly North Beach Plantation, one of Myrtle Beach’s most luxurious oceanfront resorts, is the Bridge, which, according to the Myrtle Beach Area CVB, is a great choice for private gatherings.
This 5,500-square-foot penthouse, an ideal option for board retreats and various other small business meetings, features seven guest rooms, 20-foot ceilings, a private balcony with views of the Atlantic Ocean, a media room with an 80-inch television, a gourmet kitchen and in-room dining space.
Hobcaw Barony
The main house at Hobcaw Barony, a 16,000-acre wildlife refuge, is available for receptions and various business functions.
According to Tiffany Paglio, outreach coordinator for Hobcaw Barony, the furnished 1930s house accommodates groups of up to 100 people in a cocktail table setting, and the grounds accommodate oyster roasts, lectures and other events for as many as 250 people.
“The main home is on a high bluff that overlooks Winyah Bay,” she says. “Indoor functions lean toward the elegant to plantation casual.”
Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, or simply the Art Museum, as it is known to locals, is a wonderful venue for intimate group gatherings, according to Casey Church, the museum’s services coordinator.
“The building itself used to be a vacation home, so to say the space has a ‘homey’ feeling is an understatement,” she says. “What sets the space apart from others in Myrtle Beach is that you are surrounded by culture and beautiful pieces of artwork, all while being blanketed in the beauty and relaxation of a beach setting.”
The museum, best suited for smaller events, has several event spaces, including the reception room, tea porch, library and studio.
“The reception room and tea porch are connected to one another and are by far the most popular spaces in the museum for events,” Church says. “There is a piano in the reception room, which is great for entertainment, and the tea porch is enclosed with floor-to-ceiling windows with a wonderful panoramic view of the ocean.”
Ripley’s Aquarium
Event spaces at Ripley’s Aquarium include a private banquet room for up to150 people and a private outdoor area that accommodates up to 75 people, and, according to Alexia Edge, sales managing coordinator for the attraction, buyouts of the entire aquarium accommodate groups with up to 2,000 attendees.
“This is a unique group meeting experience with thousands of underwater exotic fish,” she says. “Groups will be amazed by sharks, stingrays, clownfish, sea dragons and over 300 more different species of animals.”
If the group would like to explore the aquarium in conjunction with a reception or banquet, there is a noteworthy new exhibit in 2015 called Planet of the Jellies.
“This all-new expansion will be one of the largest collections of jellyfish on display in the U.S.” Edge says.
For groups visiting during the holidays at the end of the year, Edge adds that the aquarium also boasts South Carolina’s largest Christmas tree display, featuring trees decorated from each state.
“Your group will stroll throughout the aquarium and see over 55 beautifully decorated Christmas trees during November and December,” she says.
Sea Captain’s House
A favorite restaurant for locals and visitors alike is Sea Captain’s House, a converted beach cottage that’s been in operation for more than a half-century.
Situated oceanfront and next door to the Caribbean Resort and Villas, Sea Captain’s House accommodates special group events, according to the Myrtle Beach Area CVB.
The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and its menu of mainly seafood and Southern cuisine includes crab cakes, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, as well as an extensive wine list and desserts such as key lime pie and chocolate bourbon pecan pie.
Cooper House
Cooper House, a go-to events venue that promises Southern hospitality, accommodates group gatherings inside or in the massive gardens, according to Rita Gray, owner of the National Historical Site.
“Business meetings can hold general sessions in the on-site General Store and use the house, including its porch, for breakouts,” she says.
The Cooper House seats 150 people throughout seven rooms, and the General Store, the largest one-room space available, seats up to 100 people for large banquets.
“There is nothing more elegant than candles, beautiful linens and fabulous food in a rustic setting,” Gray says.
