What's New Along The Murrells Inlet MarshWalk This Summer

Walk the half-mile boardwalk on a Thursday in July and you can hear three bands at once, a boat horn from the channel, and kids arguing over the pirate ship at the far end of the parking lot. That last sound is newer than it looks. So is the sign above the door behind it. The MarshWalk you knew last summer is not quite the MarshWalk you're standing on now, and 2026 is the year the difference starts to show.

This post is a local's update on the corners of the inlet that changed over the winter, the weekly rhythms worth putting on your calendar, and a few dates in the second half of the year that will fill the parking lots on either side of Business 17.

The Corner That Changed Hands

The building at 4139 U.S. 17 Business has been three restaurants in three years. Sloppy Jose's Cantina opened in 2024 with a Mexican and Caribbean menu from the Neal and Pam's team. It closed early this year. On February 25, 2026, the same building reopened as Inlet Shipwreck Bar & Grill.

The concept is a full pivot back toward the maritime side of the inlet. Inlet Shipwreck Bar & Grill now offers a casual coastal menu and a pirate-themed environment designed to match the maritime character of the inlet. Early menu offerings include seafood platters, salads, burgers, sandwiches, barbecue ribs, pork chop entrées, and other casual dining staples. The playground the kids in your car keep asking about survived the transition. So did the painted vintage truck at the entrance.

Two things about Inlet Shipwreck that matter for a local weeknight. First, the all-day happy hour includes discounted beer, wine, and a signature Pirate Punch cocktail made with multiple rum blends and tropical flavors. Second, the restaurant already sits in the MarshWalk Restaurant Week lineup. In March 2026, the eight member restaurants, Bovine's, Creek Ratz, Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack's, Inlet Shipwreck, The Claw House, Wicked Tuna and Wahoo's Fish House, offered three-course menus for $40 each. That is the current roster. Mojo's is out, Inlet Shipwreck is in, and the boardwalk math has shifted with it.

The Man Who Built The Walk

If you have lived here long enough to remember when Dead Dog Saloon was called Anchovies, this section is for you. If you haven't, it is worth knowing why the whole boardwalk you're walking on runs the way it does.

Charlie Campbell bought the Dead Dog Saloon location in 2001, when it was formerly known as Anchovies, with the idea of creating a food, entertainment and leisure space all in one. He died earlier this year. His son John described the corner Charlie inherited in plain terms:

"It was quiet. It didn't have the outdoor deck that you know now. It had no live music no stage so he really brought that to the community."

The bigger legacy is the association behind the signs. Charlie Campbell created the MarshWalk Association to bring businesses together around shared marketing strategies. The coordinated calendar you see today, Restaurant Week, Marshi Gras, Halloween on the MarshWalk, the boat parade, all of it runs off a cooperative structure Campbell pushed for when the eight owners could have easily competed instead. That cooperation is why one $40 ticket can move you between eight kitchens in one week, and why a Halloween crawl can shut down and reopen a boardwalk in a single night.

A Weekday Schedule Worth Knowing

The MarshWalk itself books the big weekends. The weeknight rhythm of the inlet is set by the smaller room a block off Business 17. Southern Hops Brewing built out a beer garden series called Inlet Sessions this spring, and once you know the pattern you can plan a week around it.

The lineup this summer leans local. Inlet Sessions continues with music from Bullfrog, a local band that chooses just the right cover tunes, the ones you forgot about. A September Friday brings Coyote Rodeo, an experimental bluegrass act out of Asheville with driving rhythms and dynamic live energy. The house pours to look for are Pop's Pilsner and 843 Lite. Bring a chair.

July 4, Block By Block

The Fourth is the busiest day the inlet sees all year, and the crowd distribution is more predictable than it looks. The annual Murrells Inlet 4th of July Boat Parade begins at 2:00 p.m. on July 4 with festively decorated boats making their way past the MarshWalk to Hot Fish Club. That path is the map for the whole day.

1. Morning through early afternoon: the MarshWalk Association runs its Fourth of July celebration on the boardwalk starting at 10 a.m. at 3979 Highway 17 Business. Get parking done before 11.
2. 2:00 p.m.: boats push off. Viewing areas are all along the MarshWalk, including at Belin United Methodist Church and Morse Park Landing. Morse Park is the quieter option with shade and a lawn.
3. Evening: bars and restaurants throughout the inlet will be serving food and drinks along with live music throughout the day. Southern Hops has SWEET SWEET in the beer garden the same night if you want to skip the crush on the boardwalk.
4. After dark: fireworks over the water, best viewed from any dock or deck south of the Wahoo's Fish House side.

If you are hosting out-of-town family, the Belin Church viewing spot is the one to plant them at with folding chairs. It is walkable to two coffee stops in the morning and closer to residential parking than the boardwalk itself.

After Dark At Brookgreen

Ten minutes south, Brookgreen Gardens runs the summer's other main show. Summer Light runs Wednesdays and Saturdays, May 27 through August 22, 2026, as an annual evening event featuring light installations through the sculpture garden, a pop-up gallery, and live music. A Saturday night that starts with dinner at the Claw House and ends walking the sculpture allées under lit installations is one of the more unusual date-night combinations the county offers.

For families, the July 4 Saturday overlap is worth knowing. Summer Light: Art By Night with Gardens of Glass runs from 6:00 PM at 1931 Brookgreen Drive, so a boat parade at 2 and Brookgreen at 6 is a real single-day itinerary.

Marking The Fall Calendar Now

The best MarshWalk dates in the second half of the year fill up on the parking side long before they fill up on the reservation side. Three to put on the calendar before Labor Day:

• October 17, Grand Strand Witches' Night, the annual Halloween crawl at the MarshWalk to benefit the Children's Recovery Center, with costumes welcome.
• October 31, Halloween on the MarshWalk, the boardwalk's longest-running and most successful event, with all eight MarshWalk restaurants offering food and drink specials.
• November 7, the annual Murrells Inlet Oyster Roast at the Wicked Tuna parking lot, with all-you-can-eat oysters and other foods, live music, and local craft vendors.

The oyster roast is the day the season changes for a lot of locals. Sweatshirt weather, first fire pits on decks, and the parking lot at 4123 Business 17 packed the way it usually is only in June.

What Actually Changed This Year

Pull all of that together and the picture is a boardwalk in the middle of a quiet handoff. The founding figure of the modern MarshWalk is gone. A short-lived tenant on a prominent corner has been replaced by a concept aimed straight at the family crowd. The restaurant week roster now names eight rooms, and one of them is three months old. The weekly music rhythm has migrated a block west to a beer garden. Brookgreen keeps its own tempo two evenings a week from late May into late August.

None of those are headline changes on their own. Together they add up to the version of the inlet you will be describing to guests all summer. Better to know the new names now than to look them up on the boardwalk with a phone in the sun.

If you are thinking about how any of this shapes what your own street or condo building feels like this year, or you have friends asking what changed since their last visit, Life in Myrtle Beach is here to talk through it. Start Your Life at the Beach.