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SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — The Surfside Beach Pier is officially open to the public!

On Thursday evening, the town celebrated its 60th birthday, and at the event, the new mayor made the blockbuster announcement.

READ MORE: Council frustrated with no clear date on opening of Surfside Beach Pier: 'You're behind'

I expect some of you are hoping for an announcement on the pier's opening, so I do not want to disappoint," said Mayor Robert Krouse. "The Town of Surfside Beach would appreciate if you would all join me at the pier opening, right now.

He said they knew they were going to open it at the celebration for a few weeks. It was just a matter of keeping the element of surprise.

"We didn’t want the secret to get out and we also didn’t want to promise anything that might not come. We’ve had a couple challenges with the pier over the past few years and we just wanted to see if we could pull it off," Krouse said.

And, they did.

Hundreds of people walked down the concrete pier and took in the gorgeous views.

“It’s almost surreal. There were a lot of people walking out there, but it was still very quiet," Carol and Terry Mulloy said. "And it’s really interesting, you watch the waves break when you’re at that part of the pier and they sound like they’re soft.”

RELATED: 'We've waited so long:' No set date for Surfside Beach Pier to reopen, mayor says

Drippy’s Ice Cream, the only business on the pier that’s open had customers come in for the first time.

"It’s fun seeing customers walk in through the door. Our staff is excited because they’ve all been dying to work at the pier,” Tiffany Dwiggins, the owner of the ice cream shop said.

Despite all the setbacks and the delays, Krouse said “We’re done, it’s open and it’s staying open. Come on down and see it.”

According to Krouse, the bait and tackle shop is set to open in a few weeks. Once it opens, people will be allowed to fish. The third shop to open will be one of the restaurants and it should be opening its doors within the next few months. The fourth and final shop does not have a set date yet.

The pier was damaged during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

The pier underwent the final survey Thursday morning, according to officials.

After many disappointing reports about the town’s fishing pier, the Surfside Beach town council finally had something to be happy about Tuesday night.

Town administrator Gerald Vincent said the pier construction had passed the last inspections and is declared “substantially complete” which means the town received a Certificate of Occupation Monday. That means the tenants of the buildings on the pier can now begin the process of outfitting their locations. It also means the pier which was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 is that much closer to finally being open to the public.

Public works director John Adair who is managing the pier’s completion and operation for the town said there are still a few housekeeping items such as reports and new locks to be installed but once those are completed, the public will be allowed on the pier.

“The public will be allowed to come out on the pier, even with the other businesses still being upfitted,” Adair said. “They might not be able to fish at first but at least they can walk out on it. The bait and tackle shop will be handling our fishing permits so we have to wait until they’re ready.”

There are four buildings that will be leased on the pier: the Surf Diner, Drippy’s Ice Cream, Perry’s Bait and Tackle Shop and an as yet unnamed restaurant. Adair said Drippy’s, formerly known as Painters Ice Cream, is almost complete already. He said they used Consensus, the contractor that is building the pier, to do their inside work.

Vincent said he couldn’t give an exact date for the pier’s grand opening but having the CO is a major step toward it.

Mayor Robert Krouse said it was “wonderful to finally have some good news about the pier. We’re not there yet but it’s within sight.”

In other actions, the council voted 5-2 to remove a plaque dedicating the pier that was installed last September. The pier has the names of the last town council as well as Vincent, Adair, Collins Engineers, LS3P Architects and Consensus Construction.

Councilmember Shawn Fallon said she had a petition of 150 names that wanted the plaque taken down. She said during her campaign last fall, many people said they wanted the plaque removed. She said she looked back over previous meetings and couldn’t find where the plaque and its names were presented to the council.

After the meeting, Adair provided a copy of the minutes of the July 25, 2023 that showed he did present the council information about the plaque.

Councilmember Skip Walls said he had a couple of reasons for wanting the plaque taken down. His first was the fact that many more people than those listed on the plaque have worked toward getting the pier up and running.

He also said there are three names on the plaque that should not be on it because they had sued the rest of the council and the town over the construction of the pier.

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He was referring to a lawsuit filed in 2020 by then mayor Robert Hellyer and council members Cindy Keating and Michael Drake against the rest of the council and the town. They said the council had voted illegally to hire the firm of Orion/FBi to build the pier. Following the suit, the council re-voted to hire Consensus.

Council member Chris Stamey said he was proud to have his name on the plaque.

“We worked hard to get it this far and I’m not ashamed to have my name on it,” he said. “A list of 150 names just represents a small part of the 4,000 residents who live here.”

The names of council members William Krinken and LaVerne Kreklau are also on the plaque. Kinken said he was proud to be on the plaque but would vote to remove it. Kreklau said he did not care if his name was on it or not but voted to keep it because it would be a “waste of money” to remove it.

Adair said the plaque originally cost $4,500 plus tax.

Kreklau and Stamey voted to keep the plaque.

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - Almost a decade in the making, people from all across the Grand Strand funneled into Surfside Beach to experience the long-awaited pier re-opening.

Almost eight years ago, Hurricane Matthew damaged the Surfside Beach Pier, leading to a complete rebuild. As of Thursday night, it is open to the public.

Residents, business owners, and town officials tell WMBF News the moment feels surreal.

“I think it’s awesome that it’s finally opened up,” said Rodney Rambo, who lives nearby. “I’ve heard a lot of stories of this and that and whatever, and I think it’s cool.”

The pier’s opening also coincides with the town’s 60th birthday.

“This pier is, I think, a great way to start the next 60 years of Surfside Beach,” said Mayor Robert Krouse. “Just watching the flood of people go up the steps and up the ramp, in the elevators, really, really a pleasure to watch.”

With the opening of the pier came the opening of the third location of Drippy’s Homemade Ice Cream.

Owner Tiffany Dwiggins tells WMBF News the business signed the lease for the pier location in the fall of 2022. Since then, it has been a waiting game, so when the pier finally opened Thursday night, she was thrilled.

“It was surreal,” said Dwiggins. “We’re just really happy to be open. It was a great turnout, a ton of people.”

More businesses, like Whistling Duck, Perry’s Bait and Tackle and Surf Diner will soon join the shop.

Suzanne and Randy Laney said they used to live in Surfside Beach full time and remember when Hurricane Matthew destroyed the pier. They said when they heard the news about it being open, they had to come to see it for themselves.

“We were here during the hurricane when it broke down and we just watched the whole process of it being built and today’s the day. It’s just so beautiful,” said Suzanne Randy.

Randy said he’s more confident about this one lasting.

“I love the concrete, what they did with the concrete, so the hurricanes can’t mess with this one,” he said.

As of right now, we do not have specific dates for the business openings, but Mayor Krouse said he is confident they will open this season.

An employee at Perry’s Bait and Tackle tells WMBF News they are in the process of moving in.

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The Surfside Beach Fishing Pier, which opened March 14 during the town’s 60th anniversary celebration, replaced the wooden one destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The pier cost more than $20 million, and about $10 million of that came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“It’s already looking like a huge success,” Mayor Robert Krouse said. “We had some issues, but I think people are ready to move on. I see people up there every day, early in the morning and evening. I think it’s a good sign for what’s going to come this first season, and then for years to come.”

The new pier is made of synthetic boards designed to blow out when hit by hurricane-force winds. It has 26 concrete pilings and is 800 feet long, 36 feet wide and 25 feet tall — 9 feet taller than the old pier.

Drippy’s Homemade Ice Cream is already open on the pier, and three more businesses plan to open later this year: Surf Diner, The Whistling Duck and Perry’s Bait and Tackle. All are locally owned. Fishing will not be allowed on the pier until the opening of Perry’s Bait and Tackle.

Beside the new pier, visitors can also enjoy the town’s entertainment district, which includes bars and restaurants like Bubba’s Fish Shack, River City Cafe, Pizza Hyena and Gracious Pig Smokehouse.

“It’s going to be a thriving area, and, of course, the beach is right next to that,” Krouse said. “We really think it’s going to be a vibrant and welcoming area.”

On March 18, the town announced The Whistling Duck would be the fourth and final tenant coming to the pier. The restaurant, created by Surfside locals Mike Wallace and Rebecca Wallace, is the only eatery planned for the pier without a Grand Strand location or a pre-established town history.

Myrtle Beach News

The Wallaces moved to town with their daughter in 2019 from Phoenix after visiting the area for years. They have a collective background in restaurants, so they decided to create The Whistling Duck last summer.

The restaurant, named after the Palmetto State’s bird of the same name, is expected to open around Memorial Day. It will offer various to-go dining options, like charcuteries, sandwiches, cheeses and salads, as well as catering.

“We feel very blessed to be able to have that location, and to try to bring something to the pier that, otherwise, isn’t offered right now,” Mike Wallace said. “The pier’s beautiful. They’ve done a great job creating an atmosphere that is just open and beautiful.”

Regarding other pier tenants, Drippy’s Homemade Ice Cream, which started in the mid-1900s, offers homemade ice cream, cakes, sundaes and other frozen treats to the South Strand. The shop has two other Garden City locations, along U.S. Highway 17 Business and Atlantic Avenue, according to its website.

Surf Diner will return to the new pier this year after previously operating on the old pier before its closure. The local seafood restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner options, and some of its dishes have included flounder sandwiches, oyster and shrimp platters, omelets, burgers and steaks.

Perry’s Bait and Tackle plans to offer fishing supplies on the pier. The Murrells Inlet-based bait shop, which opened in 1954, offers a variety of supplies and a bait selection that includes shrimp, mud minnows, finger mullet, blue crab, sand fleas, eels, fiddler crabs, crickets and bloodworms, according to its website .

The first Surfside Beach pier, privately owned by the Holliday family, was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in 1954 and again by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It wasn’t rebuilt until 1993. The town has owned and operated the pier since 2008.

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