Twenty-five years back Carolina Knights planned a motorcycle rally at the beach. They were only five in number. The event pulled around a hundred visitors in 1980. The weekend occasion is now a weeklong gala with around 400,000 visitors and thousands of bikers. This year (May 24-29, 2006), it will become a town-wide festival.

Yes, we were talking about Atlantic Beach Bike Fest.

Another famous bike rally is Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally. It is the longest continuous rally starting on 17th may this year at Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

Tourists from all parts of the country and abroad plan their Myrtle Beach vacation around this season specifically to join the party with over 100,000 bikers, food and amusement. Officials estimate that around 375,000 visitors will join the party this year.

Black Bike Week is also a popular bike festival, around which a good number of people plan their Myrtle Beach vacation. The tag line "make it bounce" bounces in almost every nook and corner of the town, wild and extreme, during the fest. One can easily guess rest of the story.

Something is always happening there at Myrtle Beach. The 55th annual Sun Fun Festival is just knocking at the doors with the agenda to break the record for the world's tallest sandcastle. The complete sandcastle will be 60 feet wide at its base and 35 feet tall with 1,200 cubic tons sand and the theme is "Summer Starts Here".

The Ninth Annual Sea Doo Surf and Turf Championships will take place on June 3rd and 4th, behind the Spring Maid Resort on the beach. Summer sports, Fitness Camps, Masters Swimming, Myrtle Beach Biathlon and others are always pushing each other. Such events of high-energy with professional participation, great racing, and lots of crowd participation pull great number of visitors round the year.

Traffic congestions of four hours or more are common throughout the Grand Strand during the Memorial Day weekend though there are additional law enforcement officers. A little data about traffic will be helpful for visitors to get into and move around the city during the festival seasons.

In Myrtle Beach, traffic on Ocean Boulevard is one-way, southbound, from 29th Avenue North to the southern city limits, with no parking allowed. Traffic headed north to the Town of Atlantic Beach on Highway 17 will enter a turn-only lane.

Whatever your reasons are for being by seaside, a Myrtle Beach vacation always has something new to offer and amuse you. Be there once to believe it.

The City is the heart of the Grand Strand, a 60-mile crescent of beach on South Carolina's northern coast.