Grand Strand’s final Mustang Week met with enthusiasm, noise complaints

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - After over two decades, Mustang Week is switching gears to new opportunities.

One of the event’s original founders, Bryan Worley, says the Grand Strand was the perfect area to host Mustang Week.

Now they’re taking a step back.

“The Grand Strand offers the beach the shopping, the waterparks for the kids, everything. So we know that it’s the Grand Strand that really sells the events, but moving it somewhere else inland is a pretty hard sell,” he said.

The City of Myrtle Beach did not renew the event’s contract to host the event at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. According to Worley, there really isn’t another place in the area to host the event.

“After we got back, we waited a couple of weeks and it was time to renew renewed our contract with the convention center, which is owned by the city. We were told that the city had told the convention center that they were not to renew,” he said.

City spokesperson Mark Kruea said the decision to not renew the city’s deal with Mustang Week had more to do with it being an outdoor event rather than being held indoors.

Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune, meanwhile, said in a social media post that it’s important to note the city is now no longer involved with the event.

“During big events such as this, we get a lot of emails and complaints from residents about the noise,” she told WMBF News regarding the post. “So it was trying to give people a heads up, to let them know this is what’s happening.”

Bethune added that she hopes the city can hold other events like Mustang Week in the future.

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