"This would be the time of year that we would be squirreling away money," Melissa Anderson told the Folly Current in early August. "And now we're having to be creative." Anderson co-owns Surfer Betty Surf Shack, the boutique trailer that opened in April at Center Street and West Erie Avenue. Her business partner Kate Ferrara told The Post and Courier that some days at that corner brought in less than $100 in sales.
On Oct. 1 at 3 p.m., the City of Folly Beach cut the ribbon at Center Street and East Cooper Avenue and officially reopened the street. The timing matters more than the ceremony. Construction ran from May 2025 to July 2026, so it covered all of this summer. The finished street now opens into the cooler months, the stretch Center Street businesses normally get through on what they made between June and August. This year a lot of them didn't make it.
The cars came. Center Street didn't get them.
The island's overall numbers held up this summer. Mayor Chris Bizzell told the Folly Current that the traffic counter on the bridge recorded more cars than at the same point last year. He added that, according to AirDNA, occupancy at Folly vacation rentals was slightly up. City Administrator Aaron Pope told The Post and Courier that traffic counts matched previous seasons.
Bizzell also said those numbers don't mean business was up on Center Street, where all the work was concentrated. Visitors still came to Folly. They just went around the island's main commercial block. The Folly Current described a summer of temporary fencing and rerouted sidewalks with almost no parking on Center Street during the busiest months.
Here is how owners up and down the street described it:
| Business | Where | What the owner reported this summer |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut Joe's | Center Street and West Ashley Avenue | Perry Freeman called it "our slowest Summer since being open on Folly, and it's not even close." |
| The Washout | Opposite end of Center Street | Owner Greg Marshall said dust and noise drove guests off the open patio, with the biggest drop at lunch. |
| Drop-In | East side of Center Street | Owner Kristina Ogden said business stayed solid, though she wondered how much more it could have grown. |
| Shoobie's Ice Cream | Down the street | Owner Cody Brooks said the construction had a significant impact. |
| The Pineapple Hut | Between West Erie and West Cooper avenues | Manager Taylor Connor told The Post and Courier it was among the shop's slowest summers since it opened in 2019. |
| Surfer Betty Surf Shack | Center Street and West Erie Avenue | Opened in April, then lost most of its visibility to the work zone. |
| Flipper Finders | Near the island entrance | Owner Richard Brendel saw fewer walk-ups, got by on pre-booked trips, and used the year to remodel. |
Connor said The Pineapple Hut "can't afford to close down" during what are usually its busiest months, so it stayed open through the disruption. Other shops on the street closed temporarily when crews tore out and repoured the sidewalks in front of them.
Why the work had to land on a summer
Nobody on the island chose a summer shutdown, and the mayor has explained why. Bizzell said the city knew it was facing roughly a 16-month project, so one summer was going to take the hit no matter when crews started. He also said the grant source set the timeline, not the city. "When you get the money, it has to be utilized," he said. "Folly Beach can't foot that bill."
According to The Post and Courier, the project cost more than $7 million and was funded mostly through the South Carolina Infrastructure Investment Program. Pope called it the "largest and costliest stormwater improvement" since the pipes under the road went in during the 1940s, and this was the first time those pipes had been replaced. The schedule ran long, too. Gulf Stream Construction had offered what Public Works Director Eric Lutz called an "optimistic" 12-month timeline, and weather, utility disruptions and water line problems pushed it out.
That leaves a finished street with a lost summer behind it, at the start of the slow season.
What's actually different when you walk it now
The changes under the pavement are invisible. Most of the visible ones are along the curb. The Folly Current listed the finishing work as:
- Bioretention cells, or rain gardens, that soak up runoff
- New asphalt and pervious PowerBLOCK pavers
- The engraved commemorative bricks, reinstalled
- More palmetto trees
- Upgraded street lighting, which Dominion Energy replaced
Parking changed a little. The project added pervious parallel spaces on the side streets next to Center. The city's project plan put 39 of those spaces on East Cooper, East Erie and East Huron avenues and removed four from Center Street itself, for a net gain of 35. Those are the planned figures, so expect the count on the ground to land close to them, not necessarily exactly on them.
The city's own project page still says trees, rain gardens and bricks are "coming soon." That text was written before the Oct. 1 completion and hasn't been updated.
Beach parking also gets cheaper this time of year. Park Folly Beach's posted schedule drops the flat-rate East Arctic lots, such as 201 East Arctic, from $15 on weekdays and $25 on weekends in March through September to $10 and $15 from October through February. Hourly lots like 601 East Arctic go from $3 an hour or $12 a day to $2.50 an hour or $10 a day. Separately, ABC News 4 reported that the Planning Commission was set to discuss a proposal on Oct. 5 that would require private commercial lots to post clear hourly and daily rates. The outcome wasn't public at the time of writing.
The welcome-back party already happened
The city and the Folly Association of Business made their first move on Oct. 3. The city paid to make Mermaids & Mateys free for up to 6,000 people with advance tickets. It also gave free vendor spaces on Center Street or a side street to the island's own retail, food and beverage businesses. "We wanted the business community to know that we see them as a vital part of our community," Bizzell said. FAB Events Coordinator Kelly Travers called the goal "to drive attendance and boost spending directly into our island businesses."
Travers described it as a "one-time free event." Visit Folly says the festival is over for the year and returns in October 2027. That leaves the rest of the fall to the ordinary weeks, when the year-round island is the main customer base.
An October that runs through the middle of the island
The city's October calendar keeps most events within a short walk of the new street.
- Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2:30 p.m.: Author Talk with Lisa Spears at the Folly Beach Library
- Thursdays, 8:30 a.m.: Sip & Soles Walking Group
- Friday, Oct. 9, 3 p.m.: Birds of Prey Demonstration & Talk
- Thursday, Oct. 15, 6 p.m.: Concert in the Park with Fancy Power Pop
- Monday, Oct. 19, and Tuesday, Oct. 27, 6 p.m.: Witches Dance Practice
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 p.m.: Family Movie Night with "ET"
- Friday, Oct. 30, 4 p.m.: Halloween Decorated House Contest
- Saturday, Oct. 31, 5 p.m.: Children's Halloween Festival at Folly River Park
The library keeps going into November, with Mah Jongg on Nov. 6, 13 and 20 from 10 a.m. to noon and an Author Talk with Paul Attaway on Nov. 10.
Most of these end right around dinnertime. A Thursday concert lets out close to the tables at Coconut Joe's, the patio at The Washout and the soft-serve window at The Pineapple Hut, all of them businesses that spent the summer behind fencing.
One storefront still behind paper
Not everything on the street is open again. The Post and Courier reported that the Sand Dollar sold this summer for $2.4 million to an Upstate buyer and appears to be closed indefinitely for renovations. Photos dated Aug. 19 show interior work underway. No reopening date has been announced.
Lutz has already seen the new pipes do their job. After a heavy summer afternoon storm, he said, "We had nothing backed up in the system, no flooding related to drainage anywhere." His view of the payoff for the business district: "we're already seeing it. It's going to be huge." As Anderson put it in August, "This year more than any year it's important to support your local businesses on Folly."
If you own a home near Center Street and want to know where it stands now that the street is finished, The Calore + Lacke Team is happy to walk the block with you and put real numbers to it. Start with a free Home Valuation.
