Slingshot ride will test fear of heights DAWN BRYANT TOURISM TALK

A slingshot ride that will hurl people into the air above Ocean Boulevard plans to open by the end of March.

Riders will soar as high as 180 feet - about 70 feet higher than the peak on the Hurricane roller coaster a few blocks south at The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park.

Each flight will cost between $20 and $25. The exact ticket price hasn't been set yet.

Crews will start hanging steel for the ride next week. The ride came by boat from Austria and is waiting at the Charleston port for a ride to Myrtle Beach, said Bill Prescott, who owns and will operate the thrill ride.

Prescott is shooting to open before the first round of seasonal crowds visit the beach during the Easter holiday, the weekend of April 16.

"We are making progress," Prescott said. "We are just making darn sure that we don't miss Easter."

The ride replaces the Ocean Adventure Miniature Golf Course at the corner of Ocean Boulevard and 12th Avenue North.

The corner will have kiosks selling ice cream, snacks and possibly air brushed items. It also will be the new home of Air Boingo bungee jump, which Prescott used to operate on 8th Avenue North.

The slingshot ride originally was to open last summer, but was delayed as it awaited approvals from the city and state.

It has clearance now, though some officials, including the entire Myrtle Beach Planning Commission, opposed the ride because of concerns over noise, safety and its 210-foot height.

City of the future

How do you want North Myrtle Beach to look in five years? How about 10 years?

Figuring out that vision is one of the goals of Paul Williams, incoming president of the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. The chamber's board of directors hired him a week ago to fill the top job, which used to carry the title "executive director."

Williams plans to talk with the chamber's 1,144 members to get their input on a vision, then develop a plan that will carry the area into the coming years.

"The next decade is just going to be explosive," said Williams, who lives in the Arcadian Shores area. "We need to know where we are going to be five, 10, 15 years from now."

Williams' predecessors haven't lasted long enough to focus on the long term. He is the fourth executive since the chamber was formed six years ago. The chamber had been without a leader since May, when the previous executive director was fired.

The turnover doesn't bother Williams, who will leave his job as general manager of The Breakers Resort to take the chamber job.

"I've always been put in positions where there has been a little volatility," he said. "And I've been able to calm it down."

New park leadership

Four coastal state parks have new managers, but they aren't strangers.

Veteran park leaders stepped up to fill the vacancies left by retirements and promotions, said Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the S.C. Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department, which runs the state's 46 parks.

The parks are an important part of the beach's tourism, with about 9,000 acres of protected marshland and maritime forest, 10 miles of beach and nearly 800 campsites and 25 cabins.

"Because of the way it occurred, we've had a big change among the leadership," Edmonds said. "We've been able to groom successors."

The changes:

Gerald Ives moves to Myrtle Beach State Park. Ives was manager of Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia. He replaces Bobby Turner, who retired after 35 years at the Myrtle Beach park.

Brenda Magers moves to Huntington Beach from the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area.

Susan Spell, a former assistant manager at Myrtle Beach, moves to Edisto Beach.

Jeff Atkins, former manager of Edisto Beach, shifts to Hunting Island.