If you have lived here more than a couple of years, you know the MarshWalk's rhythm barely changes. Eight restaurants, the same eight names, the same summer boat parade, the same Halloween crawl. That stability is part of why people move here and part of why they stay. It also means that when the lineup actually shifts, most residents find out from a neighbor rather than a headline.

This year the shifts are worth catching up on. One name on the boardwalk itself finally changed. Three new restaurants opened within a mile of the MarshWalk on U.S. 17 Business. And the fall calendar is filling in earlier than usual, with a few dates that tend to sell out or clog Highway 17 if you do not plan around them.

The one MarshWalk name that actually changed

The eight boardwalk restaurants have been the same for a long stretch: Bovine's, Creek Ratz, Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack's, The Claw House, Wicked Tuna, Wahoo's Fish House, and until recently Sloppy Jose's Cantina. Sloppy Jose's, which opened in 2024 in the former Neptune's Bistro space at 4139 U.S. 17 Business, closed earlier this year.

Inlet Shipwreck Bar & Grill officially opened on February 25, 2026, taking over the location previously occupied by Sloppy Jose's Cantina at 4139 U.S. 17 Business in Murrells Inlet. The concept leans hard into the maritime theme, with a pirate ship playground already on the property and an all-day happy hour that has drawn a mixed reaction from residents who use the nearby public boat ramp. The menu is casual coastal: seafood platters, salads, burgers, sandwiches, barbecue ribs, and pork chop entrées. It is also the first new member of the eight-restaurant MarshWalk group in some time, and it now appears on the official Restaurant Week roster alongside Bovine's, Creek Ratz, Dead Dog Saloon, Drunken Jack's, The Claw House, Wicked Tuna and Wahoo's Fish House. If you have not been down since winter, this is the update that matters most on the boardwalk itself.

Three openings within a mile of the MarshWalk

The more interesting story for residents is happening a short drive up and down 17 Business, where the character of the corridor is filling in with concepts that were not here a year ago.

Bohemian Bull Tavern & Beer Garden, 2859 Hwy 17 Business. A taste of Charleston has arrived, taking over the former Old Chicago Pizza spot with Southern-inspired comfort food, burgers, crispy fried okra, and whipped feta drizzled with hot honey. It has quickly become a Sunday afternoon spot, and the property hosts periodic weekend vendor markets on the lot.

Francesco's, 2520 U.S. Highway 17 Business. Opened in May by 21-year-old Nikko Genova, the third-generation owner of Genova Pizza & Pasta in Socastee. Francesco's serves a variety of pizzas in a choice of two styles, traditional Sicilian with a thick, fluffy crust, or Grandma's with a thin and crispy crust that hits home for many New Yorkers. Genova told the Post and Courier that the customer base has skewed toward transplants who remember his family's shop near Long Island. The square-shaped specialty pies include the Tri-Color, which replicates the Italian flag with rows of pesto, vodka and marinara sauces, and the Upside Down, a Sicilian pie flipped over and smothered in marinara sauce and grated cheese.

Palm 33, U.S. 17 Business. Palm 33, a new steak and seafood restaurant, opened in Murrells Inlet May 1. Owner Lisa Blackwell came out of catering and wedding planning, and the concept threads together a racecar tribute with a Key West sensibility. Blackwell makes all of the restaurant's bakery items herself, which is worth knowing if you have been looking for a nearby spot that treats dessert as a full menu category rather than an afterthought.

If you sketch these four openings on a map, the pattern is not a dispersion. It is a densification of the U.S. 17 Business spine between roughly Wachesaw Road and the north end of the MarshWalk. The boardwalk still anchors the identity of the area, but the eating options are no longer confined to it.

The fall and winter calendar worth marking now

August is the moment when residents start looking at what to plan around and what to stay off the road for. Most of the marquee dates through year-end are set.

• Brookgreen Gardens Summer Light, running Wednesdays and Saturdays, May 27 through August 22, 2026. A few weekends remain. The lighting installations through the sculpture garden are the reason to go, and the pop-up gallery and live music make it a good option for out-of-town guests before the summer window closes.
• Atalaya Festival, September 25 to 27, 2026, at Huntington Beach State Park, with 100+ artisans, local food, and local musicians. If you have friends who ask about "the real Lowcountry" thing to do, this is it.
• Pawleys Island Festival of Music & Art, October 1 through 17, 2026, with concerts and a wine and food gala. Short drive south.
• Grand Strand Witches' Night, October 17, 2026, an annual Halloween crawl at the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk to benefit the Children's Recovery Center. Costumes encouraged.
• Halloween on the MarshWalk, October 31. The MarshWalk's longest-running and most successful event, with all eight MarshWalk restaurants offering food and drink specials.
• Murrells Inlet Oyster Roast, November 7, 2026, at the Wicked Tuna parking lot, with all-you-can-eat oysters, live music, and local craft vendors.
• 12th Annual Santa Crawl on the MarshWalk, Thursday, December 10, 2026, from 5:00 PM onward.
• MarshWalk Wonderland of Lights, running all December along the MarshWalk, a walk-through holiday light experience along the illuminated boardwalk.
• New Year's Eve on the MarshWalk, December 31, with all eight restaurants running festive menus and live music.

Two practical notes for residents. The Witches' Night crawl and Halloween on the MarshWalk are back-to-back weekends in October, and both draw enough traffic that the causeway parking situation gets tight from mid-afternoon onward. And the Oyster Roast on November 7 is one of the few events where the Wicked Tuna parking lot itself is the venue, which is worth knowing if you would normally launch a boat that morning.

The point about the number eight

There is a reason the MarshWalk keeps referring to itself as an eight-restaurant boardwalk even as the surrounding food scene grows. That number is not a marketing convenience. It is a membership.

Restaurant Week, Halloween on the MarshWalk, Luck of the MarshWalk, and the Santa Crawl all use "all eight participating restaurants" as their structural device. The events do not exist without the count.

For residents, the practical takeaway is that Inlet Shipwreck's arrival did more than replace a menu. It preserved the eight. Had Sloppy Jose's closed without a successor in that footprint, the anchor events would have needed to reorganize. Instead, the adult costume contest for the March St. Patrick's celebration was staged with registration at Inlet Shipwreck and final judging at Bovine's Wood Fired Specialties, and the new name slotted directly into the existing choreography.

The new openings up the highway are on a separate track. Bohemian Bull, Francesco's, and Palm 33 are not part of the MarshWalk membership and are not likely to be. What they are doing is thickening the everyday options for people who live here and want something other than a boardwalk seat on a Tuesday night in October. That is a different kind of good news.

What to do with all of this

If you have out-of-town family visiting between now and the end of August, take them to Brookgreen for a Summer Light evening and to the MarshWalk for dinner after. If you are booking a group dinner for a birthday or a work night, the four newest rooms are the ones worth trying first, because the review consensus is still forming and reservations are easier to get than they will be by spring. And if you have been meaning to walk the full MarshWalk with fresh eyes, do it before Halloween weekend, when the crowd changes the experience entirely.

Murrells Inlet has always been a place where residents keep a running mental list of what is opening, what is closing, and which weekend is which. This year the list is longer than usual. The good part is that almost all of the additions are within a short drive of your driveway.

If you are thinking about buying, selling, or simply want a candid read on how the Murrells Inlet market is behaving as we head into the fall season, the team at Perry Peace lives and works in these same corridors. Get your free market report and we will pair the numbers with the local context that makes them useful.