The Grand Strand's Instant Icon: the Myrtle Beach Skywheel

  Since it opened in 2011, the Myrtle Beach Skywheel has become a fixture of the beach town’s skyline. Twenty stories tall, it has become a landmark by which visitors and locals alike navigate the beachfront area. In today’s story we talk with two representatives who reveal what makes the wheel – which they regard as an “observation wheel” rather than an entertainment ride like smaller ferris wheels – so special. Among its appealing features are the enclosed gondolas, air conditioned for comfort regardless of the weather. Plus, for people, and ocean, watching, the wheel has no equal. A variety of ocean wildlife and human nightlife can be seen from its heights. Some people get even higher – emotionally, that is - than most, our hosts say, and take the plunge from the giant structure – not into the Atlantic Ocean, but into the sea of matrimony.