2026 Memorial Day Tribute Set for May 25 at McCown Auditorium in Conway.

CONWAY, S.C. – Veterans of the American Armed Forces, active-duty military, and the general public are invited to the 2026 Memorial Day Tribute at 2 p.m. on Monday, May 25th in McCown Auditorium at the Horry County Museum in Conway. The event is sponsored by the Horry County Museum, Goldfinch Funeral Home, HTC, and the United Bank Center for Military & Veteran Studies at Coastal Carolina University.
“Memorial Day is a unique and important observance that honors those Americans in uniform who sacrificed their lives for our country,” said Horry County Museum Director Walter Hill, “and the annual Memorial Day Tribute will hopefully enable us to do that in a very special way.”
The 2026 Memorial Day Tribute at McCown Auditorium is designed to honor Americans in uniform of all ages who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country, and will include a moment of silence, presentation of the national colors by a color guard, live patriotic music, and recognition of veterans of the American Armed Forces by service branch and era. It also includes the screening of a locally produced historical documentary: Death Drop: The 82nd Airborne and D-Day, which chronicles the actions of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and airborne operations related to the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II.
“It’s an extraordinary story of courage and heroism,” said author and historian Rod Gragg, who is the producer of the documentary. “The airborne troops were the point of the spear on D-day, which was the largest amphibious operation of World War II and greatly determined the outcome of the war in Europe. The 82nd Airborne and two other airborne divisions were dropped behind enemy lines by parachute and glider with the potentially deadly task of capturing crucial roads, causeways and bridges to prepare for the main Allied landing force, which stormed the beaches of Normandy. What the Airborne troops achieved on D-Day was astounding, but it came at great cost.”
McCown Auditorium and the Horry County Museum are located at 805 Main Street in Conway. “This special event is a very meaningful way for us to remember those in uniform who gave all on our behalf,” said Meghan Hayden, the president of Goldfinch Funeral Home, “and it also provides us with an opportunity to express our gratitude to our local veterans and active-duty military for their service.”
Admission to the 2026 Memorial Day Tribute is free.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with the SCETV film Backstage Pass. This hour long film goes behind the scenes of some of the biggest shows in Myrtle Beach, giving a glimpse into the theatrical production process at places such as Legends in Concert, The Carolina Opry, The Palace Theatre, the Alabama Theatre and Medieval Times.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, May 27th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.

Join us Saturday, May 30th, for a free 30 minute activity at the Farm! Parents can sign children up for a half hour session between 9 AM-11 AM. Group sizes will be limited. In this session, we’ll celebrate the warmer weather with a fun, and tasty, science experiment by making ice cream in a bag.
For information about available times and to register, contact Marian Calder at 843-915-7861 or email calder.marian@horrycountysc.gov . Available sessions are 9, 9:30, 10 or 10:30, please specify which session you would like upon registering.
The L.W. Paul Living History Farm is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 AM-4 PM and is located at 2279 Harris Short Cut Road, Conway, SC 29526.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with Uncommon Courage: The D-Day Battle of Graignes. This documentary tells the remarkable story of the little known battle of Graignes described as the “Alamo of D-Day”. When the D-Day invasion of France began on June 6, 1944, approximately 180 American paratroopers were accidentally dropped far from their drop zone, and landed outside the small village of Graignes in Normandy, right in the path of a major German counterattack. Assisted by French villagers, the American paratroopers at Graignes made a courageous stand against a force of German S.S. troops that was ten time their size.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, June 3rd, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.

After the rise of the boll weevil made cotton crops unstable, flue-cured tobacco became the main cash crop of Horry County. This presentation focuses on the impact of the auction system and the ways in which farmers and buyers attempted to push the prices in their favor. Join us on June 6th at 1 pm to learn more about the impact of flue-cured tobacco with Horry County Museum Curator Abigail Geedy.
Abby was born and raised in south-central Pennsylvania and moved to South Carolina for college in 2012. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Anthropology and a Graduate Certificate of Museum Management from the University of South Carolina. She began volunteering in museums in 2011 and worked in curation at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology for 5 years before joining the Horry County Museum as a Technical Assistant in 2020. She then moved into the role of Curator in 2022. She has previously worked as an intern or volunteer at the York County Heritage Trust in York, PA, the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg, PA and McKissick Museum in Columbia, SC.
The program will be held in the McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway SC. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcgmuseum@horrycounty.org. To view a full list of programs, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with G-Man: The Rise & Fall of Melvin Purvis, part of the Carolina Stories Series by SCETV. The name, Melvin Horace Purvis, to many people today, means nothing. But it was not so long ago that Purvis was a household name, and over 260,000 boys and girls were digging through boxes of Post Toasties breakfast cereal to get their very own decoder rings and Junior G-Man badges. Purvis, the Timmonsville native with the unassuming name, skyrocketed to such fame in the 1930s as leader of the FBI team that took down some of the biggest gangsters of his day, including John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. His death in 1960 is still shrouded in mystery. Was it a suicide, as first reported? Was it an accidental shooting? Or was there something more sinister behind it?
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, June 10th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.

The public is invited to view a special Quilts of Valor presentation at the Horry County Museum. Quilts made especially for local veterans will be presented by the Conway Quilt Guild Quilts of Valor Group on Saturday, June 13th at 11 AM.
The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation (QOVF) is to cover all service members and veterans, touched by war, with a comforting and healing quilt. Since 2003, the foundation, now a national organization, has awarded over 400,000 quilts to veterans throughout the country. The Conway Quilt Guild has been recognized as one of the newest QOV groups, seeking to expand recognition to veterans in the northern and western parts of Horry County. To nominate a veteran for a Quilt of Valor, visit www.qovf.org. For more information about the Conway Quilt Guild, email conwayquilters@yahoo.com.
This program is free and open to the public and will be held in the Museum’s McCown Auditorium, located at 805 Main Street in Conway, SC. To view a full list of programs at the Horry County Museum, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.

The 2026 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with Discovering Dave, Spirit Captured in Clay. Directed and produced by George Wingard and Mark Albertin and released through the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program and Scrapbook Video, this film tells the story of David Drake, a slave potter from Edgefield, South Carolina. David was one of the first African American slaves to sign many of his works, which included jars and pitchers. In addition to producing thousands of pieces of pottery, David also wrote poetry.
The film is free to the public and will be shown at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, June 17th, at the Horry County Museum, located at 805 Main Street in Conway.
The Horry County Museum Documentary Film Matinees will continue throughout 2026. For a list of films, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org. For more information, call the Horry County Museum at 843-915-5320 or e-mail hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov.