Pawleys Island makes final round in Garden & Gun’s Best Southern Beach Town

Pawleys Island makes final round in Garden & Gun’s Best Southern Beach Town

(UPDATE, April 2: Pawleys Island has won in the first, second, third and fourth matchups, and is now in the fifth and final round against Mexico Beach, Florida. The winner will be announced April 6.)

Many have prepared their college basketball elimination brackets, but the real fun this March lies with a Garden & Gun magazine contest to name the “Favorite Southern Beach Town.”

Pawleys Island was one of 32 towns competing in the magazine’s contest, and the South Carolina beach town won in the first, second, third and fourth rounds, defeating Port Aransas, Texas; Folly Beach, South Carolina; Sanibel, Florida; and Jekyll Island, Georgia, to get to the fifth and final round on April 2.

Now the contest is down to only two — Pawleys Island and Mexico Beach, Florida. The competition is by online voting by going to the contest page on Garden & Gun’s website. Voting is allowed every hour.

Pawleys Island is South Carolina’s Hammock Coast‘s oldest and most famous beach community.

“For generations, beach towns have welcomed us for vacations, long weekends, and memorable family trips,” the magazine wrote in introducing this year’s contest. “It is in that spirit—and with the knowledge that we’ll be back to these places soon—that we present the tenth annual Garden & Gun bracket: Favorite Southern Beach Towns.”

To choose the 32 beach towns for the bracket, the magazine first went to readers via social media and in its Talk of the South newsletter asking for their favorite beach town. From there, the magazine whittled it down to the final nominees and then created the matchups.

“Over the next few weeks, through five rounds, you’ll be able to vote for your favorite beach towns multiple times a day before a winner is announced on April 6,” the magazine wrote. “So … start voting.”

Garden & Gun is certainly not the first magazine to put Pawleys Island in the spotlight for best beach town. Southern Living named Pawleys Island one of the South’s Best Beach Towns in 2019, saying, “Atlantic-facing Pawleys Island isn’t far from such popular Grand Strand destinations as Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet, but it’s a quieter getaway, known for cypress cottages and those famous hammocks. There’s no shortage of good food and drink, not to mention water recreation of every description. Beautiful Brookgreen Gardens is just a 10-minute drive away.”

“Everyone on South Carolina’s Hammock Coast knows Pawleys Island is a gem,” said Mark A. Stevens, director of tourism development for the Hammock Coast and the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce. “While beach towns from Virginia to Texas and from Alabama to North Carolina may be in the running for Garden & Gun’s ‘Favorite Southern Beach Town,’ those of us who love Pawleys already know it is, indeed, the perfect nominee. It’s been a favorite for generations, after all.

“For anyone looking for the perfect vacation spot this summer, Pawleys Island and South Carolina’s Hammock Coast offer myriad opportunities and fun adventures — everything from kayaking and fishing to shelling and crabbing. Of course, our beaches are pristine, beautiful and uncrowded, making them the perfect vacation spots to soak up some sun.”

To cast a vote for Pawleys Island, click on this link.