CRESCENT People: Kelly Tilghman Talks About Change In the Grand Strand.
When you do get home, what are your musts? You must see, you must eat, you must go, you must…
Calabash typically is a must. Sneak up there and eat some good old fashioned seafood. I must take runs on the beach. I must take runs along that section between Cherry Grove pier and Ocean Drive — Main Street, North Myrtle Beach because that is the strip I grew up on, right there. I must also take a run through my neighborhood, which is 11th Avenue kind of winding around the elementary school and the kindergarten, all through that, those streets back there. Jordan Road, Tillson Road, all that. Those are kind of my musts. Occasionally, I’ll swing by the high school, take a peek, see how it’s doing, but it doesn’t look much different. I never get home during basketball season. If I could do that, I must go catch a girl’s basketball game. And that’s something I really do want to do in the near future. Gonna put that on the list.
You said the high school hadn’t changed that much. How has North Myrtle and the Grand Strand itself changed from your childhood to 2011.
Dramatically. I’ve lost all my landmarks. When I wanted to give somebody directions on how to get to my house, I’d say “Turn right at The Pantry. Turn left at the church.” A lot has changed. Gator Hole golf course, for example, my old stomping grounds. It’s just off 8th Avenue. There’s a Home Depot there now. There’s a housing development and I’m struggling to remember where the par 4 6th was. It’s hard for me in that sense to go back. It’s a little heartbreaking at times to see that. But I’m also happy for the city that it’s bustling. Tourism is the driving force there and it’s a retirement community of sorts now. It’s becoming more and more that so it’s a place for people to live and I don’t want to begrudge them that. It’s sad for me to see things that a lot of those things I loved aren’t there any more, mainly the golf courses. Still, I’m happy the town continues to grow.
You majored in history and poli-sci at Duke. It’s safe to assume, coupling that with your upbringing, that there’s some political interest.
Absolutely.
What’s your affiliation?
Well, my father was city council for years. I was really young and then he went on to county council and, of course, became mayor of my home town. In North Myrtle Beach, it is basically a part-time job. I don’t know about today, but certainly, when my dad was serving, it was a part-time job. I was pretty young, so I really can’t say I was really involved with his management style. I don’t know how he ran the city. My father is a conservative by nature. A lot of that has been instilled in me. We’re both very open-minded in some areas in life, liberal in some senses and conservative in others. I’m definitely a daddy’s girl. Very close with my mother, best friends with my mother. But growing up, I was a daddy’s girl. He took a lot of interest in my sports and I spent a lot of time with him as a result. His influence rubbed off on me. So I guess it just kind of started there so when I got to college…History always came easier to me than math, that’s for sure. So took a ton of history classes when I got there and realized I’d already completed my major practically before my sophomore year when I had to choose one. So I thought I’d take on another one and political science was the next obvious step. Because if I wasn’t going to continue playing golf. Golf was tougher for me in college than when I was a junior. I think I peaked a junior. When I started drifting from golf in college, I wanted something to make sure I had something to fall back on and I was determined that I was going to be a lawyer if I wasn’t going to be a golfer, so I was going for pre-law. That’s kind of how that came about.
Your old stomping grounds are now going to be the anchor of the all-new 7th Congressional District. What will its own voice in Washington do think will mean for the Grand Strand?
I would hope that our voice is strong. We do a lot for the economy. We have a getaway that is affordable for a lot Americans when other places might be too expensive, so hopefully we can continue to pump people throughout the Grand Strand and keep some form of economic flow going for the country and also provide people with an escape when they need to get away from the stresses that are going on in the country right now. With all the things we have to offer there, I think we can do that.
There has been a lot of work over the past several years by the Horry legislative delegation to get work on I-73 completed which would connect Michigan to North Myrtle. What do you see that kind of thing meaning to the economies of North Myrtle, Myrtle and the rest of the Strand?
Like I said, Myrtle Beach has always been considered an affordable getaway. Our airport is living proof of that. It’s not the biggest airport in the world, that’s for sure. That said, it’s got a decent amount of flights coming in and out. I’ve always said our road system needs to be better. They’ve taken small steps locally, by putting in Highway 31, the Socastee Connector, which has allowed you to bypass all that main artery traffic there on 17. I think that’s fantastic. A couple of other roads like 22.
All of that on a local level that serves the people that live there. We need to think bigger that than. We need to go to the 30,000 foot view. I-73 is just that. People that don’t want to fly. They want to save money, drive down to Myrtle Beach. That’s a prefect idea to encourage more tourism to come our way because if it is supposed to the be affordable getaway, a whole family of 4, 5 or 6 don’t want to drop 2 or 3 grand on plane fare when they can drive down. More roads like that would be fantastic and when you’re reaching all the way up to Michigan, that’s a large tentacle. I’d like to see them reach even farther. You don’t have to reach into the Northeast, but if you could get a little bit further to the Midwest, I think that’s a great call.
Stay Tuned for Part 4. To Read Part 1, Click HERE. To Read Part 2, Click HERE.
