The idea of a street festival on historic Broadway Street in Myrtle Beach was conceived by Terry Jones and embraced by Karen Holck, the proprietor of the Broadway Cafe and Gourmet and Bill Strydesky owner of the GIFU Art Exchange. Terry was Chairman of the food and concessions committees for Freedom Weekend Aloft and Fall for Greenville in the early and mid eighties in Greenville, SC.
After moving to Myrtle Beach in 1988, Terry discovered the art galleries on Broadway Street and attended many art walks during the early nineties. The sidewalks were lined with luminaries and scores of people would go from gallery to gallery, admiring and buying the works of local and regional artists. This tradition slowly faded away as several artists moved away and the economy turned south.
Shortly after the opening of the Broadway Cafe and Gourmet, Terry met Karen Holck, the owner. Karen is from Ocean City Maryland where she had a gourmet restauraunt and was a paralegal for the Governor of Maryland. Karen chose the Withers Swash area for her home and Broadway Street for her Cafe. Karen had extensivelly researched the history of Broadway Street, one of the oldest streets in Myrtle Beach. She was
ecstatic about the possibility of a street festival.
Terry brought his friend, Bill Strydesky, a consummate artist and a friend to the local art community to meet Karen. The idea of a street festival took wing. On Sunday, January 10th, a meeting of seven of the most influential artists in the area was held at Bill and Sharon Strydesky's home to arrive at a name for the festival.
After almost two hours of intensive brain storming, the group consisting of Bill Strydesky, Elken D. Grate, Ruth Cox, Matt Silk, Nichole Davis, Greg Letts,and Reinhard Gerke arrived at the acronym, "FAME", Food, Art, Music and Entertainment.
FAME is a non-profit endeavor with the goal of exposing art and culture to the people in a fun and festive way. All money after basic expenses will be returned to the City of Myrtle Beach for improvements to Broadway Street, to the Riverkeepers for the cleanup of Withers Swash, to the Myrtle Beach chapter of the American Culinary Federation for scholarships, to the Horry County Cultural Arts Council for scholarships for local art students and to various charities such as the Boys and Girls Club. There are no paid positions for the festival. Everyone is volunteering their time and talents to the good of our community.