The Center Street Shark
In 1991, the staff at Oceansports Surf Shop was struggling to find a way to get patrons down the street from the beach to their store. When owners Bill Perry and Betty Sue Cowsert spotted a giant fiberglass shark on its way to a delivery in Myrtle Beach, they made an offer for their own “half shark,” knowing it was just what the store needed to attract attention.
On a Sunday evening, Perry, his friend Ed Hollingsworth, and Ed’s two sons, Charles and Lee, arrived at Oceansports with a covert mission. Taking advantage of the building inspector’s day off, they stood atop a van backed onto the sidewalk to mount a shark head on the shop’s exterior wall, mere inches from City Hall.
“The next morning, we all showed up and said, ‘Well, look at that,’” recalls Perry. “Nobody from the city ever said anything about it.”
The shark remains in place on Center Street.
Photos courtesy of Bill Perry and Betty Sue Cowsert. Images like this one are included in Stratton Lawrence’s book, Images of America: Folly Beach. To purchase your own personalized signed copies, delivered to your home on Folly Beach, or to share a photo and story for next month’s Folly Flashback column, email Stratton at strattonlawrence@gmail.com.
