Little River's Waterfront Didn't Go Quiet After ShrimpFest This Year. Here's How to Catch the Rest of WaterFright Nights.

"In the fall and winter seasons, things do die down. You can see a difference in traffic, on the roads and in our restaurants and hospitality areas," Little River Chamber President and CEO Jennifer Walters told MyHorryNews as the waterfront was being decorated for Halloween. She added, "We have some amazing concepts we have put into motion."

Those concepts are now on the rooftops along the water. For years, the Little River waterfront calendar has leaned on two big weekends, the Blue Crab Festival in May and ShrimpFest in October. This year's ShrimpFest, the 20th, ran October 10 and 11. The difference in 2026 is that ShrimpFest weekend now sits in the middle of a Halloween season the Chamber calls WaterFright Nights. It opened September 24 and runs through October 31, and the haunted house adds one last night on November 1. As of this Thursday, October 22, the haunted house has eight nights left.

A Pirate on the Pilot House and an Octopus on Hurricane Juel's

The Chamber worked with Chad Everette of Galaxy Productions to build what Walters calls "air sculptures," and each waterfront restaurant got one. "Now, there's an Octopus on top of Hurricane Juel's. There's a pirate creeping over the roof of the Pilot House. There's a huge crab on Crab Catchers," Walters said in the same MyHorryNews report. A large shark has been greeting people along the waterfront since at least September 24, and Seabrisa's decorated its entrance for the season.

The size of these props points to the Chamber's goal. Walters described them as "production-worthy props" and said, "This isn't just going to the Target and buying a Halloween decoration." Decorations like these are meant to pull people off U.S. 17 and down to the water, which is why they went on the restaurants and not on a single festival stage. MyHorryNews described the open-air haunted house as a new attraction this year. Walters said the point is "to give people a reason to come here to Little River in the fall."

What's Left on the Calendar, Night by Night

The Chamber's WaterFright Nights page lists 21 haunted house nights in all. Thirteen of them are already behind us, including the two that ran opposite ShrimpFest on October 10 and 11. Here is what remains from publication day onward:

1. Thursday, October 22 through Sunday, October 25. The haunted house runs four straight nights, 7 to 11 p.m., at $25. The free Trail of Fear stays open.
2. Thursday, October 29. Trunk or Treat at Little River Landing, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., free to attend, with photo ops and roasted marshmallows. The haunted house also opens that night.
3. Friday, October 30. Hurricane Juel's holds a costume contest, and the winner of the Trail of Fear graveyard display vote is announced on social media.
4. Saturday, October 31. The Trail of Fear and the Fright Nights Passport both close for the season. The Chamber says passport check-ins outside the October 2 to October 31 window are not accepted.
5. Sunday, November 1. The haunted house's final night.

The Chamber hasn't published a start time for the costume contest. Call Hurricane Juel's before you plan around it. If you want to hand out candy at Trunk or Treat from your own vehicle, the Chamber page has a sign-up form.

The Free Half and the $25 Half

WaterFright Nights is set up so you can spend nothing or spend a full evening. The free part is the Trail of Fear, a self-guided walk from Little River Landing to the entrance of Crab Catchers. Local businesses, organizations and community groups sponsor and decorate themed graveyard displays along the way, and you vote for a favorite by scanning a QR code. The trail runs past the restaurants carrying the air sculptures, so a walk at dusk covers most of the season's decorations.

The paid part is the Fright Nights Haunted House, an open-air walk-through. You get to it by walking the Trail of Fear, according to MyHorryNews, and it's open Thursdays through Sundays leading up to Halloween. Tickets are $25, hours are 7 to 11 p.m., and the Chamber lists parking at 1522 Watson Ave.

The Fright Nights Passport ties the two halves together. It's a web app at littleriverfrightnights.onrender.com where you collect stamps at stops around Little River and beyond, which makes you eligible for a prize package valued at over $500. The Chamber's page says you need at least five stops. Little River Landing's event page lists the threshold as three of 15 stamps. Neither page names the participating stops, so open the app before you plan your route, and finish before October 31 closes the window.

Why a Busy October Matters Up on U.S. 17

Walters' "things do die down" covers more than the restaurants on Mineola Avenue. The U.S. 17 corridor goes through the same seasonal slowdown, and one restaurant there is timing its return to it. At the end of September, WhatNow reported that Chianti South at 2109 U.S. 17 is expected to return under restaurateur James Lane. No opening date has been set, but the return was expected before the start of winter.

A restaurant opening at the start of winter needs people driving into Little River between October and the holidays, and that's the traffic WaterFright Nights is designed to bring in. Walters told MyHorryNews she hopes the Halloween experiences bring new people to the area, and she specifically mentioned the rise of seasonal festivities in nearby areas like Downtown Conway. "We're not competing with Conway," she said. "This is a different concept." She added that out-of-town visitors might "stay an extra day and come to both." Conway's fall draw is built around its riverwalk and the blocks around Main Street, which makes a full fall day out of visiting both towns.

The county is putting money into the waterfront too, but not on the timeline of this Halloween season. MyHorryNews reported that Horry County's FY2027 budget restored $3.5 million for the Little River waterfront, which brings the restored total to $7 million. Councilwoman Jenna Dukes said the money is for streetscape improvements, not a boardwalk. In the same report, Walters said a waterfront master plan and a public-private collaboration were still in development. A boardwalk remains a possible later project, with casino-boat operations and wetlands among the constraints. We covered that history in Little River's Waterfront Isn't Waiting on the County Anymore. WaterFright Nights fits the same pattern, with the Chamber and the businesses building the season themselves while the infrastructure is still being planned.

After November 1, the Next Date Is November 27

The Halloween season fits into a longer calendar the Chamber is building. Its Waterfront Winterland page lists a "Nov. 27th" date, with no year printed, and says more information is coming. Little River Landing is also advertising a Christmas Regatta Watch Party, with no date or time posted yet. If Winterland follows WaterFright Nights, the break between seasons on the water would be about three and a half weeks, compared with the months-long stretches that used to separate the big festival weekends.

One waterfront project is still in progress. In April, The Sun News reported that owner Steve Martin was building a dock behind Mako's at 4492 Water Front Ave. The dock is meant to become a tiki bar with live music, and eventually a full marina with floating docks. The restaurant's own site still describes the tiki bar as under construction as of mid-October. Check there for updates before you plan a night on the dock.

The Trail of Fear closes on October 31, and the haunted house has eight nights left between October 22 and November 1. If you go, look up at the pirate on the Pilot House while you're there. For more on the area, our Little River neighborhood page covers the waterfront and the streets around it.

If a fall evening on the Little River waterfront has you thinking about what it would be like to be this close to it year-round, Jan and Dan at Coastal Beach Homes know these blocks well, from the docks on Water Front Ave. to the neighborhoods off Hwy 17. Start Your Coastal Home Search with us, and we'll help you find a spot within walking distance of next year's Trail of Fear.