Sunday Fundays in Downtown Conway: Your Complete Guide to the Grand Strand’s Best New Summer Tradition

There is a particular pull that old Southern towns have on a warm Sunday afternoon — something in the way the light falls through the oaks, the way the river moves slow and dark past the back of the restaurants, the way a crowd of strangers can settle into the same green space and feel, within about twenty minutes, like neighbors. Downtown Conway has always had that quality. What it lacked, until this summer, was a reason for the beach crowd to come find it on a Sunday.

Gathering on the Green: Sunday Fundays changes that. Starting June 14, 2026, and running on five Sundays through late August, the Town Green at 200 Laurel Street in the heart of historic Conway becomes the staging ground for one of the most appealing new events on the Grand Strand — nine food trucks surrounding the square, live music drifting across the green, games and balloon animals for the kids, and the easy, unhurried energy that a Sunday afternoon deserves. The drive from Ocean Drive in North Myrtle Beach to downtown Conway takes about half an hour. The excuses not to go are getting harder to find.

This guide covers everything: the full event schedule, the food trucks, the best things to pair with a Sunday Fundays visit, how to build a day around it from North Myrtle Beach, and why Conway has been quietly becoming one of the most interesting inland destinations on the South Carolina coast.

What Is Gathering on the Green: Sunday Fundays?

The event was born out of a food truck and a conviction that Conway was ready for something more. Tommy and Megan Festa, the husband-and-wife team behind The Clever Cleaver, launched their truck in 2017 and relocated it to Conway in the summer of 2025 after watching the local food scene grow into something worth betting on. The Clever Cleaver is not a standard parking-lot operation — it built its following on creative, technique-driven comfort food that takes familiar formats and pushes them somewhere unexpected.

Tommy Festa had watched other communities rally around outdoor events and understood what that kind of recurring gathering does for a downtown — it builds foot traffic, it supports small businesses, it gives families a destination for the kind of afternoon that doesn’t require spending a fortune. So he brought the idea to Conway City Council, which approved it on June 1, 2026, and the first Sunday Funday was already on the calendar two weeks later.

The event is co-presented by The Clever Cleaver and Lemons and Dough, a Conway-based truck with a devoted following for its baked goods and sweet creations. Together they anchor a rotating cast of nine trucks that will set up around the Town Green across the five-Sunday run. Music, lawn games, and balloon animals round out the programming. Hours are 3 to 8 p.m. — a window designed to leave mornings free for the beach and evenings open for whatever comes next. Both the City Council and the organizers have been clear that they see this summer as the first chapter of something with a longer story ahead.

Full 2026 Schedule

Gathering on the Green: Sunday Fundays runs on five Sundays between June and August 2026, all at the Town Green, 200 Laurel Street, Conway, SC 29526, from 3 to 8 p.m. The schedule is evenly spaced to give visitors multiple chances throughout the summer without clustering events so tightly that they compete with each other.

The June and July dates cover peak beach season — the time when most families staying in Crescent Beach or Cherry Grove are looking for a change of pace by midweek but may be flexible on which Sunday they head inland. The August dates catch the late-summer crowd who come for the quieter stretch before school starts — and who often have more flexibility for spontaneous afternoons.

The Food Trucks: Who Is Serving and What to Expect

Nine trucks are participating across the five-Sunday run, though the full roster will not appear at every event. The lineup rotates by date, which is part of what keeps the series fresh — you can attend two different Sundays and encounter a meaningfully different mix of vendors. The Clever Cleaver and Lemons and Dough are the co-anchors and will be at every event.

The Anchor Trucks

The Clever Cleaver has earned its reputation as a truck that does not play it safe. Launched in 2017 and reimagined after the Festas relocated to Conway, it brings a culinary sensibility that is more restaurant than roadside — original combinations, careful execution, and the kind of food that people come back to specifically rather than just because it is there. Lemons and Dough is its natural counterpart: where The Clever Cleaver leans savory and creative, Lemons and Dough handles the sweet end of things, with a baked goods operation that has developed a local following well beyond the truck circuit.

The Rotating Lineup

The remaining seven trucks represent a deliberate range of styles and flavors. Nito’s Empanadas brings handcrafted empanadas to the square — a truck that has built a loyal following across Horry County for its Latin-influenced street food done with care. Dirty South Soda Co. covers the beverage side with specialty craft sodas, an increasingly popular niche in the mobile food space. Loaded Lobster brings seafood to the event — a natural fit for a coastal community where good shellfish is taken seriously. Paulie’s NY Italian Sausage offers the kind of no-nonsense street food that a hot summer afternoon practically demands. Hawg Dawgs covers the smoked and grilled territory. Stellas and Blackcat Kitchen round out the roster with their own distinct identities, rounding out a lineup that covers savory, sweet, smoked, seafood, and specialty drinks in a single afternoon.

The first event on June 14 featured the first seven trucks on the list. Blackcat Kitchen and Stellas are slated to join in on later dates. For the most current per-event lineup, follow The Clever Cleaver’s Facebook page, which the organizers use as the primary communication channel for schedule updates.

Why Downtown Conway Is Worth the Drive

Conway is not a discovery — it has been here since 1732, which makes it one of the oldest towns in South Carolina. It started life as Kingston, a colonial settlement on a bluff above the Waccamaw River, and it grew into the county seat of Horry County through tobacco, timber, and the kind of stubborn persistence that small Southern river towns have always had. The Conway Downtown Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognized for a collection of commercial and civic buildings that trace the town’s arc from the 19th century through the mid-20th — late Victorian brick storefronts, modest vernacular commercial buildings, the kind of architectural inventory that gives a street its weight.

What has changed in recent years is the energy. The downtown dining scene has matured considerably, and the Riverwalk — a 1.3-mile path along the dark, slow water of the Waccamaw — has been expanded four times, most recently in early 2025 when it was finally connected to Main Street, linking the waterfront to the commercial heart of the city and pulling foot traffic through both in a way that benefits everyone. Restaurants, boutiques, galleries, and casual food stops now line the corridor between the Riverwalk and the Town Green, and the city has become a genuine destination rather than simply a county seat that visitors drive through on the way to the beach.

The Town Green at 200 Laurel Street sits squarely in that corridor. It has become Conway’s primary outdoor gathering space — hosting Coastal Carolina football watch events, the Groovin’ on the Green concert series, seasonal markets, and now Sunday Fundays. It is a well-used space that has earned its reputation as the center of downtown life, and Gathering on the Green fits that tradition without overextending it.

What Else to Do in Conway on a Sunday

Sunday Fundays runs from 3 to 8 p.m., which leaves a generous morning and early afternoon window for everything else Conway has to offer. A well-planned Sunday can layer two or three distinct experiences around the event without feeling rushed.

Walk the Riverwalk

The Conway Riverwalk stretches 1.3 miles along the Waccamaw River, completely flat and walkable for all ages, with benches, a gazebo, and a playground woven into the route. The Waccamaw runs dark here — tannin-stained from the cypress forests upstream — and the views across the water have the kind of stillness that beach towns, for all their appeal, rarely offer. The path now runs from Kingston Lake north to 4th Avenue, connecting the riverfront to Main Street at both ends. It is one of the genuinely free, genuinely good things to do on the Grand Strand, and doing it in the morning before the afternoon heat sets in is the right call.

Visit the Horry County Museum

The Horry County Museum in downtown Conway is free to enter and genuinely worth the hour or two it takes to walk through. The building holds two floors of exhibits covering the natural history and cultural heritage of Horry County — Native American presence on the Waccamaw, the colonial settlement era, the tobacco economy that shaped the region through the 19th and early 20th centuries, the military history of the area, and the transition to the tourism economy that defines the Grand Strand today. There is a live aquarium near the entrance that was featured on a television build show, and the kids tend to linger there longer than expected. Donations are appreciated but no admission is charged.

Eat Lunch Downtown Before the Event

Conway’s downtown restaurant scene has grown into one of the more interesting dining environments on the northern Grand Strand. Bonfire — A Smokin’ Taqueria sits on the Waccamaw River and combines Southern barbecue technique with a Tex-Mex sensibility — smoked meats, craft tacos, and riverfront seating that makes a Sunday lunch feel like an event in itself. Rivertown Bistro has long been the upscale anchor of the downtown dining scene and remains one of the most consistently well-regarded restaurants in Horry County. The Trestle Bakery and Cafe is the right call for a morning start — homemade bread, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches that can carry you well into the afternoon. HopnWich handles the casual end of the spectrum: craft burgers, a solid beer list, and a low-key bar atmosphere that works well before an outdoor event. The Crafty Rooster has made a name for itself as a gastropub-style option with creative menu items and an approachable neighborhood feel.

Browse the Historic Main Street

Conway’s Main Street runs through the heart of the historic district and holds a mix of boutique clothing shops, home goods stores, antique dealers, and local gift shops. The street has the density and character that takes decades to develop — buildings that have been retail since the 1890s, sidewalks that narrow and widen at irregular intervals, small courtyards between storefronts planted with greenery and scattered with benches. It is the kind of shopping that cannot be replicated at an outlet mall, and on a Sunday morning before the crowds arrive, it moves at the pace the architecture was designed for.

Planning the Perfect Day Trip from North Myrtle Beach

Conway sits about 15 to 20 miles from North Myrtle Beach — close enough to make a day trip feel easy, far enough that it genuinely feels like a different place. The drive is straightforward: Highway 501 or Highway 90 will get you there, and downtown parking is free for two-hour windows throughout the historic district. Visitors staying along the Windy Hill stretch at the southern end of North Myrtle Beach have a particularly easy shot inland on Highway 501. Those based near Cherry Grove Beach or Ocean Drive can pick up Highway 90 west and be in downtown Conway inside of thirty-five minutes.

The 3 to 8 p.m. event window is nearly ideal for the beach vacation rhythm. A morning on the water at Crescent Beach — when the sand is at its best and the crowds are still settling in — gives way to a midday break at the rental, then the drive to Conway by early afternoon. Arrive by 1 or 2 p.m. to walk the Riverwalk, browse Main Street, and eat lunch before the trucks set up. Stay through the evening as the light softens over the Town Green and the music carries across the square. Drive back well-fed and with the kind of contentment that only a genuinely well-used Sunday can produce.

For families with children, the format is particularly forgiving. The games and balloon animals give younger kids something to anchor on, the food range is wide enough that everyone eats well, and the event wraps at 8 p.m. — early enough to get kids back and settled without destroying the next morning’s beach plans. For adults traveling without children, the 3 to 8 p.m. window has a different appeal: an afternoon that moves at whatever pace suits the day, with food and music and conversation and the particular pleasure of being somewhere with a story older than any resort on the coast.

Parking, Tips, and Practical Details

Downtown Conway offers two-hour free parking throughout the historic district. On Sunday Funday dates, arriving earlier in the afternoon — before 2 p.m. — gives you the best chance of finding a spot close to the Town Green without circling. The downtown is compact and highly walkable, so a spot a block or two away is never a burden. Some visitors park near the Riverwalk trailhead and walk into the square along Main Street, which is itself a pleasant approach.

Tent vendors are not approved for the event in this first season — the organizers are keeping the footprint tight while they build the series. That means the experience centers on the food trucks and the entertainment, without the vendor-fair sprawl that can diffuse the energy of an outdoor event. Bring your own seating if you plan to settle in for the full five hours; the Town Green has grass, but chairs and blankets make the afternoon considerably more comfortable in the South Carolina summer heat.

Sunscreen, water, and cash for the trucks are the practical essentials. Not all food truck operations accept cards reliably at outdoor events, and having cash on hand speeds up the process considerably when nine trucks are competing for the same crowd’s attention. The event is free to attend — no tickets, no wristbands, no entry fee. You pay for what you eat and drink, and everything else is included in the afternoon.

For the most current lineup information — which trucks are attending which specific Sunday — follow The Clever Cleaver’s Facebook page. The organizers post updates there in the days before each event, and the lineup can shift as the season progresses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: MyHorryNews.com; WMBF News; Visit Myrtle Beach (visitmyrtlebeach.com); Conway Downtown Alive (conwayalive.com); City of Conway (conwaysc.gov); Horry County Museum (horrycountysc.gov); Conway Chamber of Commerce; National Register of Historic Places / SC Dept. of Archives and History; Tripadvisor. Event details current as of publication; confirm schedule via The Clever Cleaver’s Facebook page prior to attending.

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