‘This is amazing.’ Gullah Geechee Festival debuts with savory memories in Atlantic Beach

Seeing the children at the Atlantic Beach Gullah Geechee Festival, Beverly Hill remembered her own childhood in North Myrtle Beach. The owner of Creative Cakery and More hoped that both she and those kids could learn about their Gullah Geechee heritage at the event.

“As a child growing up, we was able to be together. It was just so much of a connection to our culture, and little children could walk around the streets, dance.”

The festival felt like a reminder of those times for Hill. “This is amazing,” she said. The Horry-Georgetown Technical College pastry graduate incorporates her memories into her desserts.

The flavors of Hill’s banana nut cake come from her childhood trips to Painter’s Ice Cream. And the banana pudding, one of her best sellers this weekend, is inspired by her mother, though, “I changed the game up a little bit.”

This weekend, the Atlantic Beach Gullah Geechee Cultural and Nature Festival celebrated the history of the Gullah Geechee people in the Myrtle Beach area. Organizer Patricia Mallett said this three-day event is the first of its kind in over 20 years and hopes to make it an annual tradition.

On Saturday, visitors came from as far away as Nebraska, Maryland and Chicago to hear storyteller Ron Daise and Harvard Gullah language instructor Sunn M’Cheaux.

Alongside the music, face painting and African doll making, a row of food trucks and stands kept visitors fed with a variety of dishes.

Next to Beverly Hill’s cake stand, Donnie’s Grill employees traversed the sandy grass. They brought fresh cooked dishes from the flat top to waiting customers on Atlantic Street.

At the griddle, owner Donnie Greene filled the hollowed out half-pineapple with yellow rice and topped it with chicken, beef, shrimp and grilled peppers.

Greene has a restaurant in Bucksport and said the pineapple bowls were Texas-inspired, “something I picked up when I was traveling in the military.”

Further down the street, hungry visitors could hear Chef Boy RD’s food truck before they saw it. The speaker system played R&B while owner Randy Daniels stood by the smoker on the back of the food truck.

He said the shrimp and grits and smoked turkey legs were the top sellers on Saturday. The Shallotte resident worried about a repeat of this year’s rainy Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, but was glad to end up with a sunny, warm day.