On your left, look for a bronze sculpture with a tall mermaid figure, two arcing dolphins, and wave-like water forms at the base.
This is Goddess of the Sea, a work by artist Kristen Visbal, installed here in Plyler Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on the eighteenth of April, twenty eighteen. Visbal gave the city a mermaid and two dolphins rising from the water, which is a pretty efficient way to say, yes, this town takes its relationship with the ocean seriously. Bronze helps sell the idea. It gives the figures weight and permanence, as if this sea goddess has been claiming the spot for ages instead of arriving in the twenty-first century. There is a little theatrical flair in the pose, but that suits Myrtle Beach just fine. This is public art doing its job without getting fussy: part myth, part landmark, part love letter to the shore in the United States.
It turns beach-town identity into something you can stand beside and size up.
When you're ready, head on toward the next stop.
