On July 21, Conway City Council quietly approved a construction contract that will change the way people cross the Waccamaw River. Most residents were probably thinking about Burger Week menus, not marine engineering.

Both things matter, and they matter together. The fall calendar between now and New Year's is packed in the way it usually is, with a Halloween month, a burger competition, a ghost walk, a Christmas parade. What is different this year is the ground the calendar sits on. The Riverwalk is about to stop being only a scenic path.

What the July Vote Actually Changes

Council unanimously awarded a $2,486,088 contract to H, K, & W Marine Construction for what is officially called the Kingston Boardwalk Trail and Ferry Project. The plan adds ADA accessible floating docks that connect to a ferry called Spirit, launching from a landing near Bonfire Restaurant along the Riverwalk. The ferry will move pedestrians and cyclists across the Waccamaw, offering an alternative to the historic Waccamaw River Memorial Bridge on Highway 501 Business, which has long raised safety concerns for anyone on foot or a bike.

Construction has not started yet, and Deputy City Administrator Mary Catherine Hyman expects the build to take about a year. That means this fall is the last one where the stretch behind Bonfire looks the way it looks now. If you have been meaning to walk the extension that opened on February 6, 2025 and runs 1,150 feet from the confluence of Kingston Lake and the Waccamaw River north to 4th Avenue at the Highway 905 bridge, this is the season to do it without a construction fence in the frame.

Burger Week Is the First Marker (September 11 to 20)

Conway Burger Week hits downtown September 11 through 20, 2026, the fifth annual run for Conway Downtown Alive's downtown restaurant competition. If you have not paid attention to who wins, the pattern is worth knowing before you plan your week.

1. Rivertown Bistro on Third Avenue, a Conway dining staple since 1994, took home the Best Burger Prize in 2024. Chef and co-owner Darren Smith is one of South Carolina's chef ambassadors.
2. Bonfire Taqueria on the riverfront, also a Smith property, won the inaugural Burger Week with a surf and turf burger. Its usual entry leans on morning ingredients. Chef Darren Smith's Breakfast Burger uses half ground beef and half Neese's country sausage, French toast in place of a bun, over-easy egg, American cheese, then maple syrup and powdered sugar on top.
3. Hop N Wich at 219 Laurel Street built a following with the Bikini Bottom Burger, a signature patty topped with a crab cake, comeback sauce, onion straws, lettuce and tomato.

The award itself is not cash. The winning restaurant takes home the roughly 18-inch Giant Cheeseburger trophy, with a cheeseburger nestled up to the base of a Pepsi sign, and a year of bragging rights. In a downtown where roughly a dozen restaurants share the same three-block core, that bragging matters.

October Belongs to the Sidewalks

October is the month where downtown asks the most of residents. Conway Downtown Alive stacks the calendar so tightly that missing one weekend means missing something specific. The dates below come from Conway Downtown Alive's published event calendar.

The Ghost Walk is the one to plan around if you have not done it before. Three nights, a two-hour window each, and downtown crowds that fill Main and Laurel like a football Saturday. Park at the Riverwalk lot and walk in.

Witches Wizards & Wine runs twice this year rather than once, which is new. Bring cash for the participating shops and give yourself a full two and a half hours rather than trying to squeeze it in after work.

The Corner Next to Bonfire

If you walk the Riverwalk this fall and look at the parcel between Bonfire and the water, you are looking at what will not be a vacant lot much longer. On August 4, 2025, City Council voted on selling three riverfront parcels and part of a fourth to Darren and Cyndi Smith, who intend to build a new restaurant, an event facility, and up to 15 apartments there. The Smiths offered $130,000 for the property, which is less than an acre, and the apartments would be built above the new restaurant.

For context on how patient this development pipeline has been: the neighboring lot on the other side of Bonfire has its own history. That property along the Riverwalk previously held a rickety 19th century building called the Lower Warehouse, which decades ago served as a lumber supply building for The Jerry Cox Co. Some of its walls still stand, and they have long been popular backdrops for prom and engagement photos. After developer Tripp Nealy acquired the property in 2017, he carefully disassembled the building and stored much of the lumber at his farm in Green Sea, planning to reuse the wood in a rebuilt structure.

Two adjacent parcels, both moving, both aimed at the Riverwalk. If you have wondered why the city kept extending the boardwalk before the restaurants existed, this is the answer. The Riverwalk was first constructed in the early 1990s with the expectation it would eventually attract private development. Thirty-plus years later, the attraction is finally arriving on schedule.

What Moved Into Black Water Market

The other food shift worth knowing about happened on Laurel Street. River City Cafe is headed to the Black Water Market at 328 Laurel Street, into the building just to the right of the Market's Laurel Street entrance, which was once occupied by the Crooked Oak. A representative of Divine Dining says the wait is finally over after five years of trying to land in Conway. The Conway location is expected to include several seafood dishes already being served at the company's Bubba's Fish Shack.

For a downtown that did not have many hamburger places before, adding River City into a Burger Week block is a real shift in the map. It also gives the Smiths a new competitor on a category they have historically owned.

The Holiday Rundown, In Order

Once the parade lets out on November 6, the calendar rolls straight into the holiday block. All dates from Conway Downtown Alive's event listings.

• November 27 — Black Friday sidewalk hours downtown, 8:00 am open
• November 28 — Small Business Saturday, the day the boutiques on Main and Third do their year
• December 3 — City of Conway Christmas Tree Lighting, 6:00 to 6:30 pm
• December 10 — Rivertown Christmas Celebration and Living Windows, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
• December 12 — Conway Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade
• December 31 — Conway's New Year's Eve Fireworks Display

The Rivertown Christmas evening is the one out-of-town family remembers. A Rivertown Christmas features carriage rides, live entertainment, holiday shopping, and visits with Santa in the heart of downtown. Book restaurant reservations for that Thursday early. Rivertown Bistro fills up.

The Through-Line

Every fall in downtown Conway looks similar on paper. Burger Week in September, Halloween on the sidewalks in October, a parade in November, tree lighting and a Christmas parade in December. What is different this year is that the Riverwalk itself is on the verge of transforming from a place you stroll to a place you commute across, and the two riverfront restaurant parcels next to Bonfire are moving from concept to permit.

Residents who have lived here a decade have watched the boardwalk grow in stages. Fall 2026 sits in the pause between the third expansion, finished in early 2025, and the next round. Walk the extension over the railroad trestle in November before the leaves come down. Sit on one of the three wide, octagon-shaped areas built for socializing at dusk on a Ghost Walk night. It will feel different next fall.

Watching how a corner of downtown shifts is one thing. Understanding what that means for the block your house sits on is another. If you have wondered what your Conway property is worth as the riverfront takes shape, The Brian Piercy Group tracks the sales, permits, and pipeline moves that quietly reset value block by block. Get your instant home valuation and start with a real number.