Family of Mallory Beach, 'Mal's Palz' plan to raise funds at upcoming Watermelon Festival
With the coming of Hampton County's signature harvest festival, the Watermelon Festival, the family of a local boating accident victim has been getting into the festival spirit to help overcome their tragedy and raise money for a good cause.
The Mal's Palz charity was founded in late 2019 to raise money for a local animal shelter in memory of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old Hampton County college student who was killed in a high-profile boating accident involving the now notorious family of convicted killer and accused fraudster Alex Murdaugh.
Even as a wrongful death suit filed by the Beach family against Murdaugh and other parties heads to trial in Hampton County Aug. 14, the Beaches, led by Mallory's mother Renee, have been overcoming grief by participating in numerous community events and raising money for improvements to or renovations of the Hampton County Animal Shelter.
The Beach family, joined by friends and supporters of Mal's Palz, attended the recent Field Day in Hampton County hosted by the H.C. Citizens of Active Restoration (HCCAR) last month to spread the word about the group and raise funds, and now they have their sights set on the Watermelon Festival with the sale of Mal's Palz melon-themed T-shirts.
“Mallory loved animals so much that we thought this would bring a positive for the community, keep her memory alive and help the animal shelter at the same time,” Renee Beach told The Hampton County Guardian recently.
Beach’s death in February 2019 launched criminal investigations, multiple lawsuits, and helped expose the alleged corruption of Murdaugh as part of the now internationally known Murdaugh crime saga, but her grieving family is determined to make something positive come from this tragic story.
The upcoming Watermelon Festival, slated for June 17-24, is Hampton County's 81st annual festival. The Watermelon Festival, which put Hampton County on the map long before the tragic boat crash and the Murdaugh crime saga, is slated as the oldest continuing festival in the state and draws thousands of visitors to the county each year.
The theme of this year's festival is the Past, Present and Future of Education in Hampton County, and comes at a time when the county's two public school districts have consolidated into one, uniting the county, and plans are underway to build a new, state-of-the-art, county-wide high school.
Locals and out-of-town guests alike celebrate the festival each year by wearing official souvenir T-shirts printed by the all-volunteer H.C. Watermelon Festival Committee, and the Beach family decided to help locals capture more of that festival spirt with melon-themed Mal's Palz shirts of their own.
Mal's Palz shirts and other merchandise can be found on the charity's website and its "Mal's Palz" Facebook page. Adult's and children's shirts, all in a variety of sizes, are available for preorder for $25 and can be picked up at the Hampton Gazebo, on Historic Lee Avenue facing the H.C. Courthouse, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, at the start of the festival.
According to its website, https://www.mals-palz.com/ , Mal's Palz is a charitable 501(c)(3) organization that has already raised roughly $50,000 for improvements to the Hampton County Animal Shelter, or to build a new shelter.
To contact Mal's Palz, email malspalz2019@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Family of Mallory Beach plan to raise funds at Watermelon Festival
