From pickleball to Mahjong, Jersey Girl Liz Gurevitch has found a community on Folly Beach
When I first met Liz, it was through an Evite. A friend added my wife and I to an invite list for a Super Bowl party on the island. I remember thinking “Wow, this is so cool, getting invited to a party by a host whom I’ve never met.” I felt so welcomed and grateful that Folly was becoming my community. Unfortunately, we weren’t available for the Super Bowl party, but when I saw Liz and her husband Goose in front of Planet Follywood not too long after that I made sure to introduce myself and say, “Thanks so much for thinking of us.” From then on, I began to see them around and soon enough she made my Faces of Folly hit list.
Folly Current: Where were you born and how long have you been tied to Folly?
Liz Gurevitch: I was born and raised in a small town in northwestern New Jersey called Rockaway. I also grew up at “the shore” on Long Beach Island and spent every summer of my life there until age 18. In the early ’80s I went to Emory University in Atlanta, met my husband Goose and we spent the next 40 years in Atlanta raising our daughters, Melissa and Dani. I worked as an IT Consultant, and my husband ran our family restaurant, Sweet Melissa’s.
We first visited Folly Beach for vacation with my husband’s extended family in 2006 to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 75th birthday. It was our first time to Charleston and Folly Beach and as we were leaving my husband said to me “we are going to retire here someday.” After that, we visited the Charleston area every year for vacation and although we stayed in many different places around Charleston, we always came back to Folly Beach as our favorite destination.
My ties to Charleston go back to the early 1800s. Charles Edmondston was my great-great-great-great grandfather on my mother’s side. He was a shipping merchant from Scotland and came to Charleston in 1799 at the age of 17. In 1825 he completed the Edmonston-Alston House on the Battery. Due to financial troubles, in 1837 Charles Edmondston sold the house to Charles Alston, a successful rice plantation owner. My grandmother grew up in downtown Charleston on Legare Street.
FC: What’s your favorite thing about Folly Beach?
LG: The community. When we moved to Folly Beach in February 2023, we left a huge community of friends in Atlanta, many of whom we had known since the very early days. By this time, our adult daughters had graduated from college and moved away. We closed our restaurant after 32 successful years in 2022. Although we were extremely excited our new home was finally done and we were ready to move, it was hard to leave our home and community of the 40 past years.
When I retired in October of 2023, I started attending the Folly Beach Community Yoga sessions. I was immediately welcomed by the group with open arms, and this group quickly became part of my community.
That fall, Goose and I also started playing Pickleball and met a wonderful group of Pickleballers who immediately started inviting us to social events.
Later in 2023, I met a friend at a Pickleball holiday party, and she encouraged me to apply to volunteer for Turtle Patrol. I had heard it was a very sought-after volunteer position, but I did apply. I was told that I was selected, partially due to my IT background and love of spreadsheets. I have been on Turtle Patrol for two summers now and it has been an amazing experience.
FC: Share a story you are fond of about Folly Beach.
LG: Early in 2024, still being relatively new to Folly Beach, I was still looking for ways to connect and meet people. I had been playing Mahjong off and on for about eight years with a group of friends in Atlanta. One day I decided to post something on a Facebook page looking for a Mahjong group to join. I received many responses from my post, primarily from people who wanted to learn Mahjong. The City of Folly Beach community coordinator saw my post and reached out to me asking if I wanted to help get the Folly Beach Mahjong Club started.
After several months of planning, The Folly Beach Mahjong Club was born. Our first meeting was in May 2024 and since that time we have taught over 100 people how to play Mahjong. We host open play sessions, and many satellite Mahjong groups have formed. Mahjong has become a huge part of my community.
FC: In your opinion, what’s the most important issue facing our community today?
LG: I feel erosion and flooding is one of the most important issues that we are facing as a community. Every year I see more water on our roadways and less backyards of our ocean and marsh front properties.
FC: If you were in charge, how would you fix it?
LG: 1. Keep adding sand! – Continuously renourish the beach with imported sand and rebuild our dunes.
2. Go big now on a scientific solution – construct a hybrid system of seawalls, oyster reefs, and marshes to block surges and absorb wave energy
3. Raise the roads and put in bigger pipes — Install advanced stormwater pumps, permeable roads, and raised roads. I see them putting in huge pipes but not raising the roads up higher. They need to do both!
Pat “Wiggy” Hiban interviews a different “Face of Folly” for this column each month. If you have an idea of someone you think Pat should chat with, please send suggestions to editor@follycurrent.com.
