MYRTLE BEACH -- GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann arrived at Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday to a crowd numbering 500-600, according to security officials.
People started showing up about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon.
She was supposed to arrive at 5 p.m.
Organizers with the Myrtle Beach Tea Party and the Horry County Republican Party had to move the venue to Ripley's because of the large crowd they were anticipating.
Bachmann officially announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2012 presidential election in Iowa on Monday.
The crowd in Myrtle Beach Tuesday was bigger than her crowd in Iowa, according to her campaign staff.
When Bachmann arrived, she spoke for about 20 minutes, then did a few steps of the Shag, South Carolina's state dance to "Walkin' on Sunshine."
Leon Nobles, of Conway, says he came to see Bachmann speak because, "We had seen her on TV. We liked her in the line up, and we liked what we heard and we wanted to hear some more."
Bachmann was expected to speak until about 7 p.m. before heading inside the aquarium for a private fundraiser with 100 people, hosted by the Grand Strand Business Association.
The media is not allowed inside for that event.
From Myrtle Beach, Bachmann will head to Charleston.
