The California sunshine returned after a cold and rainy week, just in time for the 54th annual Festival of Whales held at the Dolphin and Whale Watching Capital of the World, Dana Point, from March 7-9.
Multiple events spanned the three days and brought the Orange County community together to enjoy the beach’s beautiful surf, sand and sea life. The festivities included a modern makers mart, Art in the Park, a marine mammal lecture series, a clam chowder cook-off and whale-watching excursions.
The first Festival of Whales was held in 1972 by Donald “Captain Don” Hansen, founder of Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching and a committed member of the Dana Point community. According to the Dana Wharf Blog, Hansen created the event with hopes of producing “an event that not only celebrated the beauty of whales but also educated the public about their significance and the need for their protection.”
The event gets its name from the annual gray whale migration that occurs off the coast of California. Every year in early fall, grey whales begin to migrate southward from their Arctic feeding grounds to breed in the warm waters of Baja California, Mexico. Then, in early spring, the whales migrate northward once again, providing optimal opportunities to catch a glimpse of the 90,000-pound animals in their natural habitat in March and April.
The festival began on Friday with a Welcoming of the Whales Kickoff Ceremony and Reception. The opening sunset ceremony was presented by members of the Acjachemen Nation, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Orange County, parts of San Diego, Los Angeles and Riverside. The Dana Point Surf Club then led a paddle-out — a ceremony honoring the lives of loved ones — at the beach behind the Ocean Institute.
A concert and BBQ was held at Baby Beach on Sunday, featuring reggae music performed by Upstream and Beach Boys classics covered by tribute band Surf’s Up. The bands performed on a stage that floated in the ocean about 15 feet from the sand.
The performance by Surf’s Up garnered particular appreciation from the crowd, as audience members rose from their sun loungers and collapsible chairs, slipping off their flip-flops to dance in the sand. The scene was something out of a movie — perfectly picturesque, totally tubular and quintessentially Californian. The sounds of Beach Boy classics like “I Get Around,” “Surfin’ USA” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” swam through the air, bounced from beach balls, ricocheted off of twisting hips and joyfully reignited the youthful spirits and inner beach bums that sat in the crowd.
Sisters Barbara and Terry Chismark, along with Barbara Chismark’s daughter Kimba Carlos, embodied this youthful spirit as they grooved to the music during their second visit to the festival.
“The Beach Boys [are] cool, it was the first concert I ever went to,” Carlos told New University. “It reminds me of my childhood.”
Barbara Chismark also felt a nostalgic tug from the seaside tunes.
“When I first heard the Beach Boys, our father used to yell at us and say ‘I sent you to school and now all you want to do is talk about guys and cars!’” she told New University.
Event attendees seemed to enjoy that timeless California fun, as Saturday’s classic car display event quickly became a crowd favorite. The cars were supplied by multiple providers, including Just Having Fun, a social group of over 120 classic car owners who contribute their hot rods and California cruisers to events in Orange County.
UC Irvine second-year biomedical engineering student Holly Khan said the festival felt straight out of a teenage Disney or Hollywood dream.
“It felt like I was in a teen beach movie. I was living the ‘Teen Beach Movie,’” Khan told New University. “The part where they get sucked into the movie and it’s the song where they’re on the beach and all the bikers and the surfers are there, but they’re all vibing together.”
In Lantern Bay Park, the carnival, a new addition to the festival, welcomed attendees throughout all three days of the event with attractions — including rides, games, carnival food and a beer garden with a live DJ. The carnival spanned the entirety of the park and was completely enveloped by a stunning backdrop view of the beach.
When the weekend was officially over, booths were taken down and trash cleaned up, Beach Boy lyrics continued to be hummed by stragglers as they packed their bags and left the seashore. They sang a sentiment that resonated with both the old and the young, capturing the essence of a weekend that gave just a taste of the summer to come: “We’re waxing down our surfboards / We can’t wait for June / We’ll all be gone for the summer / We’re on surfari to stay / Tell the teacher we’re surfin’ / Surfin’ U.S.A.”
Annia Pallares zur Nieden is a Features Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. She can be reached at anniap@uci.edu.