The Capitola Beach Festival schedule for this Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, lists fourteen events. Only two charge a fee, the Little Wharf 3-Miler and the paddleboard race. The rest take place on the sand, the creek, the seawall and the wharf, and anyone who shows up can join in. That pattern holds for most of the fall. From this weekend through Surfing Santa on November 28, most of Capitola's calendar is run by nonprofits, the Chamber or the City, and very little of it happens inside a storefront.
A festival with a year-round planning room
The Beach Festival is newer than it feels. According to an April 9, 2026 City Council agenda report, the nonprofit Capitola Beach Festival has run its namesake event since 2019 and describes it as the successor to the Begonia Festival. The group is a designated City partner and usually gets annual funding from the council. The same report says the event takes enough year-round planning that the organization does most of it in the City Hall Community Room. For that reason, staff recommended a no-cost agreement giving the group the room for three years, instead of the usual three-month rolling reservation window.
This year's theme is "TOY TAKEOVER." The sponsor list also shows who pays for a free weekend. Each event is backed by a local name: Capitola Self Storage for the sand sculptures, Laughing Monk Brewery for cornhole, Britannia Arms for the music, Bay Federal Credit Union for the chalk art and the Craft Gallery for the rowboat races.
Saturday runs down the coast to the creek
Saturday's program moves west to east over the day and ends on Soquel Creek after dark.
- 8 a.m., Little Wharf 3-Miler. The Wharf to Wharf Race Committee starts the run at the East Cliff Shopping Center near 16th Avenue. The route follows East Cliff Drive to 41st Avenue, then Opal Cliff Drive and Cliff Drive, crosses the Stockton Avenue Bridge and finishes on the Esplanade near San Jose Avenue. You have to preregister, and shuttles are available.
- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sand Sculpture Contest. Registration is on Capitola Beach at 10 a.m. on the day, and awards are at 2:30 p.m.
- 11 a.m. on, Cornhole on the Beach. It keeps going until it's finished.
- Noon to 3 p.m., Children's Art in Esplanade Park. It's open to preschool age and up, and all supplies are provided.
- Noon to 4 p.m., Scavenger Hunt. Maps are handed out in Esplanade Park, and one stop is a brass rubbing on the wharf.
- 4 to 6 p.m., The Beach Cowboys in Esplanade Park.
- About 7 to 8 p.m., Lighted Nautical Parade. Lit barges float down Soquel Creek to the Lagoon. The trestle is closed during the parade.
- After the parade, the festival's first drone show. It flies over the beach and Soquel Creek, and the schedule asks viewers to stay put after the parade. Visit Santa Cruz County lists the show for 8 p.m.
The parade is the most community-built part of the weekend. Float builders preregister with the parade chair. Teams can also nominate a nonprofit, and the top three charity awards are $1,000, $750 and $500. So the barges going past the Stockton Bridge are also raising money for other local causes.
Sunday puts the wharf back in use
Sunday starts at the far end of the wharf. The Fishing Derby runs from 7 to 11 a.m. and is open to all ages. Registration is near the end of the Capitola Wharf, and you bring your own pole. The paddleboard event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes a two-mile race and a swim around the wharf. On the beach, Ukuleles at the Beach plays in front of the Esplanade Park stage from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The Horseshoes on the Sand doubles tournament checks in from 9 to 10 a.m., and teams are drawn from a hat. Chalk Art on the Seawall runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The weekend ends with Rowboat Races on Soquel Creek at 1 p.m. Teams of two sign up by the Stockton Bridge between noon and 1 p.m., and the festival provides the boats.
With the derby, the swim and Saturday's brass rubbing, the festival uses the wharf more than anything else on the calendar does. That matters because the wharf's longer-term future is still open. A Citizen Portal summary of the September 10 council meeting says the April 2026 request for proposals for a permanent restaurant and fishing concession drew one expression of interest. Outreach in August added little. Council told staff to keep that larger RFP open for another year and to run a separate solicitation for prefab or mobile concessions in the meantime. Council also asked for cost estimates for a permanent restroom and storage for marine rescue watercraft. The City has said the marketplace design is still conceptual and would need more approvals. In June, the council unanimously rejected a standardized leasing policy for City-owned property. That debate had left several City tenants uncertain, including Capitola Boat & Bait, which siblings Tina Williams and David Morris own, as the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.
October passes the beach to other causes
The Art & Wine Festival is already over. The Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce held it September 12 and 13, and it raises money for the Chamber, local schools and participating community groups. October's events follow the same model and support a different cause each weekend.
October 11, 7:30 to 9 p.m. The Monte Foundation Fireworks Extravaganza is a fireworks-only show at Capitola Beach. Participating businesses donate part of their sales to the foundation, which funds local projects and schools.
October 17 and 18. Women On Waves is produced by OLA CHICA, and this year it benefits Esperanza Community Farms. The weekend includes a longboard contest, an open-water swim, a boogie-boarding competition, a two-mile stand-up paddle relay and a festival marketplace. Age divisions run from Giggly Groms, ages 5 to 9, through Sandy Girls, Swell Seasters, Salty Squad, Cheeky Chicas, Longboard Ladies and Sea Señoras to Legends for surfers 60 and up. Capitola Queens is an advanced all-ages division capped at six surfers. The posted schedule has the SUP relay at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday, the swim is at 9 a.m., boogie boarding at 11:30 a.m. and the Giggly Groms heat at 1:30 p.m. Times can shift with the surf. Swimmers choose a half-mile or one-mile course, must attend an 8:45 a.m. safety briefing and need to be able to swim at least half a mile.
October 25, 2 p.m. The Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce and Capitola Village host the Capitola Village Halloween Parade. Line-up starts at 1:30 p.m. in lower Beach & Village Parking Lot 2 behind the Police Department. The parade goes down Capitola Avenue to Esplanade Park, and participating shops hand out candy afterward.
November trades surfboards for easels and cleanup bags
Capitola Plein Air is the City's 11th annual juried plein-air competition, and the City calendar lists it under the Art & Cultural Commission. Artists paint around town November 2 through 7, with a welcome on November 2 and a reception on November 4. The public exhibition, sale and awards are Sunday, November 8. The easiest part to catch is the Quick Paint in Esplanade Park on Saturday, November 7. Artists get two and a half hours to finish an 8-by-10-inch canvas, and the public votes for a People's Choice winner. Published listings disagree on where the November 8 exhibition will be held, so check the City's event page before you go.
On November 14, the City lists a Capitola Beach Cleanup with Save Our Shores from 9 to 11 a.m. Two weeks later, on November 28, Surfing Santa arrives by kayak at Capitola Beach and visits with kids from a chair on the Esplanade Stage from noon to 3 p.m. The Chamber scheduled it for Small Business Saturday.
When this was written, the Capitola Village event calendars for November and December 2026 didn't list a holiday event. The last one listed was December 6, 2025, with a cookie walk, palm-tree lighting, caroling, Santa, a VW parade and late shopping.
The one new piece that stays up after the events
Most of this calendar is set up and taken down within a day. The main exception is inland at Jade Street Park. The City and the nonprofit County Park Friends celebrated the opening of Treasure Cove, a universally accessible playground, and the renovated Community Center on August 25. The playground has swings, climbing areas and slides, plus a visual communication board, a sensory area with a xylophone and a merry-go-round set flush with the ground so wheelchairs can roll on. Together the two projects cost about $10.5 million. Federal Community Development Block Grants paid $6.5 million, the City's general fund $2.2 million and the state $1 million. Verde Design designed the playground, Boone Low Ratliff Architects of Santa Cruz designed the community center, and Salinas-based SSB Construction built both. It will still be there on the weekends when nothing is on the festival calendar.
If you have questions about the Village, the wharf, or what's changing along Soquel Creek while you're out at the parade this Saturday, Danny Ward is happy to talk them through with you, with no pressure and no agenda. Let's Connect.
