Capitola Beach Festival returns this weekend

EVENTS

Teams construct their floats for the beach parade at the 2022 Capitola Beach Festival. PHOTOS BY ARIC SLEEPER — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

Contestants in the group sand sculpture competition working on their sand dragon at the 2022 Capitola Beach Festival.

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By Aric Sleeper

asleeper @santacruzsentinel.com

SANTA CRUZ >> After the area took a beating from a powerful storm surge this winter, the Capitola Beach Festival returns Saturday and Sunday with a sand sculpture contest, nautical parade and stand-up paddleboard race among other events. The theme for this year’s festival is “Beauty and the Beach.”

“After our really tough winter we wanted to emphasize the beauty of the beach,” said festival co-organizer Laurie Hill. “We invite family and friends to take the time to come out and play at the beach.”

The Capitola Beach Festival, organized by Hill and others, serves as a spiritual successor to the Capitola Begonia Festival, which began in the 1950s and coincided with the Capitola Water Fantasy Carnival, founded by Capitola’s first female Councilmember Peggy Slatter Matthews.

The historic festival and carnival featured begonia-lined boat parades, swimming competitions and a water ballet. After the water carnival ended in 1954, the Begonia Festival continued on as a Labor Day weekend staple in Capitola until its final year in 2017, which was the 65th anniversary of the festival. The Capitola Beach Festival carries on many of the traditions of the Begonia Festival such as the luminescent nautical parade down Soquel Creek.

This year’s festival commences with the Little Wharf 3 Miler Fun Run at 8 a.m. Saturday, which starts at the East Cliff Shopping Center located on East Cliff Drive near 16th Avenue. The course will follow East Cliff Drive to 41st Avenue, onto Opal Cliff Drive to Cliff Drive, and then down Cliff Drive across the Stockton Avenue Bridge and finishing on the Capitola Esplanade.

The sand sculpture contest, which draws contestants from all over the region and the Bay Area will also take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Last year’s sand sculpture contest had 20 teams sculpting the sand into various shapes such as dragons, sports cars, scaled-down cities and traditionally styled castles.

Other activities Saturday include a cornhole tournament on the beach, which starts at 11 a.m., and a children’s art contest from noon to 3 p.m. in Esplanade Park for kids preschool age and older. All the art supplies are provided at the event.

For those looking to explore more of Capitola Village this weekend, there will be a scavenger hunt from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Interested scavenger hunters can pick up the official map in Esplanade Park. Every participant who turns in their map gets a prize.

Santa Cruz-based band SPUN will play a range of cover tunes spanning the genres of rock, reggae, blues, dance and country from 4-6 p.m. Saturday on the stage in Esplanade Park.

The Lighted Nautical Parade on Soquel Creek is back in the water this year after being beached in 2022 and will begin roughly after 7 p.m. or around dusk. The parade of lighted barges will float down the river to the lagoon. There will be no access to the trestle during the Lighted Nautical Parade.

Because of the damage sustained to the Capitola Wharf, the fishing derby is canceled this year, but there will be a brand new contest for paddleboarders. The festival will feature its inaugural 2-mile paddleboard race starting at 8 a.m. Sunday from Hooper Beach to New Brighton Beach and back. A shorter course is offered for kids from Hooper Beach around the wharf and back. All participants get a T-shirt. Racers can sign up at eventbrite.com.

While watching the paddleboarders make their way, spectators can enjoy “Ukuleles on the Beach” from 10-11:30 a.m. in Esplanade Park alongside a doubles horseshoe tournament, which also begins at 10 a.m. Sunday on Capitola Beach in front of Zelda’s restaurant. Participants must preregister and teams will be chosen by drawing names from a hat.

You can keep the kids busy with “Chalk Art on the Seawall” from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. where children preschool age and above can create a temporary masterpiece on the seawall on the Esplanade. Chalk is provided on-site and sign-ups are in Esplanade Park.

Boats will be provided to participants in this year’s rowboat races, which consist of timed head-to-head races between the bridge and the trestle on Soquel Creek. Contestants race in groups of two and are divided into age groups. Registration for the race starts at noon Sunday at the pathway near the Stockton Bridge and the contest starts at 1 p.m.

“We put this together to celebrate Capitola and celebrate the traditions of the Begonia Festival and we just want folks to come out and play,” said Hill. “That’s what we do it for.”