LOS ANGELES, CA — The inaugural Ocean Way Festival in Santa Monica has been canceled after storm surf generated by Hurricane Marie and storm-drain runoff significantly eroded the beach where the two-day music event was scheduled to take place.
The festival had been scheduled for Sept. 26-27 on the beach south of the Santa Monica Pier. The City of Santa Monica and Goldenvoice announced Sept. 11 that the remaining beach area could no longer safely accommodate the festival’s planned production and audience capacity.
The cancellation comes after a large south swell associated with Hurricane Marie reached Southern California beaches around Sept. 5, followed by rain across Los Angeles County on Sept. 6 and 7. The National Weather Service maintained a High Surf Advisory for the Los Angeles County coast through Sept. 8.
Beach erosion changed the festival site
According to the City of Santa Monica, storm surf stripped a significant amount of sand from the beach south of the Santa Monica Pier.
The erosion was severe enough that the safe shoreline setback for the festival would have needed to move approximately 96 feet inland.
At the southern end of the planned festival site, runoff from the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain outfall also cut through the beach. The city said that forced the southern boundary of the event area to move approximately 500 feet north.
Together, those changes significantly reduced the amount of usable beach available for the event.
City staff evaluated the remaining site, including sand conditions, emergency vehicle access, construction and load-in requirements, crowd circulation, tides and the extended weather forecast.
With construction and load-in scheduled to begin the following week, officials determined that the remaining footprint could not safely accommodate the planned festival infrastructure and audience.
The Santa Monica Pier itself was not damaged and remains open, according to the city.
Festival was planned as a major new Santa Monica event
Ocean Way was being developed as a partnership between Santa Monica and Goldenvoice, the promoter behind the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and Stagecoach.
The event was planned as a two-day, all-ages beachfront festival featuring live music, local artists, food and community programming.
The official festival materials listed The Killers and Olivia Dean as headliners. The planned event was also set to include other performers, including Khruangbin, Sublime and Jack White.
The festival’s official hospitality materials had described the event as taking place Sept. 26 and 27 at The Beach in Santa Monica, with programming planned across the weekend.
The cancellation therefore comes only weeks before the event was scheduled to begin.
Hurricane Marie affected beaches across Southern California
The problems at the Ocean Way site were part of a broader period of coastal impacts associated with Hurricane Marie.
The County of Los Angeles warned residents before Labor Day weekend that Marie’s tropical influence could produce dangerous rip currents, high surf and potential coastal flooding along Southern California beaches.
Although Marie did not make landfall in Southern California, the county said the storm’s influence was expected to affect south-facing beaches through large surf and elevated coastal hazards.
Santa Monica later experienced the erosion that directly affected the festival site.
The city’s assessment found that the combination of beach sand loss and storm-drain runoff left too little usable shoreline for the event to proceed safely.
Refunds will be automatic
For people who purchased tickets to the canceled 2026 festival, the city and Goldenvoice said all tickets will be fully refunded.
Refunds are being processed automatically through the original point of purchase, meaning ticket holders do not need to take additional action to request their money back.
The cancellation also affects other plans that had been built around the festival weekend, including hospitality and transportation arrangements.
Santa Monica had been preparing for the event with special parking arrangements and expanded public transportation service. The city’s Big Blue Bus had planned extended service on several routes serving the festival area, while the city had established special event parking rates for the Sept. 26-27 weekend.
Those preparations were made before the coastal damage forced the event to be canceled.
Ocean Way is planned to return in 2027
Despite the cancellation, Santa Monica and Goldenvoice say the festival is not being abandoned.
Plans are already underway to bring Ocean Way Festival back to Santa Monica in 2027, according to the city.
Goldenvoice said it supports the decision to cancel the 2026 event because of the changed beach conditions and safety concerns. The promoter also said it remains committed to returning the festival to Santa Monica.
Specific dates, programming and ticketing information for the 2027 festival have not yet been announced.
The city and Goldenvoice also said they intend to continue with many of the community benefit initiatives that had been developed alongside this year’s festival. Details about those initiatives were still being coordinated when the cancellation was announced.
Coastal erosion creates a new challenge for beach events
The cancellation illustrates how quickly coastal conditions can change the amount of usable space available for large beachfront events.
In Santa Monica, the combination of wave-driven sand loss and storm-drain runoff altered both the shoreline setback and the southern boundary of the planned festival area.
Because Ocean Way was designed around a large temporary production and a substantial audience on the beach, the reduction in usable space affected more than the event’s appearance. City officials said the remaining footprint could not accommodate the necessary infrastructure, emergency access and crowd circulation while maintaining safe conditions.
For now, the 2026 festival will not take place.
The Santa Monica Pier remains open, refunds for Ocean Way tickets are being processed automatically, and the city and Goldenvoice are looking toward a 2027 return after the beach conditions that followed Hurricane Marie forced the inaugural event to be canceled.
