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July 28 - August 3
What's up Laguna! It's about to get hot. Thursday jumps to 92 and Saturday tops out around 95! All three art festivals are running at once. Below you'll find this week's events, ways to give back, a couple of spots coming soon, the conditions, some local news, and a bit of Laguna lore.
Here's what's going on in Laguna...
This Week
Rivian Theatre
Wednesday 7/29
Rivian Kids: Toddler Time with Musical Morea
Rivian South Coast Theater, 162 S Coast Hwy Wed, 10 to 11am
A free morning session for ages 0 to 2, run with the Ocean Institute. Sensory play, a sing along circle, crafts and storytime, in a room where nobody minds the noise.
Thursday 7/30
Harvest Farm Tour
The Ranch at Laguna Beach, 31106 S Coast Hwy Thu, 11am
A free guided walk through the working farm up the canyon, open to anyone. How they grow without pesticides, where the restaurant scraps end up, and a chicken coop at the end you can feed.
Sunday 8/2
Music in the Park
Bluebird Park, 772 Cress St Sun, 5 to 7pm
The city's free Sunday concert series. This week it's Spencer the Gardner playing indie surf salsa. Bring a low beach chair, get there after 3 when setup opens, and leave the dog at home.
All week
All three art festivals
All three on Laguna Canyon Rd Daily
All three are running at once, and all three are free for Laguna residents with ID.
Sawdust Art and Craft Festival
Handmade everything, three music stages and a beer garden. Opens at 11am, runs to 8pm most nights and 10pm Friday and Saturday. Free for residents on Thursdays.
Festival of Arts Fine Art Show
The formal one. 120 juried artists, most of them working right there at their booths.
Laguna Art-A-Fair
The loosest of the three. 112 artists under a shaded canopy, margaritas, and drop in art classes. Open 10am to 8pm, and to 7pm on Sundays.
Pageant of the Masters
Irvine Bowl, 650 Laguna Canyon Rd Nightly
The living pictures show, where real people hold still inside frames and turn into famous paintings. This year's theme is "The Greatest of All Time," a run through the artists and works that shaped art history. Ticketed, and it goes every night all summer.
Weekly Favorites
Laguna Farmers Market
Farmers Market
Lumberyard lot, 521 Forest Ave Sat 8am to noon
Maybe our favorite thing all week. Come grab local food and goods at the best little farmers market around. It's free and a great community hang.
Live music at The Porch
The Ranch, 31106 S Coast Hwy Nightly, 4 to 8pm
Live music out on the patio every night by the fire pits. Grab a seat, order drinks and snacks, enjoy the spot.
Live music at The Cliff
The Cliff, 577 S Coast Hwy Nightly
Music on the ocean view patio over dinner. Get there before sunset if you can.
Give Back to Laguna
Give back
Saturday 8/1
Keep It Wild at the Native Plant Nursery
Laguna Canyon Foundation, 10 Phillips Rd Sat, 8 to 11am
You'll collect seed, sow, and transplant natives at the nursery, learning how a plant goes from seedling to ready for the hills.
Register →
Sunday 8/2
Emergency Grocery Program
Laguna Beach UMC, 21632 Wesley Dr Sun, at the 10am service
Bring food staples to Sunday worship and they go to Neighborhood Congregational Church for distribution. No signup, just bring a bag.
Weekday mornings
Laguna Food Pantry
20652 Laguna Canyon Rd Mon to Fri, 7:30 to 10:45am
You'll sort donated food, bag groceries, and hand them out to neighbors who need them. Ages 14 and up, and you fill out an application first.
Sign up to volunteer →
Coming Soon to Laguna
The Laguna Greeter
Truly Bagels
The team behind Truly Pizza is working on a bagel shop for South Laguna at 31727 Coa​st Hwy, the old Ti Amo space. Still no open date.
Surfing Heritage & Culture Center
The surf museum is taking over 239 Bro​adway St, a downtown building that went up in 1941 as a Sprouse Reitz store. Still no opening date.
Orange Door Studio Lounge at KXFM
Our local station just built a live performance room at the studio. Touring musicians and Laguna artists will record sets there, and they'll go out on the air, on YouTube, and on social. No public sessions announced yet.
Local Conditions
Golf cart
Surf
A long period south swell is running all week, about waist to chest high and peaking Thursday before it drops off by Monday. Lifeguards have already made rescues in it. There are strong rip currents and high tides through the weekend. Water is warm, mid 70s.
Weather
Two more mornings of gloom, then it breaks. Thursday jumps to 92, Friday 93, and Saturday tops out around 95 before easing back to the high 80s Monday. Nights stay warm in the mid 70s once the heat lands.
TUE
7/28
cloudy
75°
67°
WED
7/29
cloudy
73°
66°
THU
7/30
sunny
92°
65°
FRI
7/31
sunny
93°
73°
SAT
8/1
sunny
95°
76°
SUN
8/2
sunny
90°
76°
MON
8/3
cloudy
86°
74°
Crowds
Peak summer, three festivals running, and a 95 degree Saturday with warm water. This is the week the whole county drives to the coast. Park early or take the free trolley.
Tourist-O-Meter
Tourist-O-Meter
MellowPacked
In Season
Peak stone fruit, peaches and nectarines especially, plus melons, tomatoes, corn, and zucchini.
Local Wildlife
Dolphins are the easy sighting right now, often in big pods just past the surf line. Bring binoculars to the Heisler bluffs. Blue whales are out there too, but they sit far enough offshore that you'll want a boat out of Dana Point. And a coyote turned up in Alta Laguna last week, so keep pets in at night and early morning.
(facts only) Laguna News (facts only)
Main Beach lifeguard tower
  The Land Trust bought 50 artist studios in the canyon A local nonprofit owns them now, which means they stay working art space instead of getting sold off or redeveloped.
  The city is rewriting the rules for what can be built downtown The stated goal is more housing. Council told staff to release the environmental studies and to point most of the new units toward the arts district.
Laguna Lore
Legend has it Laguna's first surfer was George "Peanuts" Larson, riding here by the early 1930s. In 1934 he shaped a board at the Main Beach lifeguard tower, then hauled a local kid, Dick Metz, down to San Onofre in his Model A. Metz, born in Laguna in 1929, learned riding tandem on a 100 pound board too heavy to carry home, so he'd just leave it on the sand.Vintage Laguna surfer
That's it for this week, see you out there!
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