Live music, a vintage surfing contest, environmental education and an “Oysterpalooza” are highlights of Ocean Fest in Surf City scheduled for later this month.
Taking place at Soundside Park, the oyster event is to take place 4-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, and the music festival 3-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21.
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Tickets range from $25 to $70 per person, depending on the event, and can be bought online.
The $25 ticket for Oysterpalooza includes live music, and a kids zone with Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center based in Jacksonville. The $50 ticket comes with a dozen local oysters. Food trucks, drinks and exhibitors will be on site.
The surfing contest has participants riding vintage mid-length surfboards from the 1960s and 1970s. Before each heat, contestants are to be randomly assigned a board from a curated collection of more than a dozen retro surfboards. Open heat registration is on the website.
The music festival is to feature eight performances, educational exhibits and vendors. The lineup as of late August includes Blue Footed Boobies, Of Good Nature, Will Overman, The Midatlantic, Oceanic, Tyler Mckaig, Justin Cody Fox, The Fontanelles, and Beht Manning.
Children under 10 are free with ticketed adults. Children attending Oysterpalooza without a ticket do not receive oyster tokens.
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Three Surf City surfers founded Ocean Fest in 2019 to share their “love for the ocean, celebrate the pure joy of surfing, and, most importantly, give something meaningful back to Mother Ocean,” according to the website. “With that in mind, Ocean Fest strives to educate the community about ecological threats to our precious marine environments and teach how we can better protect those environments.”
