Overview The San Clemente Ocean Festival is a free two-day beach festival on both sides of the San Clemente Pier, built on lifeguard competition: dory boat races, ironman and ironwoman events, rescue relays and paddleboard races run in the surf beside the pier while families spread out on the sand. It grew out of the Orange County Beach Games in 1976, when San Clemente Marine Safety Captain Sheridan Byerly opened the games to the public, and publicist Dorothy Fuller gave it its slogan, "The Greatest Show on Surf," in 1981. The festival is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and billed 2026 as its 48th year. On site The festival map runs north and south of the pier, with the main stage, the Youth Pavilion and an expo spread along the sand. Saturday carries the lifeguard competitions, a tandem bodyboarding contest, the Groms Rule youth surf contest, a fishing derby off the pier and a free family concert on the beach at sunset. Sunday puts the public in the water, with a 5K run and walk, a one-mile ocean swim, a run-swim-run, paddle and SUP races, a sand sculpting contest and the Great Rubber Duck Race, in which sponsored ducks catch a wave to the finish. Button's Woodies on the Pier shows 15 wood-bodied cars each day, and ran for the 30th time in 2026, the year the festival added its own Surfing Championship. City lifeguards cook a pancake breakfast, and an ocean art show runs both days. Parking is free, and a free shuttle runs from San Clemente High School. Audience Competitors run from age 4 to 78, about 800 of them over the weekend, from the Dolphin Dash for children 12 and under to the lifeguard and open divisions, and the festival says its ocean events draw athletes from across the U.S. and overseas. Everyone else comes for the beach day, from Orange, San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Competitors race in the festival's rash guards and swim caps and keep them afterward. Track record Since 1993 the festival has given more than $440,000 in donations and scholarships, with grants going to the San Clemente Lifeguards, the Junior Lifeguard program, the Ocean Institute's Adopt-A-Class program and graduating high school students. The King Neptune logo was trademarked in 1983. The festival won Best Annual Local Event in the 2025 Best of San Clemente People's Choice awards, and KABC, KLOS and KWVE have carried its announcements and pre-event interviews. Brand presence Partners can put their name on a festival area, as with the Hoag Youth Pavilion and the South Coast Water District Hydration Station, or brand the sunscreen, hydration and phone-charging stations. Lifeguard towers along the beach can fly a sponsor's flags, the shuttles and trolleys can carry a brand for the weekend, and logos go on the competitors' swim caps and rash guards. Top-tier sponsors get premium beach space in the expo and a place on the festival banner that hangs in downtown San Clemente. The festival also runs branded beach cleanups, and after the weekend it sends partners a recap with photos, video and the pounds of trash removed.