The bleachers south of the pier came down this week. The sponsor tents on the sand are gone, the temporary fencing along Pacific Coast Highway has been hauled off, and the nine days that just closed out as the biggest thing on the city's summer calendar are already turning into a memory. The Lexus US Open of Surfing ran July 25 through August 2 this year on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, a competition the city has hosted every year since 1959.
The Open is one part of Huntington Beach's summer calendar. Other events take place around the city throughout August, including several scheduled for the second half of the month.
The US Open and the rest of Huntington Beach's August calendar
The Open is worth what it is: free, open to the public, and by most measures the largest surf competition on the calendar, drawing the world's top surfers to the beach immediately south of the pier. The event's scale gives it a different rhythm from a weekly beach concert. Parking fills fast, its footprint takes over a stretch of sand for over a week, and it follows a broadcast schedule set by the World Surf League.
Several of those events are covered below, along with a few local dining additions.
Two weekends inland pick up where the pier left off
Old World Village, the Bavarian-style enclave on Center Avenue that has run its Biergarten since the late 1970s, hosts Bier Fest across two weekends this month: August 8 and 9, then August 15 and 16. Entry and parking are both free, with tasting cards and souvenir mugs available for purchase inside. Old World Village sits roughly 20 minutes inland from the pier, near Bella Terra, which means none of it touches PCH traffic or pier parking at all.
Old World Village has a seasonal festival calendar: Bier Fest in August and Oktoberfest starting September 12.
The Saturday concert that never left the sand
While the Open occupied the beach south of the pier, another concert series kept running a few miles north the entire time. SeaLegs at the Beach, the open-air venue built directly into the sand at Bolsa Chica State Beach, hosts free live music every Saturday afternoon starting around 2 p.m., with the only cost being the state beach parking fee. Past lineups have leaned into tribute and beach-friendly acts, yacht-rock outfit Yachty by Nature, reggae-and-rock group Tropical Drip, and Van Halen tribute act Fan Halen among the names that keep showing up on repeat.
The two events have different schedules: the Open runs once a year for nine days, while SeaLegs offers Saturday concerts.
Pier Plaza's next date is already on the books
Downtown itself is not done for the summer either. The Huntington Beach Surfing Museum's Surfin' Sundays series returns to Pier Plaza on August 22 and 23, with concerts running roughly 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and vendor booths open from 9 a.m. both days. It is free, all ages, and set up right where the Open's crowds thinned out a few weeks earlier.
Surfin' Sundays is programmed a handful of times across the year. The remaining dates on the 2026 calendar:
| Date | Location |
|---|---|
| August 22–23 | Pier Plaza |
| September 12–13 | Pier Plaza |
| October 24–25 | Pier Plaza |
The museum's calendar lists three more Surfin' Sundays dates between now and Halloween.
Central Park runs on two clocks the pier never touches
A few miles inland, Central Park keeps its own separate rhythm that has nothing to do with the coastline at all. Shipley Nature Center, the 18-acre native habitat tucked off Goldenwest Street, extends its hours into the evening for Cool Summer Nights, with presentations, trail walks, and stargazing programs typically running from around 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. The center's calendar lists an August 7 program from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
On Sunday evenings, the same park hosts the Huntington Beach Concert Band's summer series at the Thomas Ridley Concert Bandstand behind Central Library, with free dance lessons at 4:15 p.m. ahead of each 5 p.m. show. The full August lineup spans several genres, with dates earlier and later in the month:
| Date | Performer | Style |
|---|---|---|
| August 9 | Huntington Beach Concert Band | Americana, showtunes, patriotic |
| August 16 | 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band | Patriotic, American standards |
| August 23 | The Wiseguys Big Band Machine | Swing, Rat Pack-era jazz |
| August 30 | Cruise Control | Rock and roll, 60s to today |
Both programs add music and activities to Central Park's August calendar.
Three new addresses already in the weekday rotation
Downtown's dining scene has picked up a few additions worth folding into a regular routine:
- Tacos Los Cholos opened a Downtown Huntington Beach storefront, joining existing brick-and-mortar spots in Anaheim and Fullerton. It started as a pop-up before Prjkt Restaurant Group scaled it into a full location, giving downtown a walkable taco option.
- Lōrea, inside Paséa Hotel & Spa, opened as part of the hotel's five-million-dollar culinary program renovation and went on to win an OpenTable Diners' Choice award in 2024 for scenic views, with locally sourced dishes and an open-air patio.
- Habit Burger & Grill opened on Atlanta Avenue on May 4, filling a casual dine-in gap on the stretch south of PCH that had been thin on quick weekday options.
These additions offer more options for an ordinary weekday meal downtown.
What this actually means for the rest of August
Huntington Beach's August calendar features Bier Fest weekends at Old World Village, Saturday concerts at Bolsa Chica, and the Sunday band series at Central Park. Shipley Nature Center's calendar listed an August 7 evening program earlier in the month, while the remaining events are scheduled at venues across the city.
Whether you're following the August calendar from a downtown condo or a Huntington Harbour cul-de-sac, these events are part of Huntington Beach's summer schedule. If you're weighing what life actually looks like in a specific pocket of Huntington Beach, or wondering how a home here fits into a longer-term plan, The McGuire Team knows these streets well enough to talk through it in specifics, not generalities. Contact us anytime.
