Ocean Way Festival in Santa Monica canceled two weeks before its premiere due to beach erosion after Hurricane Marie
A major new music festival on the Santa Monica coast, which was scheduled to bring together The Killers, Olivia Dean, Jack White, Khruangbin and a number of other artists on September 26 and 27, 2026, has been canceled just fifteen days before it was due to begin. The City of Santa Monica and organizer Goldenvoice say that powerful surf associated with Hurricane Marie, combined with stormwater runoff through a nearby drainage channel, washed away enough sand that the festival can no longer be held safely at the planned location.
Ocean Way Festival was supposed to be one of the largest new music events on the Southern California coast in 2026, but its inaugural edition will not take place. The City of Santa Monica and Goldenvoice announced on September 11 that the two-day festival, scheduled for September 26 and 27 on the beach south of the famous Santa Monica Pier, had been canceled in its entirety. According to the city's official statement, the decision was made after an assessment of damage caused in early September by high waves associated with Hurricane Marie and torrential runoff through the storm drainage system. Organizers emphasize that the remaining beach area no longer allows for the safe construction of festival infrastructure, movement of attendees and access for emergency services. The cancellation comes at a time when the installation of stages and other equipment was due to begin as early as the following week.
Waves and stormwater runoff reduced the area intended for the festival
According to the City of Santa Monica, Hurricane Marie did not directly strike the city, but it generated a powerful southerly swell system in the eastern Pacific that reached the Southern California coast around September 5. The United States National Hurricane Center states that Marie reached Category 2 hurricane strength in early September, while remaining far offshore for most of its life cycle. The National Weather Service in Los Angeles and Oxnard warned of dangerous surf, strong rip currents, elevated tides and the possibility of additional erosion along the Los Angeles County coast. The city also states that the area received rain on September 6 and 7, which further increased runoff toward the ocean. The combination of waves and water from drainage channels proved particularly problematic precisely on the section of beach where the festival infrastructure was supposed to be erected.
The official assessment showed that the surf had washed away so much sand south of Santa Monica Pier that the safety boundary along the shoreline would have to be moved approximately 96 feet, or about 29 meters, inland. At the same time, runoff from the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain outfall cut through the southern portion of the festival grounds, which would require moving the southern boundary of the event about 500 feet, or approximately 152 meters, northward. The city says this eliminated a key portion of the usable area required for stages, technical zones, evacuation routes, logistics and the safe movement of large numbers of visitors. The assessment considered sand conditions, access for emergency vehicles, conditions for installation and delivery of equipment, crowd flows, tides and the weather forecast. Following that analysis, city services concluded that the festival could not be held within the reduced area without an unacceptable safety risk.
Santa Monica Pier was not damaged and remains open
The cancellation of the festival does not mean that the wider coastal area is closed. The city specifically emphasized that Santa Monica Pier, one of the best-known landmarks on the California coast, did not suffer damage related to this event and remains open. The problem is concentrated on the sandy area south of the pier that had been designated for the large festival complex. This is an important distinction because Ocean Way was not supposed to take place on the pier itself, but on the broad beach between Santa Monica Pier and the area toward Bay Street. It was precisely this temporary space that was intended to accommodate two stages and related facilities for a multi-hour program on both days.
The National Weather Service stated during the passage of the swell system that southerly waves were creating dangerous rip currents and elevated surf along Los Angeles County beaches, and its warnings also mentioned the possibility of increased erosion. In some parts of Southern California, the same weather system caused coastal flooding and property damage. In its statement, the City of Santa Monica cited impacts in Long Beach and Seal Beach as well as local emergency measures in Malibu and Dana Point. Although Ocean Way was not canceled because of a direct hurricane strike on Santa Monica, Marie's distant position over the Pacific was sufficient to generate waves that physically changed the configuration of the festival beach. In this way, a meteorological event hundreds of kilometers offshore became an immediate logistical and safety problem for the organizers.
The Killers and Olivia Dean were set to headline the major inaugural edition
Ocean Way Festival was announced in July as a new two-day event produced by Goldenvoice, the company known for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach. According to the original announcement by Goldenvoice and the City of Santa Monica, The Killers were to be among the headline acts on the first day, while Olivia Dean was one of the central names on the second day. The lineup also included Jack White, Khruangbin, Sublime, Durand Jones & The Indications, Alvvays, Hiatus Kaiyote, SG Lewis, BLOND:ISH, Poolside, Hot Chip in a DJ set, 54 Ultra and other artists. The festival was conceived as an all-day event for all age groups, combining rock, soul, indie music and electronic genres. The main stage was to be positioned so that Santa Monica Pier would form a recognizable visual backdrop for the event.
Organizers planned two stages, a larger main area and a more intimate secondary stage, along with standing zones, blanket seating areas, food and beverage services and other amenities. In promotional materials, the festival was presented not merely as a series of concerts but also as an event combining music, food, wellness, design, sustainability and beach culture. The name Ocean Way is also connected with local music history: Goldenvoice said the festival was named after Ocean Way, the street where Allen Sides founded a studio more than four decades ago that developed into the renowned Ocean Way Recording. The project also had additional symbolic meaning for Goldenvoice because, during an earlier phase of its history, the company organized concerts at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The inaugural edition was therefore intended to connect the contemporary festival format with the city's long musical tradition.
The city sees the festival as part of a broader plan for major events
Ocean Way also had significance beyond its music program. The City of Santa Monica selected Goldenvoice through a competitive process to develop the festival as part of a broader plan for the city's economic and cultural revitalization. Under the city's Realignment Plan, local authorities have in recent years sought to respond to fiscal pressures, business vacancies and changes that followed the pandemic, with an emphasis on public safety, economic growth and activation of public spaces. In that context, Ocean Way was intended to be one of the more visible cultural projects on the coast and part of a strategy to attract major events ahead of a series of international sporting and tourism activities in the wider Los Angeles area. The city described the festival as a cultural anchor for a new space for major public events on the beach.
The plan was also strongly focused on public transportation. According to the City of Santa Monica's July announcement, there was to be no visitor parking at the site itself, and organizers encouraged arrival by the Metro E Line, Big Blue Bus services, shuttle buses, bicycles and other forms of micromobility. Such an approach was important because of the festival's location on a heavily visited coastline and the large number of people expected during the weekend. Before the cancellation, the city was also preparing special traffic arrangements and changes to prices at certain parking facilities in the wider area. The cancellation therefore affects not only the concert schedule but also the extensive operational plan that had been prepared for months for the final weekend of September.
Refunds will be automatic, and no new application is required
For visitors who had already purchased tickets, the most important information is that full refunds have been announced. The City of Santa Monica states that all ticket buyers for the 2026 edition will receive a refund, and the process will be initiated automatically through the point of purchase. Organizers told customers that no additional registration or special refund request is required. AXS, the official platform through which tickets were sold, has meanwhile listed the events for September 26 and 27 as canceled. This means that the event has not been postponed to a new date within 2026, but that this year's edition has been canceled completely.
The decision was announced only fifteen days before the first planned festival day, making the consequences for travelers, performers, suppliers and local businesses greater than they would have been with an earlier cancellation. Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis said in an official statement that she sympathizes with attendees, performers and businesses that had been counting on that weekend, but emphasized that tens of thousands of people cannot be brought onto damaged sandy ground before it has been determined to be safe. Melissa Ormond, Goldenvoice's chief operating officer, said the company supports the city's decision to put safety first. Both parties also clearly emphasize that the cancellation does not mean the end of the project.
Plans for Ocean Way 2027 are already in preparation
The City of Santa Monica and Goldenvoice announced that they are already working on the return of Ocean Way Festival in 2027. The exact date, artists, ticket prices and new sales dates have not yet been announced. Goldenvoice said those details will be presented once the program and logistics have been sufficiently developed. For that reason, it is currently impossible to assume whether the same artists will return for a future edition or whether the festival format will remain completely unchanged. The only officially confirmed point is the intention to continue the project and to attempt to stage the first actual edition next year after this year's cancellation.
The city and Goldenvoice also say they intend to continue a series of community and local programs that had been developed alongside the festival. Earlier announcements mentioned free concerts, beach cleanups, educational and development programs for high school and college students, activities related to surfing and water safety, and cooperation with local businesses. After the cancellation of the main festival weekend, some of those initiatives are still expected to be carried out during 2026, although a detailed schedule has not yet been fully announced. In this way, organizers are trying to preserve part of the project's local impact despite the fact that the main event will not take place. Even before the cancellation, the city had already announced individual cultural activities associated with Ocean Way's community benefits.
Hurricane Marie showed how vulnerable coastal festivals are to changes in terrain
The Ocean Way case particularly illustrates the challenges involved in organizing large events directly on a sandy coastline. Unlike stadiums, parks or permanent festival grounds, the configuration of a beach can change considerably in a very short period under the influence of waves, tides, wind and stormwater runoff. In Santa Monica, the problem was not merely a reduction in comfortable space for the audience, but the loss of space essential for safety corridors, structures, service zones and access for emergency services. When both the coastal safety boundary and the southern boundary because of the drainage channel had to be moved at the same time, the space between them was no longer sufficient for the planned layout. The city's decision was therefore made as a safety assessment of the location, not as a change to the artistic program.
The National Hurricane Center records Marie as the thirteenth named system of the 2026 eastern Pacific season, with a highest official classification of hurricane. In its September 6 advisory, the center stated that Marie would continue to generate dangerous beach conditions in Baja California and Southern California for several more days, even though the center of the storm remained far out over the Pacific. At the same time, the National Weather Service for the Los Angeles area forecast a significant southerly swell and dangerous coastal conditions. Those data are consistent with Santa Monica's explanation that the damage to the festival site resulted from a combination of waves and rain runoff rather than a direct landfall of the tropical cyclone. For organizers of large coastal events, it is a reminder that distant tropical systems can have very concrete consequences even when the storm itself never crosses the coast.
For Santa Monica, the key question now is how quickly the beach will recover naturally or through planned measures and how the future festival design will account for similar risks. The city has not yet published a new technical site plan for 2027, so it is not known whether the stage layout, capacity or event boundaries will change. Official statements from the City and Goldenvoice nevertheless show that the partnership remains in place and that the project is not being abandoned. After an ambitious announcement, a strong lineup and months of preparations, the premiere of Ocean Way Festival was thus postponed before a single artist had taken the stage. The next attempt to hold the event is expected in 2027, while details about dates and the program will be announced later.
Sources:
- City of Santa Monica - official statement on the cancellation of Ocean Way Festival, the extent of erosion, the safety assessment, refunds and plans for 2027. (link)
- City of Santa Monica / Goldenvoice - original festival announcement, lineup, event concept, location, transportation plan and broader city context. (link)
- National Hurricane Center - official data on Hurricane Marie and the course of the 2026 eastern Pacific hurricane season. (link)
- National Hurricane Center - September 6 advisory on Hurricane Marie and dangerous conditions along the Southern California coast. (link)
- National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard - weather forecast and warnings about the southerly swell, coastal hazards and the effects of the Marie system on Southern California. (link)
- AXS - status of the September 26 and 27 festival events as canceled and list of announced artists. (link)