Photo Credit: Dolphin Safari
While Laguna Beach has its Annual Patriot’s Day Parade on the morning of March 7th, neighboring Dana Point has its own parade – the Festival of Whales Parade – which is just the beginning of a two-weekend festival of jam-packed events.
On Saturday, March 7th, the Festival of Whales Parade begins at 10 a.m., routing along Pacific Coast Highway from Selva Road and ending at Golden Lantern in the harbor at Dana Point.
This is one seriously large parade. Happily, the city provides free shuttle service to and from Dana Point Harbor parking lots one hour before parade time, with shuttles resuming after the last parade marcher has crossed the finish line.
There’s no hurry to get out of that harbor, though. For two straight days this weekend AND next the Dana Point harbor is a-bustle with hundreds (and I mean HUNDREDS) of Festival of Whales activities, from drone demos to whale watching cruises, movies in the park, live music, a dolphin and whale film festival, fine arts shows, marine mammal lecture series and classic car displays. Heck, they’ve even thrown in the 7th Annual Festival of Whales Grunion Run 10k/5k/walk and 1k kids run.
It’s like a year of various city festivals smushed into two weekends (March 7 & 8 and March 14 & 15). Check out the many, many events at the official Festival of Whales website.