Monterey Bay Events

Monterey events calendar

58 dated public events across Monterey and Santa Cruz counties from August to December 2026, laid out by day — county fairs, festivals, races at Laguna Seca, parades and holiday markets, each with the date its organiser published and a link to them. In the next two weeks: 5 events, listed first below.

On now and in the next two weeks

As of Monday, October 5. This weekend (Saturday, October 10–11): Meet the Makers Art & Wine Walk · Open Studios Satellite Preview Exhibit.

Every week: farmers markets

Not on the grids, because they happen every week rather than once: certified farmers markets, by operator schedule, for the next seven days. Day, hours and location for each are on the Monterey County farmers market and Santa Cruz County farmers market pages.

  • Mon 5 1 Monterey Co. 0 Santa Cruz Co.
  • Tue 6 2 Monterey Co. 1 Santa Cruz Co.
  • Wed 7 1 Monterey Co. 1 Santa Cruz Co.
  • Thu 8 3 Monterey Co. 0 Santa Cruz Co.
  • Fri 9 2 Monterey Co. 0 Santa Cruz Co.
  • Sat 10 1 Monterey Co. 3 Santa Cruz Co.
  • Sun 11 1 Monterey Co. 1 Santa Cruz Co.

October 2026, printable

The current month as one image — for the fridge, a group chat, or a phone with no signal at the beach. Every month has one; they are collected at the bottom of the page.

Printable month calendar for October 2026: Monterey County and Santa Cruz County events written on the days they happen, with longer runs and undated events listed underneath.
October 2026 as a printable calendar. Monterey County events in white, Santa Cruz County in blue. Download PNG (1600×1350)

October 2026

14 dated · 1 undated · October 2026 listings

Calendar of events in October 2026, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1 2 3
4 5 today 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

October 2026, in date order

  1. October 1-4, 2026past Carmel International Film Festival Carmel-by-the-Sea · Monterey County · Film Festival
  2. October 2-4, 2026past Laguna Seca SpeedTour (Trans-Am) Salinas · Monterey County · Motorsports
  3. October 2-18, 2026 Open Studios Satellite Preview Exhibit (Santa Cruz Art League) Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Art Exhibition · multi-week run
  4. October 3, 2026past Butterfly Days Sunset Celebration at Point Pinos Lighthouse Pacific Grove · Monterey County · Community / Heritage
  5. October 3, 2026past Downtown Santa Cruz Harvest Festival Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Seasonal / Community Festival
  6. October 3, 2026past Pacific Grove Butterfly Parade & Bazaar Pacific Grove · Monterey County · Parade / Community
  7. October 3, 2026past Poodle Day Carmel-by-the-Sea · Monterey County · Community / Pet Event
  8. October 10, 2026 Meet the Makers Art & Wine Walk (7th Annual) Carmel-by-the-Sea · Monterey County · Art / Wine Walk
  9. October 14-18, 2026 Santa Cruz Film Festival 2026 Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Film Festival
  10. October 17, 2026 Downtown Santa Cruz Halloween Mask Making Festival Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Halloween / Family
  11. October 17, 2026 Santa Cruz Comedy Festival Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Comedy Festival
  12. October 31, 2026 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Halloween Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Halloween / Family
  13. October 31, 2026 Santa Cruz Harbor Trick-Or-Treat (Haunted Harbor) Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Halloween / Family
  14. October 31, 2026 Vampire Ball at Chaminade Resort & Spa Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Halloween / Nightlife (21+)
  15. Date not yet announced Open Studios Art Tour (41st Annual) Countywide (Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Felton, Scotts Valley, Bonny Doon, Aptos) · Santa Cruz County · Art Tour

Racing at Laguna Seca this month — entrances, parking and where to watch are on the Laguna Seca map.

November 2026

5 dated · November 2026 listings

Calendar of events in November 2026, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30

November 2026, in date order

  1. November 1, 2026 Watsonville Dia de Muertos Festival Watsonville · Santa Cruz County · Cultural Festival
  2. November 5-7, 2026 Big Sur Food & Wine Festival Big Sur · Monterey County · Food & Wine Festival
  3. November 7-8, 2026 Santa Cruz Sea Glass and Ocean Art Festival (18th Annual) Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Art Festival
  4. November 8, 2026 Monterey Bay Half Marathon Monterey · Monterey County · Running / Sports
  5. November 26, 2026 - January 3, 2027 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Winter Wonderland Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Family · multi-week run

December 2026

8 dated · 1 undated · December 2026 listings

Calendar of events in December 2026, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

December 2026, in date order

  1. November 26, 2026 - January 3, 2027 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Winter Wonderland Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Family · multi-week run
  2. December 2, 2026 A Taste of Ireland: A Celtic Christmas Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Performance
  3. December 4, 2026 Downtown Boulder Creek Market & Ugly Sweater Contest Boulder Creek · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Market
  4. December 5, 2026 Santa Cruz Harbor Lighted Boat Parade Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Parade
  5. December 6, 2026 Hallcrest Vineyards Holiday Market Felton · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Market
  6. December 11-12, 2026 Christmas in the Adobes Monterey · Monterey County · Holiday / Heritage
  7. December 20, 2026 Hotel Paradox Holiday Market Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Market
  8. December 31, 2026 First Night Monterey Monterey · Monterey County · New Year's Eve / Arts Festival
  9. Date not yet announced Downtown Santa Cruz Holiday Parade Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Holiday / Parade

August 2026

17 dated · finished · August 2026 listings

Calendar of events in August 2026, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31

August 2026, in date order

  1. July 26 - August 9, 2026past Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (64th Season: 'We the Dreamers') Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Music Festival · multi-week run
  2. August 1-2, 2026past Annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival Watsonville · Santa Cruz County · Food / Agricultural Festival
  3. August 2, 2026past Cabrillo Festival Free Family Orchestral Concert Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Music / Family
  4. August 2, 2026past Scotts Valley 60th Anniversary Celebration at Skypark Scotts Valley · Santa Cruz County · Community Festival
  5. August 6, 2026past Santa Cruz Jug Band Festival (2nd Annual) Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Music Festival
  6. August 7-16, 2026past Monterey Car Week (umbrella event) Countywide (Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach, Seaside, Salinas) · Monterey County · Automotive / Motorsports · multi-week run
  7. August 8-9, 2026past Church Street Fair Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Street Fair / Arts
  8. August 8-9, 2026past Monterey Pre-Reunion & Corkscrew Hillclimb Salinas · Monterey County · Motorsports
  9. August 9, 2026past Cabrillo Festival Grand Finale ('Hope as Our Banner') Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Music Festival
  10. August 10-12, 2026past Automobilia Collectors Expo (incl. ACE Auction & ACE Forum) Seaside · Monterey County · Automotive / Expo
  11. August 11-16, 2026past Carmel Car Week Carmel-by-the-Sea · Monterey County · Automotive / Community
  12. August 12, 2026past Motorlux Monterey · Monterey County · Automotive / Aviation Gala
  13. August 12-15, 2026past RM Sotheby's Monterey Classic Car Auction (public previews) Monterey · Monterey County · Automotive / Auction
  14. August 12-15, 2026past Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion Salinas · Monterey County · Motorsports / Historic Racing
  15. August 16, 2026past Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Pebble Beach · Monterey County · Automotive / Concours
  16. August 22-23, 2026past Sand City West End Celebration Sand City · Monterey County · Arts / Music / Community Festival · free (organiser)
  17. August 29-30, 2026past California Turkish Arts & Culture Festival Monterey · Monterey County · Cultural Festival

August is Car Week: the ten-day schedule has all of it, and the Car Week map shows where each event happens.

Racing at Laguna Seca this month — entrances, parking and where to watch are on the Laguna Seca map.

September 2026

15 dated · 1 undated · finished · September 2026 listings

Calendar of events in September 2026, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30

September 2026, in date order

  1. September 3-7, 2026past Monterey County Fair Monterey · Monterey County · County Fair
  2. September 4-6, 2026past INDYCAR Grand Prix of Monterey (NTT INDYCAR Series season finale) Salinas · Monterey County · Motorsports
  3. September 5, 2026past Castroville Artichoke Festival Castroville · Monterey County · Food / Agricultural Festival
  4. September 5, 2026past Hwy 17 Studios All-Star Food Fest Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Food Festival
  5. September 11-13, 2026past Festa Italia Monterey (93rd Annual) Monterey · Monterey County · Cultural Festival
  6. September 12-13, 2026past Capitola Art & Wine Festival (43rd Annual) Capitola · Santa Cruz County · Art / Wine Festival
  7. September 16-20, 2026past Santa Cruz County Fair ('Apple Pies and Starry Skies') Watsonville · Santa Cruz County · County Fair
  8. September 18-20, 2026past GRIDLIFE Laguna Festival Salinas · Monterey County · Motorsports / Music Festival
  9. September 18-20, 2026past PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach (PGA TOUR Champions) Pebble Beach · Monterey County · Golf / Sports
  10. September 19, 2026past Aloha Outrigger Races (34th Annual) Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz County · Sports / Cultural
  11. September 19, 2026past Bonny Doon Art, Wine and Beer Festival Bonny Doon · Santa Cruz County · Art / Wine / Beer Festival
  12. September 19, 2026past The Great Sandcastle Contest (63rd Annual) Carmel-by-the-Sea · Monterey County · Community / Arts
  13. September 25-27, 2026past Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF69) Monterey · Monterey County · Music Festival
  14. September 26-27, 2026past California International Airshow Salinas (45th Annual) Salinas · Monterey County · Airshow / Sports
  15. September 26-27, 2026past Capitola Beach Festival ('Toy Takeover') Capitola · Santa Cruz County · Community / Beach Festival
  16. Date not yet announced Monterey Bay Greek Festival Monterey · Monterey County · Cultural / Food Festival

Racing at Laguna Seca this month — entrances, parking and where to watch are on the Laguna Seca map.

Reading the calendar

  • Dates are the organiser's. Every listing carries the date its organiser published. Several came to us wrong from compiled tourism lists — Festa Italia a full week early, Christmas in the Adobes one evening short — and were corrected against the organiser.
  • Events of a week or less fill every day they run. Longer runs — the Boardwalk's Halloween and Winter Wonderland seasons, multi-week exhibitions — are listed once under the month instead, so they do not bury the one-day events.
  • White is Monterey County, blue is Santa Cruz County. “Monterey” in a search usually means the Peninsula, but Salinas, Watsonville and Santa Cruz are all a short drive, so both counties are here.
  • Times are mostly not shown. Most organisers publish a date before they publish hours; where hours are published, they are on the event's own page with who published them.

Three ways to use it

Planning a weekend

Find the weekend on the grid, then read the list under the month: it adds the city and county, which matters because the bay is wide — a Saturday with one event in Carmel and one in Felton is two different days out. This weekend's listings (Saturday, October 10–11): Meet the Makers Art & Wine Walk in Carmel-by-the-Sea; Open Studios Satellite Preview Exhibit in Santa Cruz.

The holiday season

December is where long runs matter: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Winter Wonderland (November 26, 2026 - January 3, 2027) runs across weeks, so it is listed under the grid rather than on every day. The parades and the lighted boat parade are single evenings — those are the dates to plan around.

An event with no date yet

3 listings say “Date not yet announced”: Monterey Bay Greek Festival; Open Studios Art Tour (41st Annual); Downtown Santa Cruz Holiday Parade. That is the organiser's silence, not ours. Hold the month, follow the organiser link on the event page, and do not trust a date for it you find on an aggregator — that is usually last year's.

Questions

What's on in Monterey this weekend?

For Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11: Meet the Makers Art & Wine Walk (7th Annual) (Carmel-by-the-Sea); Open Studios Satellite Preview Exhibit (Santa Cruz Art League) (Santa Cruz). Each is linked on the calendar with its official page.

Does the Monterey events calendar include Santa Cruz?

Yes. It covers both sides of Monterey Bay: 30 of the 61 listings are in Monterey County and the rest in Santa Cruz County. On the grids, Monterey County events are white and Santa Cruz County events blue.

How up to date is it?

The site rebuilds every morning, so 'today', the past-day shading and the 'on now' list move on their own. Event dates change only when an organiser changes them — every date is the organiser's own, and several have been corrected against the organiser after a tourism listing had them wrong.

Why do some events have no date?

Because the organiser has not announced the 2026 date. 3 listings are in that state; we list them under their month as "Date not yet announced" rather than guess from last year.

Where are Monterey Car Week dates?

Car Week has its own section, with a ten-day schedule and a venue map. In the calendar it appears in August; the Car Week page tracks 2027 dates as organisers publish them, starting with the Pebble Beach Concours on Sunday 15 August 2027.

Can I add my event?

Not through a form yet. Listings come from organisers' own published pages, and a submissions inbox for organisers is planned. Until then the calendar is built from events we can source and check.

Printable month calendars

One image per month, regenerated whenever the listings change. Tap to open the full-size PNG.