The inaugural Ocean Way Festival, a trailblazing music fest by the Santa Monica Pier organized by the producers of Coachella, has been cancelled just two weeks prior to its start due to the impact of Hurricane Marie.Scheduled for September 26-27, the festival was primed to transform “The Sandbox,” a 550,000-square-foot stretch of sand south of the storied Pier, into a major beachfront festival headlined by The Killers and Olivia Dean.
“I am deeply saddened that severe weather and beach conditions have forced the City and Goldenvoice to make this difficult decision,” Santa Monica City Council member Dan Hall said in an emailed statement EDM.com.“However, the safety of festival-goers, our residents, and the Pier must remain our priority.” Marie’s powerful swells pounded south-facing Southern California shores with massive 8-to-20-foot waves and deadly rip currents.
The conditions collapsed a beachfront driveway into a sinkhole in Malibu, compromising a seawall and prompting evacuation of more than a dozen homes in Long Beach while demolishing piers and a boatyard on Catalina Island, according to local reports.No fatalities have been confirmed, but the National Weather Service reported life-threatening rip currents from San Diego to the South Bay, along with significant beach erosion that exposed decades-old buried pier remnants at Newport Beach.
The same goes for the beach venue of Ocean Way Festival, according to Hall, who characterized the threat as “deeply concerning” as officials work to repair the Pico storm drain.Prior to Goldenvoice’s public reveal of Ocean Way, EDM.com caught up with Hall, who first introduced the motion to launch the ambitious festival, to discuss its high economic stakes for the city.
“Resident and festival safety are first and foremost in my mind and in our staff’s mind,” Hall told us at the time.“If we can’t create a festival that’s safe for everyone, we won’t do it.
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