By Haley Chi-Sing
The San Clemente Ocean Festival recently donated $6,000 to three community programs, using the proceeds from the sale of its 2020 collector T-shirts, which went on sale this past summer despite the “The Greatest Show on Surf” being postponed to July 2021.
The organization announced last week that the Ocean Institute, Age Well Senior Services and the city of San Clemente’s Marine Safety Division each received $2,000 to support their programs.
“All in all, we were able to cover production expenses and give back to our community programs through the net sales,” Ocean Fest said in a press release.
The donation to the Dana Point-based Ocean Institute will support its Adopt-A-Class program for San Clemente High school students, while Age Well will utilize its donation for the Meals on Wheels program for San Clemente’s seniors.
And money for the Marine Safety Division, according to Ocean Fest, will go toward scholarships for its Junior Lifeguard Program.
“We thank everyone who purchased this year’s T-shirts and helped support these amazing organizations and programs,” Ocean Fest said in the release. “All leftover product has been donated to the U.S. Marine Corps, Boys & Girls Club and a few other local organizations to help those in need.”
The Ocean Fest 2020 shirts began selling on Memorial Day of this year.
The white T-shirts featured a “fun, whimsical” design by local artist Bob Harlow that featured a drawing of a woodie car as a means of highlighting Gary and Arlene Button, who have acted as dedicated contributors to Ocean Fest over the years.
Per the press release, “Gary and Arlene worked together as an amazing team for over 25 years, recruiting and coordinating a variety of Woodies for everyone to admire and enjoy.”
Ocean Fest also sold special 2020 blue T-shirts dedicated to San Clemente’s former Marine Safety Capt. Bill Humphreys. Humphreys worked as a San Clemente lifeguard for 43 years, before retiring at the end of 2019.
Ocean Festival T-shirts were available both online and in-store at DeNault’s ACE Hardware stores and Mikii’s on Del Mar in San Clemente.
The Ocean Festival, which was set to celebrate its annual weekend of ocean-based competition for the 44th year this past summer, was officially postponed a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ocean Fest is now set to take place July 17-18 in 2021. Additional information regarding the event will be released closer to the festival.
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