For the entire month of October, more than a dozen O.C. restaurants will take part in the Ohana Mai Tai fundraiser. One hundred percent of all sales of Mai Tais, the rum-based cocktail synonymous with Tiki culture, will go toward the Legacy of Aloha Foundation, a newly formed nonprofit that will give grants to more than 800 TS Restaurants and Maui Brewing Co. employees on Maui, many of whom have lost their homes as a result of the fire.

Each restaurant will have a Mai Tai on its menu, like Brant Kitchen and Bar’s blood orange version or Mahé’s Mai Tai that uses mango rum and grenadine.

Mark your calendars at one of these places for October happy-hour gatherings. Seventeen Orange County restaurants in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Seal Beach and Costa Mesa will participate in the monthlong Mai Tai fundraising event:

Costa Mesa

Three-13 Bar, 820 W. 19th St.

Huntington Beach

Brant Kitchen and Bar, 21058 Pacific Coast Highway

Dos Amigos Cantina, 21022 Brookhurst St.

Duke’s, 317 Pacific Coast Highway

Johnny’s Saloon, 17428 Beach Blvd.

Longboard Restaurant & Pub, 217 Main St.

Mama’s Comfort Food + Craft Cocktails, 21022 Beach Blvd.

Matter of Craft, 21022 Beach Blvd.

Offshore 9 Rooftop Lounge at the Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel, 21100 Pacific Coast Highway

Ola Mexican Kitchen, 21040 Pacific Coast Highway

Pacific Hideaway at the Kimpton Shorebreak Resort, 500 Pacific Coast Highway

Sandy’s Beach Shack, 315 Pacific Coast Highway

Surf City Ale House Kitchen + Bar, 301 Main St.

Triple Crown Tavern, 714 East Adams Ave.

Newport Beach

The Cannery, 3010 Lafayette Ave.

Louie’s by the Bay, 2801 West Coast Highway

Seal Beach

Mahé, 1400 Pacific Coast Highway

But California Coastal Cleanup Day, now in its 39th year, happens not just at the shoreline – efforts extend far inland to include parks, creeks, lakes and rivers, places where rains can flush trash down to the ocean.

The annual effort is timed ahead of winter storms, a chance to capture the trash before it makes it to beaches and the ocean, where it harms wildlife and the marine environment.

“This year is gong to be super important, as we prepare for another wet winter ahead of us,” said Matt Sylvester, communications director for Orange County Coastkeepers, which helps coordinate efforts for more than 30 sites both on the coast and inland. “It should prevent trash from getting to our beaches and coastlines and estuaries.”

Coastkeepers is coordinating cleanups as far inland as Martha McLean Park in Riverside to catch trash before it can be washed to the shore. Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay has volunteers organized as far inland as Pasadena.

More than 700 cleanups in nearly every county of the state are planned – the day is touted as the state’s largest annual volunteer event.

“For generations, Californians have demonstrated their love and dedication to our coast during Coastal Cleanup Day,” California Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge said in a statement. “The Coastal Commission is incredibly proud to provide an outlet for all Californians to express that dedication each year. We see how devoting only a few hours on a Saturday in September translates into a year-round commitment to the protection and preservation of our coast. We are grateful to all who share in this goal.”

The Coastal Cleanup Day program is part of the commission’s effort to raise public awareness of marine and coastal resources and promote coastal stewardship throughout the state.

During the pandemic, organizers dubbed September Coastal Cleanup Month, with people encouraged to go out and do self-guided solo or small group cleanups.

While most groups and larger gatherings have resumed for the single-day event, volunteers are still encouraged to help out throughout the entire month. It’s estimated that 50,000 volunteers help pick up trash during all of September.

Since 1985, more than 1.7 million volunteers have helped remove more than 26 million pounds of trash from California’s beaches and inland shorelines. It’s also part of a larger, worldwide effort, the International Coastal Cleanup, which is organized by the Ocean Conservancy,

Last year, 500 cleanup sites were organized throughout the state, with volunteers collectively removing 300,000 pounds of trash and recyclables. In  Orange County, more than 2,500 volunteers remove more than 10,700 pounds of trash in a single day.

This year’s theme, “You’re Bigger Than You Think,” speaks to the enormous effect that volunteers can have when they come together to accomplish a common goal, according to organizers with the Coastal Commission.

Alison Simard, director of marketing for Heal the Bay, said an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 volunteers are expected to show up at the 35 public cleanups planned around Los Angeles County on Saturday – a few dozen private gatherings put on by corporations, companies and schools are also planned.

“We are the last line of defense protecting the coast from litter,” she said. “Our storm drain system is not build to filter this stuff out. So when the storms come, they flush everything on the way. Once that water comes – they call it the first flush – and it goes straight into the ocean.”

While strides have been made through the years, there’s still a long way to go to curb the pollution of the waters with trash and debris from communities, she said.

“I think there’s still a mindset that someone else will come along and clean it up,” she said. “There’s no magic wand that will come and fix this.”

But more and more, she’s seeing people having a sense of accountability, she said, understanding the “fragility of the future of this planet.”

For a full list of cleanup locations, go to coastal.ca.gov.

The quasi-holiday on Sept. 20 became official when five years ago a group of local dignitaries and surfers went up to Sacramento to talk lawmakers into proclaiming day, with the official resolution passed in 2018.

Want to celebrate? Here’s a few ideas of how to embrace the region’s rich surf culture:

1. Go surf

This is your first task for the day – paddle out and get wet. There’s not much swell expected, just fun 2- to 3-footers lingering, and be warned, water temps dipped so bring a wetsuit. Instead of getting edgy at crowds, hoot someone into a wave or compliment another surfer on a nice ride. Perhaps take a little surf staycation and get out of your local surf break routine and explore a new spot to ride waves. Whatever you do, stay stoked.

2. Visit a surf museum

Orange County is home to two world-class surf museums definitely worth a visit.

You can’t miss the International Huntington Beach Surf Museum, just look for the world’s largest surfboard propped up in the lot.

The board has a fun history: Back in 2015, a record-breaking 66 surfers rode that 1,300-pound, 42-foot beast to shore, a moment that earned Surf City a nod in the Guinness World Records. It’s also a great selfie spot.

While the museum is closed Wednesday, you can plan a trip for any day Thursday through Sunday. Inside, you’ll find tons of surf history, including the current exhibit on the 40th anniversary of the OP Pro, which paved the way for the modern US Open of Surfing.

The Surfing Heritage and Culture Center is a bit harder to find, but worth the trek inland in San Clemente.

The museum has the largest collection of historic surfboards as part of its permanent “Timeline of Surfing” display. Boards lining the wall span from Duke Kahanamoku’s relics to high-performance modern boards ridden by today’s world champions, with every major era and advancement in surfing represented in between.

The current rotating exhibit is “Rick Griffin: Aquatic Ascendance” and showcases the psychedelic creations of the famed surf artist. Hours are 11 to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

3. Check out surfing greats

At the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach you’ll find the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, featuring innovators, athletes and barrier breakers who have contributed to the sport and culture. More than 90 surfers have put their mark in cement for the Hall of Fame, which last year celebrated its 25th anniversary in front of Huntington Surf and Sport.

Across the street, you’ll find granite markers on the sidewalk outside of Jack’s Surfboards making up the Surfing Walk of Fame. Each year, more names are added in honors that include: Surf Pioneer, Surf Champion, Woman of the Year, Surfing Culture, Local Hero and Honor Roll. In the past three decades, 174 surfers have been added to the sidewalk.

New in San Clemente is the Boardbuilders Hall of Fame honoring surfboard makers from south Orange County who helped shape the surf town. The first crop were inducted just a few weeks ago, with stones with surfboard fins set outside of Los Molinos Brewery on the north end of the coastal city.

4. Visit all the surf statues

There’s of course the infamous Kahanamoku bronze statue on the corner of Main and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, which since the ’90s has greeted passersby headed to the busy beach.

And along Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point, the Waterman’s Plaza is a must-visit site to pay homage to the area’s early era surf influencers.

The collection of life-size bronze statues there gives a nod to the city’s surf innovators, champions, artists and industry leaders who had an impact not just locally, but globally.

The first statue to go up was in 2018 of surfboard shaper and inventor Hobie Alter, who revolutionized both surfing and sailing with his designs. He was followed by surf champion Phil Edwards, Surfer Magazine founder John Severson, filmmaker Bruce Brown, and Joyce Hoffman, a women’s surf champion in the ’60s and ’70s.

The plaza is growing, with plans to add Walter and Flippy Hoffman, as well as Infinity Surfboards founders and tandem champions Steve and Barrie Boehne.

5. Support your local surf shop, shaper

Buy some surf wax or a new wetsuit from an up-and-coming surf brand. Purchase a surf book or a piece of art by a local painter. New to surfing and riding a soft top? Go talk to a local surfboard shaper to get yourself a legit hardboard. Pop by a small shop such as Rockin’ Fig’s Surf Headquarters in Huntington Beach or Harbour Surfboards in Seal Beach, both started by local icons who passed in recent years, but whose legacies live on.

However you decide to support, help fuel the surf economy, which contributes to many jobs and lifestyles for fellow surfers.

6. Recycle your old wetsuit

Rip Curl recently launched a great way to recycle old wetsuits so they don’t end up in landfills. The brand partnered with TerraCycle and so far has recycled 20,000 wetsuits across the globe, with 5,000 in the United States, since 2020.

The old wetsuits are being turned into raw material for uses such as soft fall matting or swing sets at playgrounds. The wetsuits can be any brand, just pop by a participating Rip Curl store and drop your’s off in the recycle box.

7. Tour surf murals

Surf art has made its mark along the coast, and it would make a fun afternoon touring some of the inspired works of art. A series of surf murals went up in downtown San Clemente as Team USA was gearing up for its Olympic debut in 2020, and there’s also a surf-themed mural in North Beach on the restroom building. Huntington Beach has a few notables, including the Jack’s Surfboards mural series by artist Jason Maloney that has a playful style, or the more traditional surf mural on Surf City Liquor by Melissa Murphy in 2021.

8. Share the stoke

One of the biggest gifts you can give is the stoke of surfing. Take a curious friend or family member to feel the thrill of the ride. Some easy spots for learning are north of the Newport Pier, Bolsa Chica State Beach and Doheny State Beach.

The two drills by government agencies could likely include loud noises, especially on Friday, Sept. 22, during a security drill at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, officials said. An oil spill drill planned for Tuesday, from 8 to 10 a.m., will close the bay, including the public boating channel, which typically see several hundred boats a day passing between the ocean and Huntington Harbor.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will deploy booms across the bay during the drill preparing for an offshore spill making its way toward Huntington Harbor and the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge. The floating plastic barriers protect against spreading surface oil and can keep it away from sensitive areas.

The test is part of the department’s Sensitive Site Strategy Evaluation, a statewide program ensuring the effectiveness of oil spill response strategies near sensitive coastal and estuarine resources. The wetlands at the Navy base are one of 600 environmentally sensitive sites identified along California’s coast.

Once the testing is done, officials from the department’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response will evaluate and make recommendations to modify and improve the local strategy, officials said.

On Friday, the Navy’s harbor patrol will be using blank machine-gun fire during a drill that mimics a base attack.

“They don’t always use blank ammo, so we didn’t want the public to think live ammo was being used at the bay,” said Gregg Smith, spokesman for the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, about the public notice released ahead of Friday.

That exercise will not require the bay to be closed off because the public boaters’ channel no longer goes through the center of the harbor. The civilian channel was shifted when work on the base’s new ammunition pier got underway.

Brandon Libardo Bustos-Bermudez, 30, of Riverside was arrested by Seal Beach police at the Chino Kohl’s store, 4093 Grand Ave., after a Kohl’s loss-prevention officer recognized him as one of the men caught on surveillance video at the Seal Beach location and he was initially detained by Chino police, Seal Beach Police Lt. Julia Clasby said.

Bustos-Bermudez and two other men worked together to steal the jewelry from the Seal Beach location, 12345 Seal Beach Blvd., on Aug. 31, Clasby said. Surveillance cameras captured the burglary and showed the suspects fleeing in a gray BMW sedan.

Kohl’s staff put out an internal memo to all department stores in the region to be on the lookout for the suspects, Clasby said. That internal memo led to the identification of Bustos-Bermudez by a loss prevention officer, who detained him and several others as they attempted to burglarize the Chino store Friday.

Chino Police Department officers responded to the store about 4:30 p.m., Clasby said.

Bustos-Bermudez was taken to the Seal Beach Police Department, where he admitted during an interview to being involved in the Seal Beach burglary, Clasby said. He was booked into jail on suspicion of burglary, grand theft and conspiracy to commit a crime.

“Retail theft not only harms businesses but also impacts the prices consumers pay for goods,” Seal Beach Police Chief Michael Henderson said. “Perpetrators of retail theft will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Henderson credited Kohl’s loss prevention officers for detaining and identifying the suspect.

The other two suspects in the Seal Beach theft were still being sought. Anyone with information was asked to call 562-799-4100, ext. 1172 or email jgibson@sealbeachca.gov

Several events coming up offer a good excuse to hit the sand and surf, a way to enjoy the last stretch of the season before the summer solstice on Sept. 20 and the fall season follows.

Here’s a few reasons to head to the coast before the weather turns and we start putting up Halloween decorations.

Welcome the paddlers

The Ben Did Go 8.0 is happening this weekend, a fundraiser in honor of fallen lifeguard Ben Carlson, who lost his life during a rescue in Newport Beach nine years ago.

The event was started by Newport Beach surfer Spencer Pirdy, who now sits on the board of advisors for the Ben Carlson Scholarship and Memorial Fund. The event has become an annual tradition, where paddlers travel 30 miles from Catalina Island to Newport Beach, greeted by the bronze statue of Carlson at the pier when they finish the grueling trek.

The paddlers will start before dawn on Saturday and should get in about 1 to 4 p.m., depending on the weather conditions, where supporters cheer them on as they reach the sand.

The group of about 100 prone paddlers and others have raised nearly $175,000, which will go toward water safety and lifeguarding programs for drowning prevention.

A Great Day in Stoke

The second annual A Great Day in Stoke will be held in Huntington Beach on Saturday, drawing hundreds of people to the sand and surf for an event to spotlight Black surfers and introduce others to the coastal community.

The goal of the mini festival on the sand is to foster the growth of Black competitive surfers, inspire the Black community to feel welcome in the water and offer attendees the chance to take their first surf lesson or partake in yoga.

The event last year drew an estimated 800 people to the south side of the pier.

Water competition

The world’s best skimboarders are getting ready to compete this weekend on the south side of the Balboa Pier and that means a chance to watch the up-close action as athletes take on the shorebreak.

This is the 18th year of the two-day event, which draws competitors from around the world who enter both amateur and professionals divisions.

Blessing of the Waves

The annual Blessing of the Waves, an event put on by the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council, happens at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Pier Plaza.

The event is open to all ages, religious beliefs and faiths, with various denominations talking about their connection to water and the ocean.

The community leaders speak, say prayers and give blessings before a “paddle out” is held by surfers in the water.

California Surfing Day

On Wednesday, California Surf Day will celebrate the state’s rich surfing culture and, of course, encourage people to paddle out to catch a few waves.

Five years ago, a group of local dignitaries and surfers went up to Sacramento to talk lawmakers into proclaiming “California Surfing Day,” and the first big gathering was held on the Huntington Beach Pier to declare the day when the resolution passed in 2018.

“The annual day will celebrate the California surfing lifestyle, as well its history, culture, and future,” the proclamation reads.

Locally, the Dana Point Surf Club will be hosting a group of kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Capistrano Valley at Doheny State Beach to surf, many of them experiencing riding a wave for the first time.

California Coastal Cleanup

With the summer crowds gone, it’s time to do some end-of-summer cleaning before the rainy season hits.

Since the pandemic, the coastal cleanup campaign has turned into a month-long effort, with people encouraged to collect trash and other debris from beaches starting Sept. 1. But for those who want to be part of the bigger, one-day group effort, the 39th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day will be held on Sept. 23.

More than 50,000 volunteers are expected to gather at locations across California during the month, where they will help remove hundreds of tons of trash from beaches, creeks, rivers, lakes, and neighborhoods.

California Coastal Cleanup Day is the state’s largest annual volunteer event, with more than 1.7 million people since 1985 helping to remove more than 26 million pounds of trash from California’s beaches and inland shorelines.