by Garth Meyer
A split city council vote confirmed a new amendment to the permit for BeachLife Festival 2026 taking place next weekend at Seaside Lagoon.
Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., and Paige Kaluderovic voted “no,” citing a desire for a long-term deal.
The permit includes a charge of $100,000 for use of city property for the concert, designates fines in five-minute segments for violation of operating hours (shutdown at 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 p.m. Sunday), and sets how many days are allotted for load-in and load-out.
The original permit in 2017 cost Beachlife organizers, Sanford Ventures, $33,189.
The agreement has been amended each of the last six years with small changes because a long-term deal has not been reached.
“It wasn’t clear at the beginning whether they would make money. Now it’s abundantly clear they’re making money,” said Obagi, Jr., who incidentally made the April 21 motion to approve the one-year amendment, but wanted to register his disappointment that something long-term had not been presented.
Negotiations took place between Sanford Ventures and the Redondo Beach Waterfront and Economic Development Department.
“Being born and raised in the South Bay, we take great pride in delivering a product at scale that brings significant goodwill, notoriety, and economic stimulus to the local businesses, hotels and surrounding community,” said Allen Sanford, BeachLife co-founder. “Our hope is to continue to be viewed as a long-term partner to the city as they re-imagine what the waterfront could and should be through LA28 Olympics and beyond.”
“Considering our long-term partnership and commitment to Beachlife, we should be getting a bit more,” Obagi said. “We’re not shopping out other festivals. Everything about BeachLife is good, we just need to stop negotiating against them every year.”
Also Tuesday night, the council approved an $11 million upgrade to Seaside Lagoon.
“BeachLife will get the full benefit of that new lagoon,” Obagi said. “That should be another reason why we should have a long-term deal.” ER
