FOUND TREASURES: The ocean is vast (as you know) and many objects that had once been in the water end up on the beach (as you've seen) and human beings strolling by, on the sand, often reach down to give these objects some closer examination. You might find a shell, or a bit of kelp, or a piece of driftwood, but if the object nestled into a beachy bank has some glimmer to it, there is a chance it could be sea glass. If you know this magical stuff, you know it has its beginning on land, quite far from the water's edge, oftentimes. It might have been a bottle at one point, and it made its way to the water via boat or by being swept out on a wave. Years and years and even decades of tumbling about in the salty brine — tumble tumble tumble — turns the humanmade item into something gem-like, and bright, and, held up to the sunshine, full of hue. It's a collectible, and there are fans up and down the California coast, and many of those mavens make for Cayucos each year to join the...
SEA GLASS FESTIVAL: The celebration of this interesting and long-running marriage between land and sea will spread out, like a sand bar, over two days: Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12. A Mermaid's Ball kicks it off (or fins it off, rather) on Friday, March 10, while artisans who create displayable works out of sea glass will be out in festive force on on March 11 and 12. Jewelry pieces created from the smooth-to-touch stuff, and sculptures, too, will be part of the weekend, as will eats and sips from area winemakers and breweries around the region (think San Luis Obispo County). If you adore all the aquatic awesomeness that lands on the shore after a spin in the sea, but you hold a special space for sea glass, which has ties to terra firma, call upon charming Cayucos near the end of winter for this winsome weekend.
