ENCINITAS EASY: If you've spent some time around Swami's or Moonlight or noshing on fish tacos at one of the town's supreme fish taco shops, you know that the nature of Encinitas is both easy and breezy. No rush, no muss, let's enjoy life and I'll take some extra cabbage in my taco, please. But what makes this approach rather trickier is when a famous fundraiser arrives on the scene, bringing with it thousands of fans and surfers and a gold-of-heart plan to get some money to some great local causes. How does one approach the whole shebang without losing that all-important Encinitas Easy? You plan your party around the beach, with tunes and waves and an act with a bunch of local cred. That band is Switchfoot, and the annual Bro-Am they helm helps several local charities in addition to giving wave-seeking hang-tenners and tune mavens a fine day out on the sand.
THAT ROCKIN', SURFIN' DAY IS... Saturday, July 11, and it shall be a full one. That's the Beach Day Concert, where pro surfers and rockers and lovers of both will be out in socializing force. The soiree is free and wetsuits are de rigeur, so, again that easy-breezy good-time-having will be the name of the game. The 4th Annual Rob Machado Bro Junior -- yep, as in icon-of-the-waves Rob Machado -- is out on the Big Blue from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and young riders'll be out on their boards (alongside "band members and pro surfers," so that's way cool). A quartet of bands shall keep the live music alive all afternoon, with Switchfoot rounding out the bill. By the by, 2015 marks the first-ever Restaurant Week leading up to the Bro-Am, so if you're in the area ahead of time, be sure to find a participating eatery.
AS FOR THE MANY ORGANIZATIONS... who will be on the receiving end of the donation love? StandUp for Kids, Feeding American San Diego, Encinitas Youth Scholarship Fund, and several others are on the list. Even if you can't make the show and the surf, you can donate to the Switchfoot Bro-Am Foundation and see your dollars help out around North County and San Diego.
