While the much of the country swelters in a summertime heat wave, the Southern California beach town of Hermosa Beach is hot for another reason.
It is because of Smackfest, a dress-up teams-in-costume silly and fun beach volleyball tournament, held one funday Saturday in July (29 in 2023).
On a gorgeous not-a-cloud-in-the-sky day, nearly 1,000 people fill the sand to play. And not all of that play necessarily means volleyball. This is, after all, a singles community and Smackfest provides the perfect beach party scene for them to thrive.
For instance, each team dresses in costumes, giving them a particular theme. Among those iare Playboy bunnies (guys and girls), condom heads and some that were hard to tell exactly what they were, such as the “puffy” team.
Some people even bring t inflatables to the beach to use as props to add to their theme. Additionally, they all set up tents in rows along the courts, and walking up and down those rows showed the creativity of the clever people of Hermosa, Manhattan & Redondo Beach who participate in this event each year.
And when they are not on the beach, the spectators and participants are in the bars along the adjacent Pier Plaza. The players and several South Bay residents just went to be a part of it all (it’s free to attend) and partied in the designated event bars such as Sharkeez (you can’t drink on the beach in California, you see) and then went back to the sand to occasionally play a couple of games.
Smackfest is a fun, lively unique-to-this-area event put on by Smackfest Events.
Often Smackfest also helps set the stage for other wild and fun costumed beach volleyball tournament, the legendary Manhattan Beach 6-man.
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