Good morning. The marine layer’s doing its June Gloom thing till about noon, then it’s pure summer — which is the correct order of operations.

This week in OC: Laguna Beach's Sawdust Art Festival turns 60 this summer — six decades since a band of local artists first set up booths in a eucalyptus grove off Laguna Canyon Road. It reopens Friday, June 26, sawdust floors and all.

In today’s Buzz:

— Kevin

The OC Fair just dropped its 2026 theme: “Your Adventure Awaits!” The 136th edition runs July 17 through August 16 at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa — 23 days of rides, deep-fried everything, concerts, and that one goat exhibit your kid refuses to leave.

It’s a month out, but here’s the scoop: tickets and bundles are already on sale, and the early ones are how you avoid the gate-price sting. If the Fair is a summer ritual in your house (and it should be), lock it in now.

More: the OC Fair theme announcement

Forward this to the person you always end up splitting a churro with at the Fair.

A few things worth leaving the house for (Fri June 27 – Sun June 29):

🏄 Doheny Surf & Art Festival (Dana Point) — Sat–Sun, June 27–28. Surf contests for all ages, a vendor village, a car show, live music, and surf art on the sand. About as OC as a weekend gets, and it’s family-friendly.

🍷 NOBLE Wine & Dine Weekend (Newport Beach) — Fri–Sun, June 26–28. Three days at The Resort at Pelican Hill headlined by chef Daniel Boulud — a wine dinner, grand tasting, and a Champagne brunch. The splurge option, and it’s a stunner. (Tickets)

🎤 David Spade at The Lido Theater (Newport Beach) — Sun, June 28. Stand-up in a gorgeous old single-screen theater on the peninsula. (Tickets)

🇬🇷 Irvine Greek Fest — Fri–Sun, June 26–28. St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church throws its annual food-music-and-dancing weekend. Get the loukoumades.

🎡 Fish Fry & Carnival (Costa Mesa) — Fri–Sun, June 26–28. The Lions Club’s decades-old fried-fish-and-carnival-rides tradition. Pure old-school OC.

***Double-check times before you go — events move… just saying

I’ve got three of them and the daily summer question is always the same: what are we DOING today? Here’s what’s actually on my list this week — and most of it’s free.

Free movies in the park. Friday June 27 is stacked: Despicable Me 4 at Del Obispo Park in Dana Point (8pm), and Inside Out 2 at Champions Sports Complex in Placentia. Want a head start? Monsters, Inc. plays Thursday June 26 at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton (free parking from 6pm, food trucks on site). Pack a blanket, blow a whole night for zero dollars.

Free concerts too. Lake Forest’s Summer Concert Series runs Friday June 27 (6–8:30pm), and Cypress has The Dreamboats on the Civic Center Green the same night.

Standing summer plays: Knott’s Soak City is open, the Crystal Cove tide pools are free and great, and the Irvine Park Railroad never misses with the little ones.

More: the full OC free-movies-in-the-park list

Cheese Tea, Please. HEYTEA — the Chinese chain that basically invented cheese-foam tea — is opening at South Coast Plaza this month, run by the team behind the Beverly Hills location. If “salty-sweet cheese foam on iced tea” sounds weird, that’s exactly why you should try it.

Art’s On The House. The new UCI Langson Institute and Museum of California Art in Costa Mesa is throwing a free opening for its latest exhibitions — music, tours, and family activities — including Raymond Saunders: Flowers from a Black Garden. A free museum day with kids = elite parenting.

HEYTEA, again — because it earns it. The signature move is the cheese-foam tea: a thick, lightly salted cream cap over fruit or oolong tea that you tilt-and-sip so you get foam and tea in the same gulp. Order the Cheezo Mango or a classic oolong cheese tea, skip the straw, and tilt. Trust the process.

If the line’s insane (it will be), Newport’s Levain Bakery at Fashion Island is still slinging those hockey-puck cookies a few miles down the road.

Newport’s having a week, so it gets the spotlight:

Market pulse: OC’s median sold price for single-family homes is running about $1.45M, while the median list price just slipped below $1.95M for the first time in weeks — a small sign of cooling at the top. Active inventory crossed 4,800 listings (highest this cycle), and homes are moving in about 38 days. Still tight: anything under $2.5M has sold above asking three weeks running.

The wild listing: 6 Mystique, Newport Coast — asking $89,000,000. 11,095 sq ft, 6 beds / 9 baths, a sculptural infinity pool, a private theater, and a glass-enclosed wine cellar that looks like a jewelry case. For context, the priciest OC deal closed so far this year was a Newport Coast home at $43.6M — so this one’s asking double the going record.

Soon we’ll feature a real home here every week. OC agent with a listing people should gawk at? Reply to this email — let’s talk.

The Balboa Fun Zone.

If you grew up anywhere near the water, you know that Ferris wheel. It went up in 1936 — a little beach, a 45-foot wheel, and a merry-go-round on the Balboa Peninsula — and for the better part of a century it was summer in Newport. Bumper cars, the carousel, the scary dark ride, a frozen banana in one hand.

It’s had a rough few decades — lawsuits, owners walking away, COVID nearly finishing the job. BUT… it’s not going anywhere. The family that owns it now is putting $115 million into a full revival of the Fun Zone. Woah.

So the place that lives in your childhood is getting a second act. And the Ferris wheel that’s been turning since FDR was president is going to keep turning.

What’s the long-gone (or making-a-comeback) OC spot you’d want back? Hit reply and tell me — best one gets featured next week.

That’s the week. If you made it this far, you’re exactly the kind of reader I’m building this for.

Two tiny favors:

1. Hit reply with your favorite long-gone OC spot — I’m collecting them for Remember When.

2. Forward this to the friend who has opinions about the best frozen banana on Balboa Island. They need this newsletter.

See you next week.

— Kevin

Want your OC business in front of these readers? This spot’s open. Reply to this email and let’s talk.