Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair
Blog, Community News, Manhattan Beach News | Dunham Stewart
The 40th Annual Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair is being held on October 6-7, 2012. The popularity of the fair is explained by the fact that it attracts everyone under the sun, from families and art lovers, to free speech advovates and fair food fanatics, and those that would rather hang out in the South Bay’s favorite Beer Garden. The Fair is fun for all ages. Great fair food, beautiful arts & crafts from hand selected vendors, free entertainment on our Main Stage and South Stage, games for kids of all ages and of course, the Kids Country are just some of the venues available for visitors. It really is a hometown event and has mangaged to showcase it’s community feel every year in large part because this event is 100% put together and executed by a group of volunteers. Check out the event detaisl at www.MBFair.org
Come join us for the 35th Annual Manhattan Beach Hometown 10K, on Saturday, October 6, 2012. 4,000 runners will take to the streets for this moderate to slightly difficult course through downtown and residential Manhattan Beach, finishing at the Manhattan Beach pier. Profits go to local schools, fitness-related recreation projects and college scholarships. Family teams exist in the following categories: Brother-Brother, Brother-Sister, Sister-Sister, Mother-Daughter, Mother-Son, Father-Daughter, Father-Son (Sorry, no spousal teams) Teammates need not run together. Medals will be awarded to the top 10 combined running times in each category. Online registration is now closed and only walk in registration is available at the Redondo Beach Village Runner Manhattan Beach. Proceeds from the event are returned to the community in the form of scholarships to high school seniors living in Manhattan Beach and to various enhancements to the recreation facilities of local schools and parks. Over the years, the Hometown 10k has made donations back to the community in excess of $250,000!
Metro has produced a 
On the first Friday of every month, downtown businesses will extend their hours to 9 p.m. for Downtown After Sundown. Come spend the day shopping like a local at our variety of nearly eighty retail stores.The monthly event features special offers, discounts, music, giveaways and other fun things to do. Select stores, restaurants and businesses below Valley Drive, west to the pier and surrounding streets,will be participating. You’re encouraged to mix, mingle, meet up with old friends and make a few new ones – it’s a great way to kick off the weekend! Take a stroll with the kids to the Roundhouse Aquarium at the end of the historic Manhattan Beach Pier. Rent bikes to ride our paved beach-front bike path, or just roll up your pant legs and collect seashells at low tide. This is a popular event, so if you plan on making a night of it and having dinner at one of the many fine dining establishments, reservations are highly recommended.
Another signal that the housing market is turning around: Statewide, more than 7,700 homes sold for $1 million or more in the April-June quarter, a nearly 80 percent jump from the previous three months and 18.5 percent higher than a year earlier, according to Dataquick. The quarterly sales figure was the highest since the July-September period in 2007. Part of the jump could be due to a general increase in prices, pushing a home that had been valued in the high six figures to $1 million or more. The vast majority of homes – 5,100 – were in the $1-million to $2-million range, while only 188 were sold for $5 million of more. As you can see from the list below, provided by DataQuick , Manhattan Beach had the largest number of million-dollar sales in Southern California, followed by Newport Beach, Beverly Hills and Rolling Hills Estates. Ranking below is by ZIP code, location, number of sales in quarter and most expensive home.
Good news for coastal residents of the South Bay. Living on the coast might come with the added benefit of better health, or so say researchers. A study released this month by the University of Exeter, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. Researchers compared those who reported their conditions as “good” – as opposed to “fairly good” or not good” – with their proximity to the coast, and determined people were on average more likely to have good health the closer they lived to the sea. More sophisticated studies will be needed to try to unravel the reasons that may explain why there is a positive effect. There is a current in-depth analysis of the being conducted as part of the 
The Charlie Saikley 6-Man Volleyball Tournament at the Manhattan Beach pier, is the week of the International Surf Festival. The beach volleyball tournament named for former resident and city employee has been a South Bay tradition for a half century. In years past, registration for Manhattan Beach’s 6-Man volleyball tournament was so competitive teams camped out overnight waiting for a chance to sign up. But with an earlier registration deadline this year and the popular tournament’s move to a mid-week time slot, far fewer players are rushing to join. Manhattan Beach and the company that markets the 6-Man have put out a call to would-be volleyball teams. The registration deadline has been extended from March 5 to April 2. Anyone interested in signing up for the 6-Man can visit 
American Martyrs School, along with Nike Reuse-A-Shoe and Soles4Souls, is holding a shoe drive through Feb. 25, the day of the school’s annual 5K Run. To prevent outdated or worn shoes from being sent to landfills, Nike will take worn-out athletic shoes and recycle them into new places to play — playgrounds, running tracks, football fields and basketball courts. Soles4Souls will take new or wearable shoes of any style and save them from early death by cleaning them and shipping them to needy people around the world, who will treasure the gift for years to come. For more information on their program, visit 
Manhattan Beach seems to have finally settled on a plan that allows the public to access Sand Dune Park and quells concerns from nearby neighbors. The City Council voted Tuesday night to keep a reservation system in place that has curbed dune usage from its chaotic peak of 9,000 people per month to just a handful at a time. The current online reservation system – for those ages 13 and older – allows no more than 20 people at a time on the 100-foot dune, with one-hour slots staggered throughout the day. In December, the council directed the staff to add new time slots during the lunch hour on Monday through Thursday and on Saturday afternoons. They have also developed a monthly membership pass for a maximum of 50 users, allowing members unlimited access to the dune during any time slot as long as there aren’t more than 20 people on the dune at a time.
The City of Manhattan Beach’s financial forecast is looking up, with its main revenue sources performing better than expected at mid fiscal year. The city is projected to finish with a $2.4 million surplus at the end of the 2011-12 fiscal year in June and maintain its 20 percent policy reserve and $4 million economic uncertainty reserve. The City Finance Director will present the 2012-13 budget to the city council at its May 15 meeting, and following two weeks of study sessions, the budget will be adopted at the June 5 city council meeting. Read the details in an article in Beach Reporter: 
