Surf’s up! International Surfing Day is this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know about the holiday and how to celebrate.
International Surfing Day occurs on the third Saturday of June every year to help bring coastal communities together to celebrate the sport of surfing and raise awareness about the importance of protecting the world’s marine environment and maintaining healthy beaches.
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This Saturday celebrates 19 years of the holiday, as it was founded in 2005 by the “Surfing Magazine” and the Surfrider Foundation. It also marks four decades of activism by the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit that was founded in 1984 to promote beach access for all and to protect the world’s waterways.
“This International Surfing Day, we’re banding together to bring as many people to the beach as possible to enjoy the stoke of surfing and encourage everyone to contribute to protecting our coastlines,” the Surfrider Foundation said in a news release.
The Surfrider Foundation is a volunteer-based organization that aims to raise awareness about urgent threats to the coasts including plastic pollution, climate change and poor water quality through educational initiatives and environmental campaigns.
International Surfing Day has grown into a worldwide celebration with up to 200 events in over 30 different countries within the last decade. The Surfrider Foundation and its partners around the globe will host events in recognition of the day, according to the release.
Whether there is an official event near you, there are several ways to celebrate the holiday. These include participating in a beach cleanup, supporting nonprofit groups similar to Surfrider dedicated to helping the environment, reducing plastic and using eco-friendly products, supporting locally owned surf shops and ocean-friendly businesses, and, of course, catching some waves.
To learn more about the history of International Surfing Day or the Surfrider Foundation, click here.
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