A 35-plus-year-old afternoon-to-night festival at the Manhattan Beach Pier — snow play, live music, carolers, Hanukkah programming, and a beachfront fireworks show — drawing roughly 40,000 attendees each December.
The Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks Festival is the South Bay’s December marquee — an all-afternoon-and-evening community event at and around the Manhattan Beach Pier that has run since 1989. Local merchants built it as a winter answer to the city’s Fourth of July tradition, and over the decades it grew from a few hundred attendees to roughly 40,000 lining the Strand and the beach. It’s been recurringly recognized as one of the country’s standout holiday fireworks shows.
The festival fills the downtown blocks and the sand: snow play for kids, live music along Manhattan Beach Boulevard, carolers through the merchants’ shops, a Hanukkah celebration woven into the program, and warming stations spaced along the route. As dusk settles over the Pacific, the show finishes with a beachfront fireworks display launched off the end of the pier — an unusual sight against the dark ocean rather than a stadium or fairground sky.
The Pier sits at the foot of Manhattan Beach Boulevard, two blocks west of Highland Avenue. The Strand walking path runs north and south from the pier base; the downtown grid (Manhattan Avenue, Highland) backs it on the east. Most of downtown closes to vehicles for the festival.
The Pier itself fills early and offers the closest view. The Strand walking path north and south of the Pier and the sand below give you a clear sightline against the dark ocean. The downtown grid east of the Pier (Manhattan Avenue, Highland) has elevation for over-the-rooftop views once the sun is down.
The festival fills downtown and the Pier through the afternoon each second Sunday of December. The fireworks launch at dusk off the end of the Pier — exact time shifts with the season but plan for early evening.
Yes — the festival, the fireworks show, and the downtown programming are all free. Food, drink, and merchant purchases are paid separately. Many of the downtown restaurants run special menus the day of.
Yes — the festival programming runs as a family event with snow play, carolers, live music, and warming stations. Kids can move freely on the Strand, the sand, and through downtown until the fireworks. Strollers fit comfortably on the Strand walking path; the sand requires a beach-ready stroller or backpack carrier.
Manhattan Beach downtown closes most streets near the Pier for the festival, so the close-in lots fill early. The Metlox structure (Manhattan Beach Blvd between Morningside and Valley) and the city’s downtown structure off Manhattan Avenue are the standard targets. Arrive several hours before dusk or walk in from a few blocks east on Manhattan Beach Boulevard.
The Manhattan Beach Pier is a 928-foot Mediterranean Revival concrete pier completed in 1920 and rebuilt in 1992 — the architectural and civic centerpiece of Manhattan Beach. Its octagonal Roundhouse Aquarium at the seaward end is a listed historic landmark, and the pier sits at the foot of Manhattan Beach Boulevard, where the downtown grid meets the Strand and the beach. It’s the city’s defining image and the natural gathering point for nearly every major community event.
Southern California’s holiday lights and festive outings are pure magic — but nothing compares to Santa Claus himself stepping through your own front door. House of Kringle brings a real-bearded, professionally trained Santa to homes and gatherings across SoCal for an intimate live visit your family will treasure for years.
