Around Town: Surf City’s Got Talent contest is taking sign-ups

Registration is open for the second annual Surf City’s Got Talent competition.

The contest is presented by Surf City Nights, the weekly street fair and farmers market on Main Street in Huntington Beach. Solo performers, duos and bands are invited to enter by Jan. 8. There are no fees to participate.

Preliminary rounds will be held Jan. 19 and 27 and Feb. 2 and 9, with semifinals and finals Feb. 16 and 23.

Anyone who lives or attends school in Orange County may enter. Categories include singer, actor, musician, dancer, rapper, comedian, magician, ventriloquist and circus skills.

Performers will be viewed by a panel of judges in each round of the competition.

To sign up or for more information, visit surfcitynights.com/talenthttps://www.surfcitynights.com/talent.

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Huntington Beach Art Center gets first NEA grant

The National Endowment for the Arts announced it is giving a $10,000 Challenge America award to the Huntington Beach Art Center to support a contemporary art exhibit and other activities in collaboration with the Oak View Renewal Partnership.

It is the 20-year-old art center’s first NEA grant.

A Day of the Dead exhibition will showcase the works of local and national artists, and arts workshops, lectures and gallery tours will help engage the largely low-income and Latino Oak View neighborhood in Huntington Beach, according to a news release.

Challenge America awards help support arts projects serving people whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics or disability, according to the release.

“Supporting projects like the one from the Huntington Beach Art Center offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day,” NEA Chairwoman Jane Chu said in a statement.

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SeaLegs Wine Bar to collect toys for needy kids Saturday

SeaLegs Wine Bar in Huntington Beach invites customers to stuff a bus with toys for needy children on Saturday for its second annual Toys for Tots toy drive.

Marines and Christmas carolers will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at SeaLegs, 21022 Beach Blvd.

Last year’s toy drive collected about 300 donations, according to a news release.

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H.B. Youth Shelter awarded $15,000 by Hyatt

The Huntington Beach Youth Shelter was awarded a $15,000 grant by the Hyatt hotel chain through its Community Grants philanthropic program.

The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa recently announced the award, which goes to Community Service Programs, which runs the shelter for runaway, homeless and at-risk teenagers.

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Law firm aims to collect enough donated shoes to span H.B. Pier

Johnson Attorneys Group in Newport Beach is an official drop-off location for Soles4Souls, a nonprofit organization that provides shoes to needy people worldwide.

The law firm is asking the community to help it reach its goal of collecting enough pairs of shoes to reach from one end of the Huntington Beach Pier to the other by Dec. 31. It would take about 925 pairs of shoes to accomplish that, according to a news release.

“I wanted people to visualize how many shoes we want to collect, so I chose the Huntington Beach Pier because it’s an O.C. icon and it’s the longest pier in Southern California,” attorney James Johnson said in a statement. “So many of us discard perfectly good shoes after Christmas when we get a new pair. We want to help you make room in your closets for the new ones and make good use of the old ones.”

Shoes can be dropped off at Johnson Attorneys Group’s office at 4440 Von Karman Ave., Suite 120.