Around Town: Beach volleyball star brings 3-day event to Huntington Beach

Professional beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings will bring her p1440 event series to Huntington State Beach this weekend, with two beach volleyball tournaments, health and wellness activities and vendors, yoga and meditation sessions, cooking demonstrations, music and more.

The tournaments are the Top Guns Invitational — featuring 16 of the best players from around the world — and the Young Guns Invitational, which will include other athletes in a 24-team main draw and double-elimination competition.

The three-day event — named for the minutes available in a day — also will feature a Kid’s Court with games, art activities, entertainment and more.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Pacific Coast Highway and Brookhurst Street. General admission is free, though VIP options with concierge service, a shaded viewing area, free beer and wine and catered food are available for $100 per day and $200 for all three days. Parking at the state beach is $15 per day.

To give volleyball players more downtime during the offseason, this festival combines p1440’s last two scheduled events of the year — San Diego, which was originally scheduled for this weekend, and Huntington Beach, originally scheduled for Dec. 14-16. Other events this year were in San Jose and Las Vegas.

For tickets and schedule information, visit p1440.com/events/huntington-beach.

Laguna offers free sandbags to protect from storms

Laguna Beach residents can pick up free filled sandbags to help protect their properties from winter storms.

The National Weather Service predicts heavy rain Wednesday night through Thursday, with a wind advisory during the day Thursday.

Sandbags are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Act V parking lot at 1900 Laguna Canyon Road or the Aliso Beach inland parking lot at 31118 S. Coast Hwy. There is a limit of 10 bags per person.

Residents also may pick up free unfilled sandbags at the city’s four fire stations. The bags cannot be filled with sand from Laguna’s beaches or playgrounds, the city says.

‘A Christmas Carol’ is back at South Coast Rep through Dec. 24

South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa is presenting its 39th annual production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” through Dec. 24, with Hal Landon Jr. reprising his longtime role as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Show times typically are 7:30 p.m. weekdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and noon and 4 p.m. Sundays. Mondays are dark except for a 4 p.m. show Dec. 24.

The play, intended for guests 6 and older, is in previews through Thursday, with regular performances beginning Friday. South Coast Repertory is at 655 Town Center Drive.

For tickets and more information, visit scr.org.

Documentary on Laguna Greenbelt preservation premieres Thursday

A documentary about the history of preserving the Laguna Greenbelt will premiere at 7 p.m. Thursday at Soka University in Aliso Viejo.

A panel discussion with the film’s creators, Ron Chilcote, Harry Huggins and Charles Michael Murray, will follow the 90-minute viewing of “The Laguna Greenbelt — 50 years of Preservation.”

The showing will be in Room 216 of Soka’s Pauling Hall.

Grand opening Friday for relocated Balboa Island Museum

Newport Beach’s Balboa Island Museum is almost back and bigger than ever.

The museum will hold a public grand reopening at 10 a.m. Friday at its new base at 210 Marine Ave., former site of the Art for the Soul boutique. The new location — nearly three times the size of the previous home a few blocks away — will enable the museum to expand its exhibits, add a children’s zone, launch a donation-based coffee bar and more, officials say.

New exhibits will explore the local histories of surfing, fishing, lifeguards and veterans, plus the landmark Wedge and Balboa Fun Zone. The popular John Wayne exhibit has been enhanced, along with displays on the Santa Ana River and the Collins and Beek families.

Montage in Laguna to showcase gingerbread village

The Montage Laguna Beach resort will present its Fairytale Valley Gingerbread Train Journey beginning Saturday and continuing through Dec. 26 beneath the grand staircase outside the Loft restaurant.

The free display is a gingerbread village created by executive pastry chef Lee Smith and his team, complete with a miniature train winding through a forest.

The Montage is at 30801 S. Coast Hwy.

Governor appoints 2 to Orange County Fair Board

Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed two new members to the Orange County Fair Board, a nine-person panel that governs the state-owned fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Natalie Rubalcava-Garcia, 39, of Anaheim and Andreas Meyer, 35, of Irvine will fill the unpaid positions vacated by the resignations in June of board members Nick Berardino and Stan Tkaczyk.

Rubalcava-Garcia is chief operating officer of the Orange County Business Council.

Meyer has served as associate general counsel at Chapman University in Orange since 2017, following a stint as university counsel at USC from 2011 to 2017.