San Diego Weekend Guide: Jan. 10-12 – Tidepools & Titters

The New Year has been rather heavy so far, especially in Southern California. This San Diego weekend we’re counting our blessings and turning to music, horses, comedy and nature for a spot of relief.

It’s going to cool down for the weekend, just time for the Winter Festival, 5 p.m. Friday and 3:30 p.m. Saturday, at Poway Community Park. Build snowmen, sled down a snow hill, roast marshmallows, make crafts and take a spin around a rink. New this year: more bounce houses, magical lights and a life-sized winter wonderland board game where you become the playing piece. Admission and many activities are free.

Petco Park hosts the second annual San Diego Rodeo in which 12 contestants will compete in each event. Gates open at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Full passes start at $99, with single-day admission at $34. In addition, rodeo after-parties include Elle King, Ryan Bingham and Colter Wall.

The Old Globe’s annual Powers New Voices Festival, a three-day event featuring readings of 10 new plays by local and award-winning playwrights, opens Friday. The festival, at the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in Balboa Park, includes six 10-minute plays by local writers on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, hear four full-length plays, including The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Marco Antonio Rodriguez, adapted from the heralded novel by Junot Díaz. Online reservations are required, though tickets are free.

The 2025 soundON Festival, from San Diego New Music and the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Listen to contemporary music by guest artists Entre-Nous and a world premiere by Sidney Marquez Boquiren. General admission for the fest, at the Athenaeum in La Jolla, costs $30 per concert.

Let the beer fests begin. The 14th annual San Diego Brew Fest returns to NTC Park at Liberty Station on Saturday, with dozens of local and international craft beers, as well as a lineup of popular food trucks and music. General admission is $50 for entry at 1 p.m. and $65 to get in an hour early. Enjoy unlimited beer tastings, or specialty pours with early admission. 

The Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma hosts the free Whale Watch Weekend and Intertidal Life Festival, with exhibits, demonstrations, kids’ activities, films and more, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It’s a special one this year, marking 75 years of official landlubber whale watching. Rangers can assist visitors in spotting whales, while also conducting tidepool walks on Sunday.

Laughter is the best medicine, right? Downtown is the place to be Saturday if you need a chuckle (or like, a dozen of them):

• San Diego Civic Theatre – Jimmy O. Yang of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” and Netflix’s “Space Force,” brings his “Big & Tall Tour” to town at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $70 and are scarce.
• Balboa Theatre – Danae Hays’ “The First Time Tour” arrives at 8 p.m. Hays has a huge TikTok following, based on posts making sport of her Southern roots. Tickets start at $50.