Plan your perfect San Diego weekend with plenty of cultural festivals, live sports and unique art exhibitions to experience. All can celebrate the Vietnamese and Chinese lunar new years during the San Diego Tết Festival and the Chinese New Year Fair. Local sports fans can catch San Diego FC’s season opener or the Harlem Globetrotters’ 100th anniversary tour. Plus, stop by the one-day-only Collaborators and Friends exhibition and the opening of The Studio Door’s 12th annual Crow Show.
Courtesy of Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter
Food & Drink Events in San Diego This Weekend
National Margarita Day at Margaritaville Hotel
February 22
Grab salt, lime and a cold cocktail to embark on a mini vacation this Sunday during National Margarita Day at Gaslamp’s Margaritaville Hotel. The celebratory festivities will include a traveling mariachi band, a live DJ dining specials and $5 margaritas at 5 p.m. Plus, stroll around the hotel during the margarita tasting crawl from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for frozen, classic and prickly pear margaritas (plus non-alcoholic options). Online reservations can be made for LandShark Bar & Grill and the 5 o’Clock Somewhere rooftop bar, but walk-ins are welcome.
Afro-Filipino Kamayan Dinner at San Diego History Center
February 22
Secure a spot at chef Spencer Hunter’s Afro-Filipino Kamayan Dinner this Sunday from 6-8 p.m. at the San Diego History Center. One-half of the duo behind Lia’s Lumpia, Hunter’s culinary style is a tasteful fusion of his Filipino and African-American heritage. Sunday’s feast will include dishes like mac and cheese lumpia, adobo fried chicken and coconut cornbread with calamansi butter. Reservations are $85 for the general public ($75 for History Center members) and come with appetizers, dinner, complimentary beverages and after-hours entry to the SDHC.
With each new project, Sudan Archives adopts a singular identity, pushing her electro-driven R&B into fearless directions whilst bridging classical and cutting-edge. On her third studio album THE BPM, released last October, she adopts the persona of Gadget Girl, ushering in a world of dance, technology and romance, including her trademark violin. Feel the energetic beats of THE BPM when Sudan Archives performs this Thursday (8 p.m.) at Music Box, with an opening set from genre-bending artist Cydnee with a C. Tickets are $41 for the show.
1337 India Street, Little Italy
Tribute to the Reggae Legends / Bob Day at Worldbeat Cultural Center
February 20 & 21
WorldBeat Cultural Center ensures the spirit, substance and legacy of reggae’s most illustrious heroes lives on through its annual Tribute to the Reggae Legends/Bob Day. This Friday (7- 11:55 p.m.) and Saturday (3-11:05 p.m.), Worldbeat will present a lineup of up-and-comers and musical greats, led by Julian Marley and the Uprising, Johnny Clarke, King Yellowman, and Marlon Asher. Ticket options include weekend passes ($95) and single-day tickets ($48 for Friday and $64 for Saturday), with ticket prices increasing an additional $10 the day of.
Usher in the Vietnamese New Year during the San Diego Tết Festival, happening Friday (5-10 p.m.), Saturday (11 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. to 6 p.m.) at NTC Park. Enjoy carnival rides, a petting zoo, a trading card show and an array of music and dance performances. The festival will also include competitions for freestyle and group dance (Friday), a kid’s spotlight talent show (Sunday) and the Miss Vietnam of San Diego Pageant (Saturday). Festival admission is free and carnival ride tickets can be purchased in-person or online (36 tickets for $28).
2455 Cushing Road, Point Loma
Surf Saturday at Sunshine Brooks Theater
February 21
Before the Oceanside International Film Festival rolls out the red carpet next Wednesday, OIFF Executive Director Lou Niles will host Surf Saturday, a showcase for surfing as a cinematic artform. Catch four film blocks beginning this Saturday at noon, with a range of local and international documentaries—including Glass, a short film about Oceanside surfboard shaper Isaac Cluphf—at Sunshine Brooks Theater. Blocks 2-4 will conclude with Q&As featuring the block’s attending filmmakers. Tickets are $17 each for blocks 1 & 2 and blocks 3 & 4.
217 North Coast Highway, Oceanside
Chinese New Year Fair at Balboa Park
February 21 & 22
House of China San Diego will host its annual Chinese New Year Fair this Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the lawns surrounding the International Cottages at Balboa Park. Learn about the annual observance of the Lunar New Year, plus enjoy dragon and lion dances, live music, martial arts demonstrations and arts and crafts. This free, family-friendly event will also feature a lineup of Chinese food vendors for attendees to peruse cultural cuisine.
668 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park
Courtesy of The Studio Door
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Weekend
Somewhere Over The Border at Cygnet Theatre
February 18–March 15
Cygnet Theatre is bringing audiences a musical recognizing the love and bravery necessary to pursue a better life abroad. Written by Brian Quijada, Somewhere Over The Border combines a story shaped by his mom’s journey from El Savador to the U.S., the allure of “The Wizard of Oz” and a score that fuses cumbia, rock and hip-hop to create a resoundingly real tale of hope. Saturday’s opening night has sold out, but tickets are still available for preview performances Wednesday-Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m., as well as Sunday’s 2 p.m. matinee.
2880 Roosevelt Road, Point Loma
A Conversation with Edith Head at Moxie Theatre
February 19 – March 1
Learn the secrets to style from Edith Head during Susan Claassen’s one-woman show, A Conversation with Edith Head, opening Thursday at Moxie Theatre. Head’s resume includes 432 credits—a Guiness World Record—to go along with 35 Oscar nominations and eight wins, making her Hollywood’s most decorated and decorative woman. Through this production, audiences will hear anecdotes, insights and the stories behind Head’s greatest on-camera fashion. Tickets ($20-$51) available for performances Thursday (7:30 p.m.), Friday (7:30 p.m.), Saturday (2 & 7:30 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.). 6663 El Cajon Boulevard, Rolando
As the years pass and romantic occasions grow stale and predictable, how do couples emerge from the monotonous? That’s the question being posed by the world premiere play Straddle, opening Thursday at Diversionary Theatre. Written by Harrison David Rivers and conceived alongside Sherri Eden Barber, this steamy production follows Dodie and Vita as they try to regain the spice in their relationship on their anniversary. Tickets range from $12 to $62 for Straddle, with performances this Thursday-Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
4545 Park Boulevard, University Heights
Fiasco Theater’s Bartleby at The Old Globe
February 20 – March 22
Back in the 1850s, long before the concept of ‘quiet quitting’ entered the zeitgeist, lived Bartleby, a man who suddenly refused to do any more work, armed with the phrase, “I would prefer not to.” Beginning Thursday, Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scrivener will receive a fresh interpretation, courtesy of Fiasco Theater, through a world premiere production commissioned by The Old Globe. Tickets range from $44 to $124 for Fiasco Theater’s Bartleby, with performances Friday (7 p.m.), Saturday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (7 p.m.) this week.
1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park
The Crow Show at The Studio Door
February 20–April 3
With their piercing eyes, elongated beaks and striking all-black exteriors, crows exhibit equal parts beauty and mystique. This Friday, The Studio Door will open the 12th annual iteration of The Crow Show, with 100 works by artists from throughout the U.S. and Canada, each tasked with considering the crow as a subject and symbol. Over half of the pieces will be on display in-person, with the rest available to view online; all of the artwork will be up for sale. The Crow Show will have a free gallery reception on Saturday, March 21 from 6-9 p.m.
3867 Fourth Avenue, Hillcrest
Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya: In the Garden of Earthly Delights: I Bend to Paradise at ICA Central
February 21–May 24
Through his work, multidisciplinary artist Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya observes the long-standing effects of suffering inflicted on communities of color and decides to build anew. In his new exhibition In the Garden of Earthly Delights: I Bend to Paradise, set to open Saturday at ICA Central, Rodriguez Montoya equips silicone and found materials to craft science fiction-esque ecosystems, populated by animalistic humanoids. Though his vision of the future is inherently post-apocalyptic, it’s rooted in a healing mythological evolution.
1439 El Prado, Balboa Park
Collaborators and Friends: James Hubbell, Peter Mitten & Wendell Perry at Circle Center Art Garden
February 22
View private artwork from James Hubbell and his creative contemporaries Peter Mitten and Wendell Perry during the pop-up Collaborators and Friends exhibition at Circle Center Art Garden this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Co-organized by the Ilan-Lael Foundation, attendees can view a collection of never-before-seen sculptures, collages, and watercolors crafted by Hubbell, as well as a new sculpture made by Mitten and Perry to highlight the trio’s 40+ year friendship. RSVP for this event by emailing [email protected] or calling 760-504-6620; all exhibition proceeds will go to the Ilan-Lael Foundation.
FilmOut San Diego: Ghost at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas-Hazard Center
February 18
See the movie that spawned intimate pottery reenactments around the world during FilmOut San Diego’s screening of Ghost this Wednesday at 7 p.m. For the uninitiated, Jerry Zucker’s 1990 romantic supernatural thriller is centered on a murdered man who’s stuck in an afterlife limbo trying to save his wife from the same fate. The film stars Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, who took home an Academy Award for her portrayal of medium Oda Mae Brown. Tickets are $15 for this screening at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas-Hazard Center.
7510 Hazard Center Drive, Mission Valley
San Diego FC vs. CF Montreal at Snapdragon Stadium
February 21
Catch the first step of San Diego FC’s MLS Cup quest this Saturday (7:30 p.m.) as they host CF Montreal for their MLS season opener. With much of their 2025 roster intact—plus a collection of new signings and contract extensions—San Diego FC are choosing to run it back with a few reinforcements. In other news, SDFC recently advanced to the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 after defeating Pumas UNAM. Their next opponent is Liga MX side Toluca, who they’ll face on March 11 & 18. Tickets start at $47 for Saturday’s match at Snapdragon Stadium.
2101 Stadium Way, Mission Valley
The Harlem Globetrotters: 100 Year Tour at Pechanga Arena
February 22
Admire the razzle dazzle of The Harlem Globetrotters as they attempt trick shots, flashy passes and acrobatic slam dunks this Sunday (3 p.m.) at Pechanga Arena. Throughout their 100 year history, the Globetrotters have exhibited their talents on courts all over the world, assembling a roster with greats like Meadowlark Lemon, Wilt Chamberlain and Pope Francis (who was named an honorary member). All these years later, the Globetrotters are still doing what they do best: playing awe-inspiring basketball and dominating the Washington Generals. Tickets start at $56.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
