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Celebrate Gray Whales at Mendocino Whale Festival: Wine Tastings, Chowder, Guided Walks & Live Music
Attend the Mendocino Whale Festival for whale walks, wine tastings, and chowder contests. Register and book your stay now to enjoy this vibrant community celebration.
Event details
On March 7 and 8 2026 the village of Mendocino turns its wind sculpted headlands into a front row balcony for the gray whale migration a coastal passage that often runs close to shore when mothers and calves favor calmer water.
This year carries extra meaning 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the Whale War a local flashpoint that helped define the coast as a conservation minded community and gives the weekend a quiet undercurrent of history beneath the salt air.
Days revolve around guided whale walks and talks on the bluffs plus science style demonstrations and family friendly learning at the Ford House Visitor Center between sightings look for a chowder tasting competition a wine walk and trolley rides that stitch together town and shoreline without the parking scramble.
Come layered for changing weather bring binoculars and let the horizon do the work you may spot the low V shaped blow first then the back then the fluke that brief signature before the whale slips under the Pacific again.
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