Prom was not the coolest thing that happened this Saturday. Every year at Salt Creek Beach, which is nestled in my sleepy hometown of Dana Point, we get blessed with a touch of coolness in the form of rock ‘n’ roll. The 15th^th Annual Cosmic Creek surf festival made its way into town with a loud, groovy bang.

Cosmic Creek is put on by Vissla for the purposes of bringing the “psych” back into surf, or as Vissla describes it a “retro-style surf experience paying homage to an earlier era.”

The fest kicks the day off with heats where dudes have to draw at riding an original ’70s and ’80s single and twin fin. The event is made up of three divisons: Locals, Creators & Innovators, and then Pros.

But after the surf contest is when the party truly begins. This year, D’Blanc hosted a free concert with live music by Allah-Las and Tamaryn to appropriately coincide with the retro california surf vibes that flowed from sundown to a full moon-filled night.

Tamayrn kicked the concert off to a dazed and mellow crowd full of families and friends alike. Her melodic shoegazing performance was welcomed with warm arms as everyone sipped on their wines, enjoyed their picnics and basked under the sun as we all gazed at the clouds passing over the ocean right behind the stage.

In between sets, our favorites Dj’s from Reveberation Radio spun records that stayed true to the 1970s beach vibes that the Cosmic Creek surf fest seeks to embody.

As dusk crept up on us, Allah-las took stage and out of nowhere the crowd was multiplied by dozens. Moms, dads, groms, high schoolers and all of us inbetween covered the giant grass hill in Salt Creek like ants. As soon as they announced their last song and the first strums to “Catamaran” vibrated through the amps, hundred of kids bumrushed to the front of the stage as they danced, moshed and crowd surfed into oblivian. For a moment it felt like Beach Goth came early this year.

Curfew hit quicker than expected and we all had to leave but I’ll never forget the almost-summer day when my sleepy town was basically the “cool new kid” in school. –Asal Shahindoust