OCEANSIDE, Calif. — International Surfing Day may be just one day on June 17, but Oceanside will have an almost weeklong celebration dubbed “O’side Celebrates Surf.”

The weeklong celebration kicks off with the USA Surfing Championship that begins Tuesday. The first competition will be with para surfers, including three-time International Surfing Association World Champion Liv Stone.

Stone said she lives by something her grandmother told her — to never say “can’t.”

In addition to the surfing competition, the special surfing celebration will highlight ocean safety and the relationship between surfers and lifeguards.

The nearly weeklong celebration culminates on June 17, International Surfing Day, with a free, public screening of “Big Wave Guardians: First Responders of the Sea,” a documentary film written by California Surf Museum Oceanside President Jim Kempton, and a new film short spotlighting local SoCal surfers, including world junior gold medalist and WSL CT pro Caitlin Simmers, and California’s first woman lifeguard and pro surf champion Joyce Hoffman.  

The movies will be shown on the big screen at Oceanside’s Pier Amphitheater at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The celebration is a partnership between USA Surfing and Visit Oceanside, along with the Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego and City of Oceanside.