Seasons
The San Diego year, season by season.
Five seasons, built around the anchor events whose dates are verified on official sites: the marathon, the County Fair, Pride, Comic-Con and December Nights. Where a next edition is not yet published, the last edition's official dates are shown and labelled as such. San Diego's climate framing here is qualitative only: mild, dry summers and cool, wetter winters, with the year's big swings made by events rather than weather.
Spring and marathon season
March to May
Spring is the year's running season and its mildest stretch for being outdoors all day: the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half Marathon start in Balboa Park and finish downtown, and the racing and outdoor calendar builds toward summer. The next marathon date is the organiser's to publish; the last edition's is listed below so the shape of the season is honest.
14 events in the calendar fall in this window, 10 of them on tentative dates, labelled as such wherever they appear.
Early summer: the County Fair
June to early July
For the best part of a month the Del Mar Fairgrounds run the San Diego County Fair, the region's largest and longest-running annual event: concerts, rides, exhibitions and fair food, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. It is the anchor of early summer, and the beach towns fill around it.
8 events in the calendar fall in this window, 8 of them on tentative dates, labelled as such wherever they appear.
High summer: Pride and Comic-Con
Mid to late July
Two of the biggest weekends of the San Diego year land back to back in July: Pride, centred on Hillcrest and the festival at Marston Point in Balboa Park, and then Comic-Con, which takes over the Convention Center and the Gaslamp. Between them they set the city's summer peak for crowds and hotel demand.
3 events in the calendar fall in this window, 2 of them on tentative dates, labelled as such wherever they appear.
Autumn
September to November
Autumn is the locals' favourite stretch on the coast: the summer crowds thin, the ocean is at its warmest relative to the air, and the calendar runs on theatre seasons, the Padres run-in and the neighbourhood street fairs. This window fills as organisers publish, and the weekly note tracks the confirmations.
8 events in the calendar fall in this window, 8 of them on tentative dates, labelled as such wherever they appear.
Winter and the holidays
December
December opens with December Nights in Balboa Park, the City's largest free holiday festival, two evenings of lights, food and music among the museums. The rest of the month is the city's quiet, bright stretch: holiday markets, boat parades on the bay and the park dressed for the season.
7 events in the calendar fall in this window, 2 of them on tentative dates, labelled as such wherever they appear.