OCEAN BEACH – While communities nationwide are preparing to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation this July 4, Ocean Beach won’t be among those lighting up the sky.
OB’s popular 2023 Independence Day drone show, which was grounded in 2024 and 2025 due to city resistance, will not make a comeback in 2026.
According to event organizers, Luminosity Committee — which was formed in OB to organize and raise funds for the community’s first drone display three years ago — says its plans for this year have been permanently derailed.
“When we began discussions in 2025, we were not only exploring the possibility of bringing the drone show back that year, but also looking ahead to 2026 and the 250th anniversary of the United States,” said Mike James, chair of the Luminosity Committee. “It felt like the right time to build on what we had started in 2023.”
James noted OB was “ahead of the curve” in replacing traditional fireworks with more costly but less environmentally damaging drone displays. He pointed to SeaWorld’s recent announcement that it will replace fireworks with drones characterizing it as a “significant shift” for San Diego’s Fourth of July landscape.
“The community’s 2023 drone show, which replaced traditional fireworks, drew widespread attention for its quieter, environmentally-friendly approach and was seen by many as a successful new model for celebrating Independence Day,” James said. “But where SeaWorld has a path forward, Ocean Beach hit a wall.”
James said efforts to revive OB’s drone show in 2025 were met with resistance from the city “almost immediately.” He pointed specifically to challenges working with the Special Events and Parks and Recreation Departments. Among those challenges, he claims, was an allegation by some city staff that drones during the 2023 show had operated outside approved safety boundaries.
It is a claim James said was entirely unfounded.
“Their evidence was based on what they saw in videos,” he said. “But that makes no logical sense. Drone systems operate within strict, pre-programmed flight parameters — they cannot deviate from those parameters. Video footage cannot contradict that.”
James added that city officials also cited concerns about crowd size during the Fourth of July holiday and surrounding days.
Several key considerations informed the city’s decision not to proceed with a permit for a drone show in Ocean Beach on the Fourth of July in 2025, said city spokesperson Benjamin Cartwright.
“First, the determination was based on observations from the 2023 event, which required intervention by SDPD to contain the crowd and ensure adequate safety and emergency access,” he said.
“Due to the size and scale of the event in 2023, street closures were anticipated to be necessary in 2025 both within and adjacent to the Ocean Beach Elementary joint use site to ensure the public’s overall safety.”
Also, a 125-foot to 150-foot safety buffer zone is required for the drone show flight zone based on the drones’ max altitude ceiling as dictated by the FAA, Cartwright added.
“Given the variable factors like anticipated crowd size that may expand over the course of the show, it was determined (based on lessons learned) that maintaining a safe buffer zone would not be possible in 2025 without a street closure,” Cartwright said. “And a street closure would not be possible on the Fourth of July.”
Back and forth
For James, the nature of the allegation revealed more about the city’s posture than it did about the 2023 show.
“They had no real evidence to support the claim,” James said. “It felt less about safety and more about finding reasons not to move forward. That’s when it became clear we weren’t dealing with legitimate concerns — we were dealing with reluctance.”
Cartwright said that, given very limited staffing capacity for the San Diego Police Department on a federally recognized holiday weekend, both Friday, July 4th, and Saturday, July 5, 2025, were considered “blackout” dates for event permitting.
“This is in the best interest of public safety,” Cartwright added. “As a general practice, all new events and historical events (with a date change) are subject to availability due to public safety staffing constraints. Event dates are not guaranteed. Special event permit applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis and accepted only once deemed substantially complete.”
“Without the necessary location permits, fundraising — the largest and most critical task in producing an event of this scale — it was impossible to move forward,” said James. “At a certain point, it became clear that pushback from certain individuals within the city would make moving forward a struggle. It was very disheartening.”
Following that experience in 2025, James said the Luminosity Committee opted not to pursue shows in 2026. “After what we encountered in 2025, it became clear that moving forward was simply not possible under the conditions the city had created,” he said.
Cartwright pointed out that the city’s Special Events and Filming Department provides a publicly available list of dates throughout the year, which is continually updated as more information is known, regarding dates affected by staffing shortages. He said July 4th is regularly a blackout date for newly proposed events. He added that there was one other request the city needed to have fulfilled in order for OB to have another drone show.
“Given the proposed flight area is within the coastal zone, it was strongly recommended that the applicants conduct additional due diligence and seek approvals from other applicable authorities, like the Coastal Commission,” Cartwright said.
‘Becoming more difficult to produce community-driven events’
James said that his committee’s experience reflects a broader problem facing community events regionwide.
“There is a growing sense that it is becoming more difficult to produce community-driven events due to increased restrictions, rising costs, and added layers of bureaucracy,” James said.
He added that organizations like Ocean Beach MainStreet Association and the Ocean Beach Community Foundation continue working to sustain the annual summer OB Street Fair and Holiday Parade, while noting it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so as regulatory hurdles grow.
“If this trend continues, there is a real concern that these types of events could become harder to sustain,” James said, clarifying that he was speaking for himself and not other community organizations.
“I want to thank the Luminosity Committee and the Ocean Beach community as a whole, who supported our efforts in 2023. Because of their hard work and support, we were able to bring the drone show to life and give Ocean Beach something truly special.”
But, added James, all hope for future drone shows may not be lost. “Someday, the skies above Ocean Beach may light up once more on the Fourth of July,” he said.
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