Save the Dates: Big Events to Look Forward to in San Diego in 2020

Happy New Year! As 2020 unfolds, San Diego will host its share of big events – from the Farmers Insurance Open in January to Pride and Comic-Con over the summer, here’s a look ahead at noteworthy local happenings spanning the New Year.

San Diego Restaurant Week
Jan. 19 through Jan. 26
We begin the year with a little something for foodies: San Diego Restaurant Week (SDRW) 2020. The tasty tradition continues with this semi-annual foodie event featuring eight days of prix-fixe, often multi-course menus at more than 180 restaurants across San Diego. This year, the first round of SDRW runs from Jan. 19 to Jan. 26. As usual, the second installment is expected to follow in the fall. Bon appetit!

Farmers Insurance Open
Jan. 23 through Jan. 26
The Farmers Insurance Open is San Diego’s prestigious PGA Tour golf tournament played at the scenic Torrey Pines Golf Course. Several ticket options are offered for the tourney, depending on which day you want to head to the green, and what you want to do when you get there. As we’ve learned over the years, the tournament is as much about mingling, eating and toasting as it is about the links. See you at Torrey. 

Big Concerts in San Diego in 2020
All year
As our resident music experts at NBC 7’s SoundDiego note, lots of big names will bring big shows to San Diego in 2020. In the spring, the 2020 CRSSD Festival (March 7-8) will showcase the biggest names in EDM and electro-pop music along the scenic waterfront. On May 24, The Pretenders and Journey will bring their tour to Chula Vista's North Island Credit Union Amphitheater. On May 30, the Adam Levine-fronted Maroon 5 will headline that same venue, with Meghan Trainor opening. Meanwhile, hard rock behemoths Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are joining forces for a Petco Park extravaganza on July 23. Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy will join forces to play Petco Park the very next day, July 24. Pop hitmaker Camila Cabello will headline at Pechanga Arena on Aug. 11, followed by Harry Styles at the same venue on Aug. 30. On Sept. 18, the Black Crowes will bring their reunion tour to San Diego. Check out the latest concerts coming to our city here.

San Diego Padres Home Opener
March 26
As winter winds down and spring blooms, baseball season begins once more. At Petco Park, the San Diego Padres home opener is set for March 26, when the Friars take on the Colorado Rockies. The first pitch is at 1:10 p.m.; this four-game series continues through March 29. Also, for devoted fans who don't mind traveling, the Padres first spring training game is on Feb. 22 at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona, and those tickets start at just $12. Back home in San Diego, we will follow every Padres player, pitch, steal and run on our On Friar podcast hosted by NBC 7 SportWrap's Darnay Tripp and Derek Togerson. Play ball!

Memorial Day
May 25
Obviously, Memorial Day is not exclusive to San Diego, but it’s a date certainly worth jotting down in your planner. The unofficial start to the summer lands on May 25 this year, and thousands will flock to our sandy beaches to celebrate quite possibly the best Monday of the year. Of course, thanks to the generous sunshine, beach days are standard long before this date in America's Finest City, too.

San Diego County Fair
June 5 to July 5
Attracting more than 1.5 million visitors each year, the San Diego County Fair is the largest annual local event and one of the largest 10 fairs in the United States. For the 2020 season, the fairgrounds in Del Mar will officially open to the public at 4 p.m. on June 5 and remain open through July 5 (closed on Mondays). Keep checking the fair's website for the official schedule as the event draws closer, and to keep tabs on the fair concerts and festival lineups. This year’s theme will be “Heroes Unite!” inspired by the belief that everyone has an inner superhero and superpowers. Pop culture's favorite caped crusaders will stroll through the fairground throughout the season, and organizers also say attendees will have chances to meet "real-life community heroes who put Clark Kent to shame." Oh, and of course, indulgent, fried fair food is par for the course, so bring a superhero-sized appetite.

San Diego Pride Parade
July 18
The annual San Diego LGBT Pride Parade is set to color the streets of Hillcrest on July 18, 2020, starting at the Hillcrest Pride Flag at University Avenue and Normal Street. The 1.1-mile route proceeds west on University Avenue, turns south on 6th, left onto Balboa Drive and ends at Laurel Street. Approximately 250,000 spectators are expected to turn out for the parade, which includes lively floats, music and dancing. Pride weekend also features the Spirit of Stonewall Rally (July 17) and the San Diego Pride Festival (July 18 and July 19).

Over-the-Line (OTL) Tournament
Usually in July, on Back-to-Back Weekends
A San Diego summertime tradition, the Over-the-Line Tournament is hosted over the course of two weekends every July at Fiesta Island. Put on by the Old Mission Bay Athletic Club (OMBAC), the annual tournament typically gathers approximately 1,200 teams from around the world to play Over-the-Line, a bat and ball sport first played in Mission Beach in the 1950s. The rules are simple: games last three innings, no one had to run bases and the main goal is to hit the ball “over the line” about 55 feet in front of the batter. Teams dress up in wacky costumes and bring tents, chairs, beer and hilarious signs to the beach for the carefree, daytime tournament.

Del Mar Racing
July 18 to Sept. 7
And away they go! The 2020 Del Mar horse racing season will run from July 18 through Sept. 7 this summer. The season typically kicks off with an Opening Day celebration filled with glitz, glam, and fancy hats -- oh, so many hats. The summer event will also include dozens of concerts and other social events at the venue. Keep checking the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's calendar for more detailed updates.

San Diego Comic-Con International
July 23 to July 26
A signature San Diego event, the huge pop culture spectacular that is Comic-Con International returns to the San Diego Convention Center in July 2020 with celebrity panels, elaborate costumes, sneak peek screenings, exhibits and events galore. As always, Comic-Con badges are hard to come by and the event will sell out. On the bright side, many interactive Comic-Con events are hosted outside the Convention Center, too, as downtown San Diego transforms into a lively hub for fervent fans of all ages. It really is an unforgettable sight and NBC 7 will bring you close to the action with coverage on our special Comic-Con section on NBC7.com. 

Clear the Shelters
August 2020
NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 will once again take part in Clear the Shelters, a nationwide pet adoption drive that helps find loving forever homes for animals in need. Nearly 700 shelters across the country will team up for this, including many in San Diego County. NBC 7 will bring you live coverage on our website of touching tales as pets find new homes with caring San Diegans.

KAABOO
Sept. 18 to Sept. 20
KAABOO, a weekend-long music festival returns to San Diego this September at a new venue: Petco Park. The festival announced its big move from Del Mar to downtown San Diego a few months ago; news of an ownership switcheroo followed. So, 2020 will bring a very different KAABOO to our city, but the festival's long lineup of artists spanning many genres will still be at its core. Our music experts at NBC 7's SoundDiego will keep us abreast of all of the details as the festival draws closer.

San Diego Beer Week
Early November 2019
As a hub for quality craft breweries, it's only fitting that San Diego celebrates the success of the suds industry each year with an entire week (really, 10 days) dedicated to beer. San Diego Beer Week typically goes down in early November and features hundreds of events at local craft breweries, plus a large festival showcasing the best of beer in America's Finest City. Cheers!

San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival
Nov. 8 to Nov. 15
The annual San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival returns in November to shine the spotlight on the best wine, beer and spirit purveyors in the land, as well as top-notch local chefs. For a week, foodies and winos can indulge in different tasty events around town, all leading up to The Grand Tasting, an epic food festival along the Embarcadero set for Nov. 14.

Balboa Park December Nights
Early December
Each year in early December, Balboa Park kicks off the holidays in San Diego with the merry and bright December Nights, a two-day, multicultural celebration of the season. The event will turn 43 in 2020. As usual, it's expected to draw more than 350,000 visitors to Balboa Park for festive, family-friendly fun, which includes live music, arts and crafts, photos with Santa Claus, free entry into select museums, drinks and food from across the globe and, of course, plenty of twinkling holiday lights.

This is just a sampling of major events planned in San Diego in 2020. We wish you a fun, eventful new year.