What to do in February

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 28, 2026

FEBRUARY

Ocean Shores Convention Center

Feb. 8 — Super Bowl Party from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Feb. 10-11 — Beach Tyme Sewciety

Feb. 13-15 — “Renewed” Antique Show

Midwinter Break at Seabrook

Feb. 13–21

Feb. 14 — Seabrook Beachside Author Series

Marissa Meyer

Seabrook Town Hall

Marissa Meyer is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles, Renegades trilogy, Heartless, and Gilded, among other celebrated works. Beloved for her sharp wit, richly built worlds, and imaginative twists on classic tales, Marissa has become one of today’s most influential voices in young adult literature. Her books have captivated millions of readers around the world and continue to inspire fandoms, fan art, and packed signing events wherever she goes.

Feb. 14-15 — 2026 Valentine’s Chocolate Crawl

Happily Sharing Ocean Shores has announced the particulars for the 2026 Valentine’s Chocolate Crawl set for Feb. 14-15 in Ocean Shores. Numerous businesses are scheduled to participate.

Get ready to fall in love … with chocolate!

Spend Feb. 14 shopping your way around Ocean Shores, and you just might make out like a full‑blown chocolate bandit.

Start your adventure at Buck Electric Ace Hardware, where you’ll grab your official Chocolate Crawl passport. Then hit the town as every participating business will treat you to a chocolate delight and leave a kiss on your map to prove you stopped by.

Complete your passport, turn it in, and you’ll be entered to win a Grand Prize Gift Basket overflowing with goodies from local businesses. This is the kind of Valentine’s Day that tastes as good as it feels.

Feb. 14 through March 8 — Beachcombers & Glass Float Expo

For four decades enthusiasts and visitors have gathered in Ocean Shores in celebration of beachcombing and glass float collecting.

Formerly known as Beachcombers Fun Fair, the 40th Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo will include the release of hundreds of authentic Japanese glass fishing floats with “Expo26” etched into the glass during the weeks leading up to and including the Expo. The float release kicks off Saturday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

“Float Wranglers” and “Float Fairies” will release floats into the open sea and surf, and on local beaches through March 8. Beachcombers are also encouraged to pick up trash along the way while searching for their glass float treasures.

More than 1,400 people attended last year’s event. Dozens of people posted pictures of themselves with their float finds to the Expo’s Facebook page in hopes of winning one of seven large glass floats. Entrants could increase their chances of winning the contest by entering in person at the Expo. Of the nearly 1,000 floats released, 450 were returned for entry into the contest.

This year’s Expo will be held at the Ocean Shores Convention Center March 7–8, and will include educational talks with John Anderson, Cascadia Research, Mary Beth Beuke, John Weldon, and Alan Rammer.

Glass fishing floats are highly sought after treasures on the Washington coast and have a long, colorful history. According to Oregon’s Ocean Beaches Glassblowing’s website, “The first mention of the manufacture of glass fishing floats was in the production registry of Norway’s Hadeland Glassverk in 1841. The first evidence of their use by fishermen was also in Norway around that same time — being used with fishing nets as well as fishing line and hooks. In the Pacific, Japan’s fishing fleet started using glass floats around 1910, and glass replaced most other materials used for floats by the 1940s. Today, though, the use of glass in fishing floats has been replaced by materials like plastic, aluminum and Styrofoam.”

According to an article published through Beachcombing magazine in 2023, “The Northwestern Glass Company, established in 1932 in Seattle, made hand-blown floats for the fishing industry. These floats were sold to fishing companies in North America, Russia, and around the world.”

The 2026 Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo

Where: Floats are released onto the beaches in and around the greater Ocean Shores area. Open to the public.

When: Saturday, Feb. 14 through Sunday, March 8. Floats are released every day. The Expo will be held at the Ocean Shores Convention Center. Doors open on Saturday, March 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, March 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $3 per person, $5 per couple, and children under 12 are free.

What: Hundreds of authentic Japanese glass fishing floats with “EXPO26” etched into the glass to be released. Glass fishing floats still occasionally wash ashore on West Coast beaches after many years at sea, but it’s a rare occurrence.

Why: This float release activity is part of the Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo.

How: “Float fairies” and “float wranglers” regularly distribute antique glass fishing floats onto the beach, water and fringe dune areas in the greater Ocean Shores area during the float release period. Crab boats release floats outside the surf if the winds, tides and currents are cooperating.

Contest to Win Large Prize Floats: First, find a float from the float release that’s been etched with “EXPO26.” Only beachcomb one float per person. Once you’ve found a float, you can enter the contest by posting a photo of your float find on the Facebook group Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo with the hashtag #EXPO26. You can increase your chances of winning by entering the contest in-person by bringing your float to the Beachcombers and Glass Float Expo The contest ends at 3 p.m. sharp on Sunday, March 8.

Feb. 13-15 — Burning Bear

Chainsaw carvers travel from near and far for Burning Bear — the annual auction, and torching of massive bear sculpture as part of chainsaw carving event.

Chainsaw carvers come together each February to create and sell wooden artwork at the eye-catching roadside marketplace in Ocean City along the coast in northwest Grays Harbor County. High bidders run up the price on eagles with textured feathers and pointed beaks, soot-black bears with cartoonish grins and, this year, a massive octopus with tentacles shaped from a sprawling root wad.

Then, in an act that clashes with the carvers’ economic pursuits but enlivens their spirits, they light fire to a towering bear sculpture — shaped by the efforts of a community of saws — that could be worth thousands of dollars otherwise.

Feb. 14 — Run Forest Run

Come out to lovely Lake Sylvia State Park near Montesano for Run Forest Run. The race offers the runner the choice between the 25K and 50K distances. The race will start and finish in the state park but most of the course will travel on trails through the neighboring working forest owned by the City of Montesano. Entry fees are a modest $35 for the 25K and $45 for the 50K. The 25K course is a loop which consists mostly of double or single track trail and gravel road with less than two miles of paved road. The 50K is completed by running a second loop around the 25K course. The course has approximately 2,400 feet of elevation gain (per loop) which is spread out over numerous short climbs. The start and finish will travel along the shoreline of Lake Sylvia while the balance of the course will take the runner through either forest or recently clearcut areas. Sections of the trail are rough, rutted, and/or muddy, and as it is winter, expect to get wet and dirty.

Feb. 23 — Hope from Horses

4-H riding group at the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds in Elma

Feb. 28 — Rocking the Ocean Shores Convention Center

Featuring Patrick Murray and Deerswerver