Third annual Sea Glass Festival hits The Boardwalk this weekend
Krista Hammond has always had a passion for sea glass.
“My mom would tell me to go look for sea emeralds,” she says. “As young as I can remember, I always kind of picked it up and put it in my pocket.”
Hammond has managed to turn her lifelong interest into a profitable business. She founded her company, Santa Cruz Sea Glass, with her husband Tony Berkowitz in 2006. The two connected over a shared passion for surfing and the tiny treasures they found hidden on beaches.
“One of our first dates was sea glass hunting,” she says. “The surf wasn’t any good so we said, ‘Alright, let’s go find some sea glass.’”
This weekend, Hammond will host the third annual Santa Cruz Sea Glass and Ocean Art Festival at Cocoanut Grove at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The event, which takes places from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 5 and 6, will feature 40 sea glass artists from around the country. The cost of admission is $3 per day and attendees can purchase jewelry and other hand-made items from the artists.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit the National Marine Sanctuary’s Exploration Center, a state-of-the-art, interactive marine science facility that is currently under construction near the Santa Cruz 
Wharf. The Exploration Center is projected to open in June 2012.
More than 3,500 people attended last year’s festival, and Hammond hopes the number of supporters will only grow.
“I’d like to see attendance be very high so that I can donate as much money as I can to the Marine Sanctuary,” she says.
The Sea Glass Festival takes place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Nov. 5 & 6 at the Cocoanut Grove, 400 Beach St., Santa Cruz. $3/day. For more information about the festival, visit santacruzseaglass.com.
