Dine by the sea with sharks, snakes and jellyfish at August’s ‘Farm to Bay’ bash

Owls hawks sharks snakes jellyfish and an endangered sea turtle will be among the wild company at Living Coast Discovery Center s annual fundraising Farm to Bay event on Aug in Chula Vista Photo courtesy of Living Coast Discovery Center For one evening in August San Diegans get the chance to be the dinner guests of slithering snakes swimming sharks eagle-eyed hawks and jumping jellyfish at a seaside soiree in their natural habitat Chula Vista s Living Coast Discovery Center is convening the coast once again for what s become a local summer tradition a sunset dinner where guests can dine among the bay at its zoo and aquarium Set in the heart of the marshlands at the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge the center s Farm to Bay dinner on Aug promises an evening experience with wild company for the th year in a row Roughly endangered green sea turtles like Emerald from Living Coast Discovery Center call San Diego Bay home Photo courtesy of Living Coast Discovery Center Farm to Bay s highlight is its guest list which is packed with the native species that make San Diego the the bulk biologically rich county in the continental United States Attendees will get the chance to interact up close and personal with the center s animal ambassadors as they roam the dozens of local food and wine booths that will set up shop at the center As for the star of the show Naturally that s Emerald the center s resident Atlantic green sea turtle and a rare representative of the endangered species that calls San Diego Bay home Benefit event more critical than ever Farm to Bay won t just be a celebration of the coast It ll also be held in sponsorship of it as the nonprofit center s largest charity event of the year All proceeds from tickets to auctions will go to aid the dinner s wild guests of honor as well as the camps school trips and workshops the center holds to educate San Diegans about the spectrum of species they share the coast with Last year s Farm to Bay raised over for the dinner s animal guests This year the center declared the benefit event is even more essential as the Trump administration has clawed back more than million in funding from the county s nonprofits All proceeds from August s Farm to Bay dinner will help aid the event s animal ambassadors Photo courtesy of Living Coast Discovery Center As the federal regime has slashed the grants and other governing body funding sources that San Diego nonprofits rely on to survive in newest months the cuts have forced countless local nonprofits to stop or scale back services As they ve lost federal funds countless nonprofits like Living Coast have turned to local donors to fill the gap Funds from local foundations and sponsors enable Living Coast Discovery Center to offer free field trips composting workshops and climate-change classes to local low-income schools Photo courtesy of Living Coast Discovery Center The pot is getting smaller for grants and it s becoming reliant on the fundraising that we re doing and getting our name out there and making sure people are aware of our mission explained Sadie Klughers the center s marketing and communications manager So this event is really crucial to spreading the word about the mission and hopefully subsidizing particular of the grants that we might not be able to acquire in the coming year Klughers mentioned the funds from Farm to Bay will enable the center to keep providing field trips and other educational programs at little to no cost for countless local schools By the bay for the bay As guests watch the golden-hour sun sink to sunset over San Diego Bay a legion of workers and participants will be sorting through all the trash generated by the dinner to ensure as much waste as manageable gets recycled or composted It s all part of the center s commitment for Farm to Bay to be a zero-waste event meaning that less than one in trash items must go to landfills The rest have to be recycled or composted A organization of workers and assistants will sort through all of the trash at Farm to Bay by hand to make sure as much waste as manageable is recycled or composted Photo courtesy of Living Coast Discovery Center To meet that goal Farm to Bay vendors from street-food staple House of Bao to sweet shop Babycakes will be serving up dishes on reusable materials It s all in an effort to ensure Farm to Bay honors the coastal surroundings that Living Center calls home Farm to Bay has successfully hit the zero-waste benchmark every year it s been held according to Klughers Last year it shattered that goal with only one in trash items going to the landfill Tickets The food and wine sampling event is adults only Guests must be aged or over to attend Photo courtesy of Living Coast Discovery Center Guests can purchase tickets to this year s Farm to Bay at Living Coast s website Tickets for the dinner which will be held at the center from - p m on Aug go for The event is for guests age or over only