Four years ago, my childhood pal Brandon Guilmette and I surveyed the landscape in our hometown of Huntington Beach for the US Open. It had played such a huge role in our lives.

From watching Kelly back paddle Shane Beschen and seeing Andy Irons win before “letting all those girls know [he’s] very single tonight.” To our own successes in orchestrating major events during it: me shutting down the streets to premiere Lost Atlas with Kai and release a new issue of Surfing Mag. Brandon playing an instrumental role in the largest ever US Open that saw MGMT bring out hundreds of thousands and totally revitalize the event while at Hurley. And yes, that crowd did instigate a “light riot.” But the energy was back!

Four years ago though, the event had died again. It was sponsored by a shitty bank and the surfing seemed like an afterthought. We thought why not just simply bring some good underground bands together, and play the latest surf films from our friends and just be “surfers?” It’s kinda why Inherent Bummer exists. To make surfing better. Highlight surf films, music, art and creativity.

Since then, we have been overwhelmed by the support of other fellow Huntington Beach locals and the community. That in itself is the only reason it happens. And say what you will about our town, it sure knows how to rally for its own. So for that I won’t apologize.

This year we once again have the support from IPME containers who are pulling out all the stops to make sure they put the “Factory” in Factory by the Sea — introducing a double decker container set that will allow viewers to watch bands and movies from a second floor while we film and execute our vision downstairs inside the containers. That’s a Happy Hour you don’t want to miss. Did I mention the beers are free thanks to 805?

This year’s theme is a Y2K homage to Andy Warhol’s original Factory that was decorated and themed with aluminum foil. We simply went chrome and steel on it.

The International Surfing Museum and its staff go above and beyond to let us basically destroy their parking lot and put it all back together again. They are so down to help — securing permits, city hookups, police and fire department signatures and sign offs on every hair-brain idea we have that we would otherwise never get. Don Ramsey, PT and Denise MacAllister are icons of this event and town forever.

Our friends at Rivian will be powering the entire event and offering test drives of their epic new vehicles both days. I’ll be sure your’e the first to know how to sign up next week.

We have industry support from a ton of fresh and exciting brands like our friends at CoreLords curating our new “Reel Talk” set, our cowboy pals at Seager, Murf Electric Bikes, Range Essentials keeping us lubed up and protected from the ultraviolet rays,AVVA bringing the aloha and The TurtleBox music stage lining up to go off and create the best Factory yet.

Peruse last year’s gallery here in the meantime. Mark your calendar and tell us we’ll see you there. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Full lineup below, with a few surprises still to come.—Travis Ferré