October 8, 2026
Almost everything on Stinson Beach's October calendar happens at 32 Belvedere Ave. The biggest event of November happens there too, and it's a fundraiser for the building. The 10th annual Stinson Beach DocFest runs November 6, 7 and 8, 2026, as a three-day benefit for the Stinson Beach Community Center. Most of what fills the weeks before it is put on by local volunteer groups that meet in the same rooms.
So the off-season isn't a quieter copy of summer. It's a loop. The town's volunteer organizations hold their events in the Community Center, and the largest of those events raises money to keep the Center going. When you buy a festival ticket in November, you're helping pay for the yoga room you used in October.
The Community Center's October 2026 calendar is short and steady. Here's how the regular weeks look:
The calendar also shows private events and a memorial service, plus public meetings like the Stinson Beach Water District's wastewater session on October 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. One building handles exercise classes, worship, civic business, private gatherings and a Halloween night. It's the town's shared living room, and it doesn't pay for itself.
The first Saturday of October showed how the volunteer side works. On October 3, from 5 to 8 p.m., the Stinson Beach Historical Society hosted Tasty Bites & Historic Tales at the Community Center. Entry was free with a suggested $20 donation. The evening featured moderated storytelling, hors d'oeuvres, cocktails and a photo booth. The Point Reyes Light calendar listed it as admission by donation.
The Society says donations help it preserve and share Stinson's history. That's its own mission, separate from the Center's budget. But the setup is the same as the rest of the season: a local group, a room on Belvedere Avenue, and a donation jar in place of a ticket booth.
The next date on the calendar is a quieter one. The Stinson Beach Book Club meets Tuesday, October 20, from 6 to 7 p.m. to discuss Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy. It's also the one Stinson Beach event showing on the Marin County Free Library's event listing for the branch right now. If you want to join, there's still time to get the book.
On the same Saturday as story night, the Stinson Beach Village Association held its regular meeting. The SBVA meets on the first Saturday of every month at 10 a.m. in the Community Center chapel. The October 3 agenda had two items worth knowing about. One was a discussion and vote on upgrading the association's website. The other was a proposed $6,500 donation toward a generator for the Community Center.
That second item shows the loop up close. A volunteer group that meets in the building is weighing a $6,500 gift toward the building's equipment. The agenda shows the donation as proposed, so check the association's minutes for how the vote went. Either way, the Center depends on the groups that use it, and those groups clearly know it.
The November 7 meeting falls on the middle day of DocFest.
DocFest is the largest single fundraiser on the Center's calendar, and its origin story starts far from Marin. Lynette Sutton came to Homer, Alaska, in 1976 and built a cabin 11 miles out of town. In 2003 she bought Homer's old theater, fixed it up, and started a documentary festival there with Jamie Sutton. Once they knew how to run a film event, they brought it to Stinson Beach in 2014.
The Point Reyes Light covered that first festival over the weekend of November 7, 2014. By 2016 the paper was reporting its third year. Counting 2014 through 2026 gives 13 calendar years, and the festival's own site calls this year's edition the 10th. So three years went by without a festival. No published source says which ones, so it's safest to just say the festival has missed some years and keeps coming back.
The current committee is listed on the festival site: Jamie Sutton, Lynette (Roscoe) Stockfelth Sutton, Harriet Moss, John Hutchinson, Maureen Hutchinson, Carey Crosby and Mary O'Brien. It's a small group of names, and they're the ones running the town's biggest November weekend.
As of early October, the 2026 lineup hasn't been published, and the site says the committee is still reviewing films. Past programs give a good sense of what to expect, which is recent, widely released documentaries alongside smaller films that sometimes come with their filmmakers.
| Year | Films on the program | Filmmaker presence noted |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Free Solo, RBG, Pick of the Litter, Dark Money, Evolution of Organic | Directors of Pick of the Litter named in coverage, attendance not confirmed |
| 2023 | Ocean Advocates Inspiring Change, Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over, Los Hermanos, Wild Life | Q&As scheduled with Tess Felix, and with Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider |
| 2024 | Planetwalker, Will & Harper | Dominic and Nadia Gill listed as possible Q&A guests |
| 2025 | Georgia O'Keeffe: The Brightness of Light, Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan | Not specified in listings |
Recent years have followed a regular schedule. In 2025, the Friday gala ran from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. and opened with the O'Keeffe film. The Sunday program ran from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday programs in 2023 and 2024 used the same 5-to-8 slot, so it's a reasonable plan for this year until tickets go on sale.
Food is part of the festival too. Writing about the fifth-anniversary year in 2018, the Pacific Sun described local food at the gala and meals served between films. Fundraising has centered on gala and program tickets plus those community meals. No public figure shows how much any year has raised for the Center.
The loop shows up outside the Community Center as well. In mid-May, Rachel DiPaolo opened Salt Bloom Kitchen at 15 Calle Del Mar as a seasonal pop-up tied to Debonair Events. In June the Marin Independent Journal reported hours of Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The menu brought back Lunch Box favorites, rotated specials every two weeks, and featured line-caught seafood.
DiPaolo described the counter as a training opportunity for local teen and college-age workers, with weekly food donations going to the Bolinas Community Center. She said the original plan followed the students' school calendar, though she might extend the run or hold more pop-ups. Check before you walk over in October.
If you'd rather not check, Parkside's own site lists it as open seven days a week. Dining runs 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the coffee bar opens at 6 a.m.
Here's the order things fall in from now on:
Before November, the festival site is the place to watch for the lineup and tickets. The SBVA's minutes will show whether the $6,500 generator gift was approved.
Supporting a small coastal town's year-round life is part of what we pay attention to at Zamira Knows Marin. If you're new to Stinson and want help finding your way into the Community Center calendar or the people behind it, Zamira is glad to make an introduction. Reach out any time. We keep track of these weekends all year.
A World Unto Itself: The Ultimate Private San Anselmo Compound
Welcome to 5 Escalle Lane, an exquisitely renovated sanctuary hidden within Larkspur’s enchanting Escalle Village. This 2-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom townhouse offers 1,503 … Read more
I’m proud to sponsor the Sleepy Hollow Fall Gala & Auction on Saturday, October 3rd at 5:00pm at the Sleepy Hollow Community Center.
From the moment you arrive along the sweet, tree-lined street in the flats of San Anselmo, 5 Angela Avenue greets you with striking mid-century architectural lines, an… Read more
Zamira's perfected the fine execution of a successful and seamless real estate deal while exceeding client expectations with superior concierge service, savvy negotiations, a brilliant marketing plan and proven track record that always lands her in the top echelon of Marin County Real Estate Agents. Zamira brings an exorbitant amount of energy and enthusiasm to work every single day. With the highest level of integrity and impeccable reputation, her clients are always confident she is the most passionate and determined advocate to get them the results they expect and desire. Contact Zamira today to discuss your real estate goals. She's ready for you!