Looking for some fun events to take your visiting friends and family to over the Memorial Day Weekend? There are plenty of exciting festivities taking place around the Newport Beach area, plus a ton of other enjoyable happenings as well. Here’s a rundown of just some of the many activities to check out while your guests are in town.

Channel your inner foodie with creative wine-tasting experiences, a cooking class, wine-maker dinner, seafood festival and more at the 12th annual Newport Beach Wine Festival from Friday, May 22, through Sunday, May 24, at Balboa Bay Resort. Or grab your blankets and beach chairs and head to the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort for Movies on the Beach every weekend at dusk from Memorial Day through Labor Day, beginning with “The Penguins of Madagascar” on Saturday, May 23. Newport Dunes also will be the site of a three-day Asian Pacific Festival … Themed “Imagine, Dream, Succeed,” it takes place May 22-24 and introduces attendees to Asian countries such as Vietnam, China, Thailand, Korea, India, Philippines and Japan via cultural exhibits, art, folk dances, fashion shows, music, martial arts, authentic food and more.

Newport Beach Wine Festival

Movies on the Beach

Fan of The Duke? Well, you can dine like the legendary actor and former Newport Beach resident on his 136-foot yacht — “Wild Goose” — while celebrating the anniversary of his birthdays. Hornblower Cruises & Events will be offering Duke’s Dining Cruises featuring dinner and brunch, as well as tours of the late actor’s waterfront mansion, from May 22-26. Wayne’s captain, Bert Minshall, also will be on board to sign copies of his book, “On Board With Duke.”

Wild Goose

Planning on hanging around Newport Beach for a while longer? Enjoy world-class jazz and R&B musicians such as saxophonist Boney James, multi-instrumentalist Rick Braun, saxophonist and vocalist Mindi Abair & The Boneshakers, and Grammy Award-winning singer Patti Austin from Friday, May 29, until Sunday, June 31, at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach Jazz Festival.

Hyatt regency Newport Beach Jazz Festival

If shopping is more your style, make a beeline straight to Fashion Island and Crystal Cove Shopping Center for upscale shopping and dining options including Fig & Olive, True Food Kitchen, Javier’s, Mastro’s Ocean Club, Bonobos, Louis Vuitton at Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s, just to name a few.

Fashion Island

Right across the street from the Crystal Cove Shopping Center you’ll find Crystal Cove State Park, with rustic cottages (even one that was used in the Bette Midler movie “Beaches”); The Beachcomber at Crystal Cove (which raises the martini flag daily at 5 p.m.); and three-and-a-half miles of uninterrupted shoreline.

Crystal Cove

The Beachcomber at Crystal Cove

Finally, don’t forget about leaving Newport Beach without a cruise through the harbor on an electric Duffy boat. Newport Beach even has sunset gondola rides available for an extra touch of romance! Click here to view rentals.

Duffy Boat Photo Credit: David Serino

Gondola ride Photo Credit: Gondola Adventures

For more things to do while you visit Newport Beach click here.