Celebrating America's Greatest Surf Towns

In Newport, Oregon, Hometown Hype dives into the crab capital of the world. Local surfer Casey Felton takes us through the town’s rugged coastline, exploring its breaks and the tight-knit surf community that thrives alongside a working waterfront. From cold-water waves to the heart of the harbor, this stop celebrates Newport’s unique blend of grit, seafood, and surf culture.

On the western shores of Lake Michigan, Sheboygan has earned the nickname “The Malibu of the Midwest.” In this short film, surfers Andrew Jakus and Cole Sheldon uncover the unlikely surf community that thrives here, where freshwater waves, tight bonds, and Midwest grit come together to prove that surf culture isn’t just coastal — it’s wherever passion meets the water.

Filmmaker Mike King turns his lens on Empire, Michigan, where towering dunes and icy freshwater swells shape a surf scene as rugged as the landscape itself. Set against the backdrop of Sleeping Bear Dunes, the film highlights the community of surfers who carve out waves on Lake Michigan, proving that passion for surf can thrive far from the ocean.

In South County, Rhode Island, filmmaker TJ Thran uncovers a surf community as diverse as its coastline. From alternative surf crafts to generations of watermen and women, the film dives into a culture shaped by fresh seafood, rugged shores, sandbars, and point breaks — a place where New England grit meets pure surf stoke.

Filmmaker Sam Scribner takes us to New Smyrna Beach, Florida — a town known for consistent waves, a thriving surf scene, and a community bound tightly by its shoreline. Through local voices and salty sessions, the film captures the character of a place where generations of surfers have grown up together, carving their own identity on one of the East Coast’s most iconic stretches of sand.