Largest Beach Volleyball Tournament in the U.S. Celebrates 43 Years in Seaside

In a matter of days, the popular coastal town of Seaside once again will be transformed into the center of the beach volleyball universe when it hosts the 43rd-annual Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament.

The Oregon tournament is the largest of its kind in the United States and is generally regarded as the second-biggest in the world, ranking only behind the AeQuilibrium Beach Volleyball Marathon held in Venice, Italy.

The first Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament was held more than 40 years ago as a fundraiser to raise money for a new lifeguard tower on the beach. From those humble beginnings – with just four courts set up for that first event – the tournament has expanded by leaps and bounds, and plans are in place for even more growth.

This year’s tournament will feature more than 3,000 players spread across 237 courts participating in 68 different divisions of play, from 12U to masters to the open tournament. Already looking ahead to 2026, though, organizers are adding a fifth day to the event next year, creating even more opportunities for teams to take part in the popular tournament.

Sadie Mercer, who serves as the interim director of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce, is well-versed in all things hospitality in Seaside. As the owner and operator of two hotels and a catering business in the area, she’s intimately aware of how important tourism and events that drive visitors are to Seaside and its surrounding communities. 

Though she humbly states that she’s “doing my best to do my best to make sure events continue to grow and run as smoothly as possible” in her interim role at the chamber, Mercer brings a wealth of perspective and experience to the position. A former president and a board member of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce, she became the interim director this past spring. Her primary focus, especially in recent months, has been managing this week’s event, serving as the director of the beach volleyball tournament.

It's no small task to put on such a large-scale event in a relatively small community, so the chamber outsources a number of important components of the tournament, such as registrations, court builds and various logistics. That said, there’s a lot that falls on Mercer’s plate.

“My job is to do everything else,” Mercer said. “The vast majority of my day is spent on volleyball.”

With growth on the horizon for 2026, the current format for this year’s tournament includes four days of tournament play, starting Thursday, Aug 7, and concluding Sunday, Aug. 10.

Mercer says that a third of this year’s divisions sold out within 24 hours of registration opening, ultimately leaving upwards of 600 teams on a waitlist. With the addition of a fifth day next year, she says tournament organizers will be able to satisfy a lot of the growing demand without the need to add courts. Just a couple years ago, the tournament featured 185 courts, but interest has continued to grow and grow.

“We hate seeing people left on the waitlist and unable to play,” Mercer said. “Moving to five days next year, we can take almost everyone off the waitlist without adding additional courts, which is really great.”

As it is, organizers estimate more than 40,000 people will make their way to Seaside to take in the beach volleyball action this week. With a local economy so reliant on tourism, estimates indicate the Seaside Beach Volleyball tournament generates upwards of $6.9 million in economic impact on its peak day of Saturday, alone.

“It means a lot to our small community, having several million dollars come into our economy,” Mercer said. “There’s a massive trickle-down effect to everyone here.”

Mercer, who owns and operates the Seaside Oceanfront Inn and the Beachside Inn, says roughly 1,300 hotel rooms will be occupied by tournament participants and spectators as a result of the event. Understandably, this lodging impact stretches beyond Seaside, extending to neighboring communities such as Astoria, Tillamook and as far as Portland, with the adventurous sort making the commute back and forth each day.

And next year promises to be even more beneficial for players, spectators and the local economy.

“Everybody wants to come to play Seaside,” Mercer said, “and next year will be an even bigger win for the business community with five days of play and five days of tourism in the area.”

Seaside is no stranger to big events, even for a relatively small community. With roughly 7,500 residents, Seaside annually features a mix of popular annual programming and many other activities that draw people from all over the country, if not the world. Certainly, many of the larger activities happen in and around the summer months when the area sees its predictable spike in tourism, with sporting events continuing to be a critical draw for the community.

Mercer says the annual Hood to Coast Relay, which takes place later this month, regularly draws some 12,000 runners, support personnel and “cheerleaders” into the community. As a whirling dervish of organization for many of the events put on by the Seaside Chamber of Commerce and promotion of non-chamber events, Mercer recently managed the town’s annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration on the beach, drawing an estimated 70,000 people for the event. Soccer in the Sand – a two-day, small-sided tournament played in the sand – took place once again this past June.

But things keep going through the fall and winter, much to the delight of residents and year-round visitors. The annual Seaside Halloween Happenings and Yuletide in Seaside anchor the holiday happenings in the area. Once the calendar turns to the new year, the Pacific Basketball League takes center stage on area basketball courts over the course of several weeks, with sports once again providing a huge boost for the community during a traditionally slow time of the year for visitors. 

As someone who’s helped organize countless events in Seaside, Mercer says you’d be hard-pressed to find a more accommodating area to serve as host.

“The great thing about Seaside is that everyone is so cooperative,” she said. “The city is great to work with, everybody rallies around an idea and they make it happen. Everyone is really event-focused and realizes their importance on the local economy.”

Continuing with her owner/operator hat on, Mercer knows full well how important the summer events, in particular, are for the local business community.

“All of the events that come to Seaside are really impactful financially for us year-round,” she said. “But in the hospitality business, 90 percent of our revenue comes during three months of the year in the summer.”

The Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament is just one example of the immense impact that sports, among other large-scale events, have on our towns, cities and state. Couple that with a can-do spirit when it comes to implementing so many beneficial activities, and its easy to see why Oregon and places like Seaside continue to be such a popular and accommodating draw.

“If we didn’t have events, if we weren’t Oregon’s oldest resort town, and if we didn’t do tourism right, we wouldn’t have a town or it definitely wouldn’t exist in the capacity in which it does,” Mercer concluded.