The 18th annual Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk aims to raise $3 million when thousands trek 3.5 miles along the Strand on Sunday, Oct. 18.
Walkers will check in at 8 a.m. at the Manhattan Beach Pier, with the walk stepping off at 9:30 a.m. toward the Hermosa Beach Pier and back. Registration costs $30, and virtual participation is available at skechersfriendshipwalk.com.
Nickelodeon is the presenting sponsor of this year's event, which will feature appearances by comedian Howie Mandel, actress Brooke Burke and former boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard, according to a Skechers Foundation press release. Nickelodeon characters including SpongeBob, Paw Patrol pups and Rugrats' Tommy and Angelica will mingle with the crowd. A pet adoption fair hosted by Best Friends Animal Society and a performance by Full Circle Boys round out the day.
Proceeds benefit children with special needs, South Bay public schools and the Skechers Foundation's national college scholarship program. Since 2009, the walk has raised more than $32 million, according to the Daily Breeze. The scholarship program alone has donated more than $3.5 million to date.
This year's walk arrives at a milestone for the Friendship Foundation. The $70 million Friendship Campus in Redondo Beach, at 850 S. Inglewood Ave., is scheduled to open Jan. 21, 2027. The nearly 62,000-square-foot facility will offer job training for young adults with special needs, including a culinary arts center, creative arts studio and vocational pathways program.
"(It's a) tremendous milestone from where we started from our first dream," Friendship Foundation co-founder and Executive Director Yossi Mintz told the Daily Breeze in a Sept. 25 interview about the campus. "When I first met with Michael Greenberg (Skechers founder) and I shared with him this is something I'd like to do, he literally embraced it and together we did this; he's our partner in this project."
Skechers president Michael Greenberg, who co-founded the walk, said in the press release that the campus will give neurodivergent young adults a supportive place to build independence after high school.
The goal is personal for local schools, too. Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Kim Linz encouraged the school community to attend in an email, saying registration supports Manhattan Beach public schools through the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation (MBEF), school PTAs and the Friendship Foundation. Nearly 1,500 people from the MBUSD community had registered as of this week, the Daily Breeze reported.
The walk typically draws more than 22,000 participants each year.
If you go: Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Manhattan Beach Pier, 2 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Check-in at 8 a.m.; walk at 9:30 a.m. Registration is $30 at skechersfriendshipwalk.com.
