A main attraction of the coastal town is the area beaches and natural beauty. The Mendocino area is home to Bowling Ball Beach, a state beach, and three parks: Mendocino Headlands State Park, which comprises about 250 acres of undeveloped seaside bluffs; Mendocino Woodlands State Park, a group camping facility of about 700 acres; and Russian Gulch State Park, a 3-mile park that has thousands of feet of rocky shores.
The city is home to a handful of museums, including the Kelly House Museum, Ford House Museum and Temple Kwan Tai Museum. The Kelley House Museum, founded in 1972, is devoted to collecting, preserving and sharing the history of the Mendocino Coast. The Ford House is a historic home and visitor center. And Temple Kwan Tai, dedicated to the Chinese god of war, showcases artifacts of Mendocino's 19th-century Chinese community.
The Mendocino Music Festival is an annual concert series held each July after Independence Day. Founded in 1987, the festival includes a diverse mix of music genres, including dance, blues, jazz, world, folk and orchestral. In addition to music by young and established performers, other activities during the festival's run include piano lecture and recitals and a children's matinee.
The Mendocino Film Festival, established in 2006, is an annual event that attracts dozens of new and established filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad. In addition to screening films, the festival has question-and-answer sessions and panels featuring screenwriters, directors, producers and actors.
