Ride the Wave Festival is the annual fundraising event for Make A Difference that showcases the Port Macquarie Hastings region to the wider community whilst advocating for the homeless and disadvantaged in Port Macquarie.

All money raised supports the local community. Run over five days in April 2024, the festival featured a High School surf competition, open division Pro surf competition and a skateboarding competition.

The festival also included an all ages live music festival called Ride the Sound Wave. The music festival was headlined by Xavier Rudd, and included The Dreggs and Mama Kin Spender. A Ride the Sound Wave Kids event was cancelled and two performances also cancelled to allow extra time for stage set up due to horrendous weather on bump in (Emily Waramurra and Round Mountain Girls).