Long Beach’s Veterans Day celebration resumes with a full schedule of activities

Long Beach, California – The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many events that were held annually to be canceled or held with limited numbers of people. Such is the case with the Veterans Day celebration in Long Beach.

But this year, Veterans Day in Long Beach resumes with a full schedule of activities, including a fun run, an obstacle course, live music, a kids’ zone, food trucks, and a flag-tow flyover during the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner. The event will take place on Saturday at Houghton Park, which is located at 6301 Myrtle Ave. in North Long Beach.

The Long Beach Veterans Day Committee, the Veterans Affairs Commission, and Long Beach Council District 9 are working together to put on this event. The celebration, which will not include a parade as it has in previous years, will be hosted by Councilmember Rex Richardson for District 9. The event will again be held without a parade since the majority of the veterans said they are more interested in putting out community service opportunities and more physical activities and events for families than in a parade.

In addition to a variety of events and entertainment, there will be a resource fair held on the site where attendees will be able to get more information on veterans and other community resources.

Although the official hours of Saturday’s celebration are 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., there will be a fun run (or walk) beginning at 9:30 a.m., followed by a soft opening at 10:30 a.m. with the opening of the Auld Dubliner’s beer garden and the opening of the veterans’ and community resources table.

At 11 o’clock, the game will officially begin once the Lakewood High School color guard has presented the flag and an aircraft has flown above. DJ Dennis Owen will also provide entertainment throughout the day in addition to the popular cover band Knight Ryder, who will play rock from the 1980s before and after the remarks given by public officials. At one o’clock in the afternoon, airshow performer John Colliver will fly his North American SNJ-5 War Dog in an aerobatic show.