Vans Warped Tour will host a free block party this Sunday in downtown Long Beach featuring live music and specialty drinks for purchase.
Buen Provecho, The Ordinarie Tavern, ISM Brewing, El Viejon and The Stave Bar will all be selling alcoholic beverages from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on The Promenade between First and Third streets. The outdoor party is open to everyone, but you — of course — have to be over 21 to buy alcohol.
Three bands will play on stage at the event, said Buen Provecho part-owner Stephen Ramos. Warped Tour has not announced which bands.
The event is part of Long Beach’s yearlong “entertainment zone” pilot program that allows people to walk around with open alcoholic containers at certain public events.
For the event, Ramos created a signature cocktail called Stage Dive Sunset Hibiscus — a hibiscus margarita topped with fruity cold foam that comes with a Vans Warped Tour logo printed on the foam.
Ramos said his restaurant was invited to participate after he encountered the Warped Tour executive team eating at Buen Provecho. He made them a drink with a logo printed on top and they asked if he could do that on a larger scale.
Warped Tour’s event on Sunday will also have a canned food drive and accept cash donations for Feed Our Children Now — a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 with the goal of alleviating child hunger during the summer months when they do not have access to school lunches.
Warped Tour’s signature festival — with scores of bands spread across two days — is scheduled to return to Long Beach for a second straight year on July 25-26. A few bands will be announced on the tour’s social media channels every day starting this Friday.
Sublime, Bowling For Soup, Dropkick Murphys and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus were a few of the more than 120 bands that took the stage near the Shoreline Marina last year.
Two-day general admission tickets are still available for this year’s festival, starting at $180.