Following a successful summer ice cream social, We Love Long Beach is welcoming the fall season with a community-wide pumpkin carving party this weekend.
During the event, 30 homes across the city will welcome their neighbors over to carve pumpkins and enjoy a bowl of hot chili.
“We believe that strong relationships with your neighbors are the key to living in a safe and healthy community,” said We Love Long Beach spokesman Ryan ZumMallen. “When people know, understand and love their neighbors, it creates a closer bond to their environment and their city. Good neighbors look out for each other, lend a hand when one is needed, and help to build lasting pride that can be passed down for generations. We Love Long Beach aims to help foster that pride and spread it throughout the city.”
ZumMallen said events like the ice cream social and pumpkin carving social work in Long Beach because residents enjoy interacting with their neighbors, from what he has seen.
“Long Beach, undeniably, has a more community-oriented feel than most of Southern California, which probably has something to do with the heavy Midwestern influence and blue-collar workforce that blossomed here thanks to the Port and Boeing and other industries,” he said. “Today, it just means that Long Beach is a very compassionate and welcoming place to live.”
So far, 30 sites are confirmed throughout Long Beach, but We Love Long Beach is hoping to add more before Saturday’s event. Most of the locations so far are in East Long Beach or Belmont Heights, as well as a few scattered around Downtown and Central Long Beach. ZumMallen said they would like to expand their presence in North Long Beach and the Westside.
“Eventually our vision is to have a host location in every neighborhood all over the city, happening at the exact same time,” he said.
Community businesses have also got in on the action, with pumpkins donated by Legends Sports Bar, Boathouse on the Bay and Big Red Bus.
Neighborhood hosts will also receive a 50% discount at Pa’s Pumpkin Patch on Pacific Coast Highway to purchase pumpkins to be used during the event.
The citywide Pumpkin Carving and Chili Party will take place throughout the city on Saturday from 2:00PM to 4:00PM. For more information, visit We Love Long Beach’s Facebook page.
Pumpkin Carving Social Locations (so far). All events are between 2:00PM and 4:00PM, unless otherwise indicated:
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- 100 block of Carson Street
- 2200 block of First Street
- 3300 block of Second Street
- 200 block of Temple Avenue
- 3600 block of Cerritos Avenue
- 3600 block of Gardenia Avenue
- 400 block of Broadway Avenue
- 2000 block of Kallin Avenue
- 2000 block of Lees Avenue
- 5600 block of Blackthorne Avenue
- 1400 block of Iroquois Avenue
- 5300 block of Abbeyfield Avenue
- 5600 block of Olive Avenue
- 4700 block of Virginia Avenue
- 5600 block of Myrtle Avenue
- 5400 block of Harco Street
- 3800 block of Radnor Avenue
- 68th and Boardwalk (4:00PM-6:00PM)
- 2700 block of Hackett Avenue
- 3300 block of Fourth Street
- 600 block of Junipero Avenue (4:00PM-6:00PM)
- 600 block of Stanley Avenue
- 3300 block of Carita Street
- 3100 block of Clark Avenue
- 3600 block of San Anseline Avenue
- 5800 block of Monlaco Avenue (3:00PM-5:00PM)
- 3100 block of Marwick Avenue
- 2700 block of Bellflower Boulevard (12:00PM-2:00PM)
- 1900 block of Maine Avenue
- 3000 block of Maine Avenue