Gear up for a long day in the summer sun, slather on that tanning lotion and make some serious room for the boatloads of kettle corn you’re going to consume because the Love Long Beach Festival 2014 is coming to Granada Beach this weekend, July 19 and 20. The festival is dog, artist, kid and athlete-friendly, featuring a hard-core flag football tournament alongside a surf charging competition for canines. Cooking classes, fire dancers and live bands will make for a lively weekend of entertainment, delicious food and all-out celebration of Long Beach culture.
The festival will benefit Children Today, a Long Beach nonprofit organization whose stated purpose is to foster long-term stability and success in children and families who are facing homelessness and are in the child welfare system.
Vendors and artists from all over Long Beach will present their wares and show off what impeccable craftsmen reside within our beloved city. Jennifer Songster, a self-taught artist, will display her ethereal bird bone assemblages and nature-inspired collages. Alyssa Stubbs will present her wire-wrapped, “energy infused” stone and crystal jewelry and Maira Martinez will be selling her one-of-a-kind hand-painted whimsical wooden boxes.
Bands playing include, but are not limited to Slushbox, known as much for their joyous and eclectic stage presence as their neon green get-ups, Zen Robbie, a Rock n’ Roll trio and Long Beach Unplugged, a group of troubadour musicians. DJ Easy M will start spinning at 8:00AM, while the first bands begin playing at noon. Make sure to check out the entire lineup on the website for all the local Rock and Roll, Jazz, Blues, Hip Hop, Ska and Irish musicians performing Saturday and Sunday.
All-day festival goers will not go hungry. Alfredo’s Beach BBQ, Chef Paul Bucahan’s Healthy Organic Food Court, AJ’s Novelty Foods, and several food trucks, not to mention the Pabst Blue Ribbon and Primo beer garden, will give all the Long Beach beer bellies something to rumble about.
The Love Long Beach Festival is 100% pure Long Beach concentrate, with everything good about the city squeezed into one weekend on the sand at Granada Beach. Unfortunately, if you want to play flag football, beach volleyball or pose as a sexy ninja on Sunday, you’ll have to pick between the three passions, as they all start at 10:00AM. Morning and evening yoga sessions, afternoon pilates instruction and meditation classes at the crack of dawn will ensure all attendees with self-diagnosed FOMO (that’s Fear Of Missing Out, for the uninitiated) maintain peace of mind at the prospect of enduring 50-plus scheduled events over two days.
The Love Long Beach Festival is free to the public and will offer free bike parking for those cruising to the beach. Sponsors include the Port of Long Beach, the City of Long Beach Parks, Recreation & Marine, Epson, the Grunion Gazette, Pepsi Cola Co. and USA Sailing, among others.
Click here to download a larger PDF of the Love Long Beach Festival map.
For more information about sporting events, the entire event schedule and how to register, visit lovelongbeachfestival.com.