North Long Beach residents came out in droves to support the maiden voyage of Councilmember Al Austin’s Second Sundays in The Village this past weekend. Second Sundays proved to be a success with a strong community presence and residents filling the event area from Market Street and Long Beach Boulevard stretching a block north and south, from Louise to Plymouth streets.
There were bustling street corners with storefronts showcasing their best goods as well as vendor tables with everything from Long Beach Memorial Hospital to Port of Long Beach serving the masses ice cones as well as religious groups giving a good word to passersby. Pearly whites were shown by joyous children watching some of their favorite Sesame Street characters perform awareness skits about disaster preparedness; not to mention the gargantuan party-colored blow-up slide.
Some of the cultural highlights were the Khmer dancers who danced beautifully as well as others providing a bit of praise and worship as well as banda music. A new mural called “Memory Lane” was dedicated at the corner, paying homage to the Virginia Village area of old North Long Beach formerly known as Virginia City. Credit goes to artists Navorro Pickens and Steve Elicker for their artistic expression highlighting rich Long Beach history.
In addition, Austin was supported by his staff, including consulting executive and creator of Bixby Knolls’ First Fridays, Blair Cohn. Also in attendance were Long Beach Police Department Commander Robert Luman, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, Assistant City Prosecutor Randall Fudge and former 8th District Councilmember Rae Gaeblich. Second Sundays was and is a true testament to community involvement and unity; giving North Long Beach residents a new monthly event to call their own.
Austin, in a quote during opening commentary about the event had this to say: “It truly takes a Village to build a strong community. My deep appreciation to many who attended, volunteered and participated in Second Sundays in the Virginia Village today. We celebrated art, culture and faith, recognized our youth, promoted small business, and revived an historic Uptown neighborhood all in one day. I’m very proud of our community.”
Don’t miss out on this burgeoning community event, held on the second Sunday of each month in Virginia Village.
{gallery}charles/secondsundays{/gallery}