This past weekend there were so many events in our community that made it exceptionally fun to stay home and enjoy Long Beach! From the Port Festival, University by the Sea and the Boat Show. All of which I had the honor of showing off to my family visiting from out of town.
Tia Lupe was visiting from Mexico City, my parents from San Diego and my four-year old niece from Escondido. To make their visit fun, especially with three seniors and one toddler, I decided to take them to the Green Port Festival. I read the mailers that were sent to my address and was excited to see something for everyone. I was excited to share with my family the Long Beach Port and their efforts to be environmentally conscious.
We began our journey by taking the passport from Cesar Chavez Park, connecting on Pine/Ocean to the Queen Mary. We arrived and boarded the shuttles to the port. Long Beach public transportation was full with people from all backgrounds visiting the Boat Show and/or the Green Port Festival. There was a mesh of tourist and residents. It was great!
The port had green flags, banners and signage that created a welcoming atmosphere. There was the train ride, the booths with information about the Port, City of Long Beach and its environmental programs, the Long Beach Firefighters, Port Patrol, green organizations, and many others. The festival offered a ton of free items from drinking water bottles, environmentally friendly bags, free pop corn, ice cones, face painting, and a food court. It was no surprise to see people walking around the festival with at least two bags of goodies. As you walked in, to the left hand side, there were Children and adults alike planting trees, to the right of them long lines waiting for ice cones and popcorn and as you looked far ahead, there was green signage for train rides, children section with jumpers and face painting.
As for me and the family, well, I’m not going to lie, my mom and aunt stayed food tasting for the most part. I’ll tell you why, there was free food being served by George’s Greek Café, Chicken fillet, hot dogs by the Long Beach Fire Fighters, to name a few. On the food court was a stage where there were cultural dances, Jazz band and a demonstration by the firefighters. While Tia Lupe and Mami stayed food tasting and enjoying the stage shows, my Dad, niece and I walked around and visited a few of the booths. I stopped by the Sustainable City Commission booth and said hello to the staff, Alfre and Marilyn. They were distributing a coupon book for green business in our community, including Los Angeles and Orange County.
After, we visited the Port Patrol and saw how a camera is remotely controlled under water; it was fascinating to see this. We then returned back to the stage area and enjoyed the stage performances. My niece’s favorite was touching the starfish, eating her pizza watching the ballet folklorico and the jumper. Despite the overcast weather and the chilly wind, my parents, aunt and niece had a blast! We took the shuttle back to the Queen Mary to catch the Passport and on home. The family was just too tired to hit the boat show on Shoreline.
Sunday, I woke up early, took Goli for a walk and returned back home to take them to University by the Sea. Unfortunately, they were exhausted from Saturday and decided to sleep in, have brunch and Dad wanted to watch the Charger game while my Tia and Mom cooked, cleaned my place (I was not complaining about that) and my niece and I enjoyed Cesar Chavez Park for a few hours. Before they left, they thanked me for a great weekend and complimented the event. I would like to recognize the Port, its employees and volunteers for their hard work. They made our experience at the Green Port Fest a positive one. Thank you for having this event and we are looking forward to next year.
Disclosure: The Port of Long Beach is an advertiser of the lbpost.com.