Did you miss the 
polar dip, the poloar plunge, or polar bear plunge, all popular New Year’s Day events to participate in? Community and civic groups held everything from a Resolution Festival that included the ocean jaunt to to Keep Winter Cold plunges in awareness of earth changes. There’s still time to participate in Polar Plunge events for Special Olympics fundraising. And if you made a New Year’s resolution, the best advice heard about New Year resolutions was “don’t make them”. Instead of thinking about something negative you wish to remove from your life or alter, focus on something positive you want to accomplish this year, such as attend an art musuem, or learn how to swim.
Californians love Halloween, the holiday that celebrates the dead, haunted and life’s illusions. While most celebrations involve costumes and candy, Halloween has grown to include massive street celebrations, dogs on parade and countless events that let the imagination run wild. While a cottage industry has developed around ghost hauntings and sightings, special events entertain guests with thrills only Hollywood can produce. Universal Studios has taken a successful Knotts Berry Farm haunt attraction concept and worked it into some of the scariest movie themes and scenes (and they do a darned good job of scaring you!). Disneyland apparently got in on the act, though we suspect they cater to a general audience as they recognized their market share slipping during this holiday season. If you’re visiting California and want to get a flavor for the insanity that can exist when spirits are set free, two events stand out. West Hollywood’s Carnaval is the largest street fair in the US celebrating Halloween. Known as “boys town”, expect to see plenty of non-heterosexual activity and dress. With close to 500,000 people attending, what you’ll notice the most are the crowds. Live bands and all sorts of themed entertainment celebrates Halloween uniquely. But not to be outdone, The Cow Palace in San Francisco sets the stage for some very naughty entertainment. Sumptuous girls wear slightly more than the paint airbrushed on their bodies to look like clothes, and men dressed as women can confuse. It’s all part of the fun for those who like a bit of insanity in the form of an Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
On the kiddie side of celebrating you’ll find family fairs, corn mazes, bouncy houses, train rides, pumpkin picking, carousels, candy, petting zoos and family-friendly street fairs and trick or treating sponsored by downtown business improvement districts galore. What are you waiting for? You better get your costume lined up and start having fun. And as for Sara Winchester, she made her fortune from her husband’s Winchester rifle business and always felt that she had to appease the spirits for the ill-gotten wealth that was both a joy and curse. Take a tour of her house to see if she taps you on the shoulder. More Halloween madness.
What does it take to become California’s top surfer girl? It doesn’t require coming from the West Coast of the USA. You don’t need diamonds to make it rich. What it takes is practice, practice and stamina, among other things to become the top female surfer. It’s an honor that Stephanie Gilmore of Australia earned through hard work, skill and endurance in the 2007 Honda U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. “I’m so stoked,” the tired, but ecstatic surfer champ said as she took 10 before her next competition in a series of contests that travel from beach town to beach town around the globe.
It’s hard to believe the US Open of Surfing has come and is ending soon. In my opinion, it is one of the top Southern California beach events. We grabbed several videos of the mellow crowds and surfers during the mid-week competition. The finale weekend gets crazy…so you really have to go early if you plan to park nearby. Location: Huntington Beach Pier, Pacific Coast Highway & Main Street, HB, CA. Where to park? Beach lots till they’re full. City streets…then walk.
California Fairs — What is a county without a fair? Throughout the USA, fairs are a way to bring people together with animals and celebrate food, farm and fun. In big cities such as L.A., TV ads make fun of city people who’ve never seen a cow or know where their milk or beef comes from. That’s the beauty of fairs in places where there is too much city life and not enough connection with the earth. Add to the farm and harvest aspects of a fair some horse racing (such as Del Mar), or concerts with famous bands and you have yourself a merry little time. We attended a typical California fair yesterday and found just as we entered the gate (where 20,000 visitors passed through in one hour), a family that goes to the fair each year. The kids have grown from babies to teens but have always embraced the chance to share the fair. It’s a bonding experience, says one teen boy, who stands with his mom, aunt, grandma, cousins and siblings. Fairs are a bit corny (as in roasted corn and corn dogs), they’re a bit hammy (as in pig races) and they’re tons of fun. The fair usually offers an affordable day of merriment, as long as you watch the rides, the vendor sales and expensive meals. But compared to Disneyland with its $60 admission, a $10 entry fee doesn’t look so exorbitant.
Summer is the season for romance at the beach, a la Shakespeare. It’s simply classic! Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s free outdoor performance of Romeo & Juliet on the grass lawns of Aquarium of the Pacific is sponsored courtesy of a L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe (way to go!) As the sun goes down on a breezy, easy, lazy Long Beach Saturday or Sunday evening, it’s a real treat to get out and sniff the barbecue seafood aromas coming from restaurants that line Rainbow Harbor where the make-shift theater is located. I came by boat (Aqualink bus service from Alamitos Landing), and paid the same price as Aquarium parking ($6), minus the wait in summer beach traffic, to experience Shakespeare Southern California beach-style. Located at 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA, the show begins at 6 p.m. with jesters and juggling, then moves into the play at 6:30 p.m. Check the web link for performances and dates. (www.lbshakespeare.org)
What do a skateboard, a pumped up motorbike, a jazzy surfboard, an electric guitar and sizzling bikini-clad chicks with spray on tattoos have in common? The US Open of Surfing and Beach Games! And it’s slated to hit the beach in Huntington Beach on July 20. We’re way over pubescence, but we love the energy of this event. Moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and all the teens, tweens and tots that ignore them hit the hot sand of Huntington Beach for an event that starts out low key but culminates in a huge two-day extravaganza. Be prepared to park your car in surrounding neighborhoods and walk a mile on the final day as the beach enters a frenzied pitch of sand flying from the thousands of feet tromping through Surfers Village. The event, which is geared toward sports and targets a youth audience with vendors such an electric razor company where boys stand in line waiting their turn for a free shave from a cute girl in a bikini, allows you to sit in bleachers and watch the happenings going on in several arenas. Just be prepared to wait in line to enter those shows as even the arenas become full. Cost is free and the fun happens on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, located at Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street in Huntington Beach, Calif. Event runs July 20 - 29, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (approx.) It’s wise to book your hotel rooms early as they do sell out on some dates. Our faves are the three beach hotels allowing you to walk over to the events, then have a bonfire at night… Hyatt, Hilton, or Best Western.
Are you looking for a place to celebrate on July 4 in California? There are over 5,000 celebrations in towns and cities around the state. Fireworks are always the most popular celebration, followed by BBQ’s, games, breakfasts and all sorts of fun. Below are a few we found that you may want to check into further, if you’re trying to decide what to do. Since we write about the beach, we can tell you that the Southern California beaches are absolutely packed on July 4. Traffic comes to a stop, so be patient, and takes some tunes to help the time pass. Also, be creative in parking…don’t get tickets…but do prepare to walk some distance. The streets and highway sometimes close early and don’t open for hours. Visit the Calendar of Events for July to see the celebrations for 2008.