Long Beach brings small town pride to July 4th celebration

Small town patriotism was alive in Long Beach on Saturday as the Friendly City hosted its inaugural July 4th Jubilee.

“We’re here to celebrate and just have fun out here in small town happiness,” said Don Northcutt, president of Chapter 1150 of the Vietnam Veterans of America.

It was a vision that came to fruition, thanks to event organizer Sawyer Walters, who wanted to bring that small town camaraderie to Long Beach.

“I had this idea, that Long Beach doesn’t really do anything and there are a lot of cities that don’t celebrate specifically Fourth of July,” Walters said. “So I wanted to kind of celebrate patriotic small town USA and come together and have a uh festival and farmers market, that leads into a parade with a concert and fireworks show kind of culminating in the evening.”

The Long Beach Town Green was filled with vendors and food trucks. Guests were even able to sample a few tasty treats.

Wittman Learning Center offered crafts made by students to help raise money for playground equipment.

It also was a chance for veterans to express their definition of freedom.

“It means it was hard fought for, and it’s something to be protected and it’s the ability to do what I want to do according to the Constitution of the United States,” Northcutt said.

“If you look back at what our forefathers did, they rebelled against a country and built a military out of basically nothing and you know we should be proud of the fact they did that,” said veteran Michael Redmond.

Walters said he is already looking forward to next year.

“We’re looking forward to growing annually each year and maybe next year have like a hot dog eating contest or you know just celebrate that patriotic small town feel you see in the movies and recreate here in Long Beach.”