Huntington Beach brings back Fourth of July festival after pandemic hiatus

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Huntington Beach city officials and dignitaries celebrated the return of their annual Fourth of July festival. The last time they had their annual festival was in 2019.

"For us it's been a hard year, I'm not going to deny it. And this to me is the start of something new where we can come together as a community, celebrate America and celebrate Surf City," said Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr.

In 2020, the pandemic halted the usual major celebrations in the city for Independence Day and left the city to celebrate with only a caravan. This year, the 117th annual festival is back with a three-day celebration, including a car parade, carnival rides, food trucks and a fireworks show.

"It feels really good and relieving to be around people and outdoors and seeing a lot of the festivities coming back to life. So we love it," said Elina Parekh, resident of Huntington Beach."We are really looking forward to it."

According to event officials, this weekend they expect anywhere from 100,000 people up to 500,000, which they have had in the past.

"We really need the tourism coming back to support our local economy. We have all been working really hard," said Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley.

While it isn't a requirement to wear masks outside, some attendees have chosen to wear one.

"For me, it's my comfort zone right now. Even though I see people without masks and people with masks," said Brad Stauffer, who chose to wear a mask. "I feel safe out here, absolutely. Wind is blowing, lots of air."

The main celebration is on Sunday, which has a 5K run at 6 a.m., the parade at 8 a.m. and the fireworks show around 9 p.m.