SUMMER STORIES -- Gather ‘round the o7 bond-firef7

DANETTE GOULET

CORONA DEL MAR -- When residents moan about having nothing to do this

summer, perhaps they should take a cue from the outsiders who are having

a blast right here in their backyard.

Summer is here and bonfires are blazing in the pits at Corona del Mar

State Beach. But the majority of barbecuersseem to come from elsewhere.

Many of the bonfires are crowded with various sects of church groups

from Irvine, Riverside and even Texas. There’s also a magnet school from

the city of Orange that meets on the sandy shores every day during the

summer months.

Large groups of revelers gather around the smoldering fires, cooking

hot dogs and boiling corn in large metal tubs.

“We come out every Wednesday night -- about 15 to 20 of us,” said Jeff

Cooper, the youth minister at Pacific Church of Irvine. “We have a

barbecue, bible study, worship and singing.”

Cooper and his young charges arrive each week around 6 p.m. and

usually stay so late that they need to huddle around the flames for

warmth by the end of the night.

“Last week we stayed until we got ran off by the cops -- 10 o’clock,”

he said.

It is a beach for all denominations. Pacific Church’s youth group is

just one of several found camping out on the beach below the bluffs on a

regular basis.

Members of a junior high youth group from the Voyager Bible Church in

Irvine pack up their coolers and make the trek to Corona del Mar about

once a month, said Jill Brownlee, support staff for the church.

“It’s about hanging out and just being yourself,” said 12-year-old

Karisia Burns.

“It makes us a tighter junior high group,” said Melissa Shepardson,

12. Then she noticed the strange looks her friends were giving her.

“Well, it does.”

For the families of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of

Riverside, whose numbers topped 50, it was a huge annual event.

“We come down and boil corn and have a good time,” said Ron Herbert, a

member of the church. “We eat, socialize. It’s an opportunity for

families to come down and be together.”

No matter what the group, all told the same stories. They ate, they

laughed and their summertime bonfires brought them closer together.

“It’s neat,” said Eddie Albright, cooking hot dogs on hangers with

five other families whose children attend the McPherson Magnet School of

Orange. “The kids get to know each other at school. This gives parents an

opportunity to get to know the kids and other parents.”