Celebrating in style

Jenny Marder

Angela Maloney’s children were so excited about the hot dogs and

marching bands that they couldn’t nap the entire week leading up to

the parade.

“They love the people, the fun, the excitement and being outside,”

said Maloney, 31, adding that as someone who has been going to the

Huntington Beach Fourth of July parade since she was a youngster

herself, she understands.

“My pop used to bring me down, back before you could mark your

spot,” she recalled.

Surf City’s Independence Day parade continues to be an outing for

her own family, a time for them to show their patriotism, support the

community and, Angela’s husband, Dave Maloney jokes, heckle the cops.

The sun blazed all afternoon over the holiday revelers, leaving

melted Popsicles and sunburns in its wake and making June gloom a

distant memory.

Elaine Paxson gushed with pride as she talked about her fondness

for what’s been called the largest parade west of the Mississippi.

“We’re red, white and blue people, and this is very exciting,” she

said.

Paxson and her husband, Pete, moved to Huntington Beach on Labor

Day of 1990, and immediately fell in love with their new home. Their

first Independence Day parade was the next year.

“For the first time in my life, I thought, I’m in the right place,

at the right time, with the right husband,” Elaine Paxson recalled.

That year, the couple had a whole week to put out lawn chairs to

stake their spot on the parade route. This year, with more stringent

rules in place, they arrived early on parade day and were lucky

enough to find a shady spot tucked behind another family. Not right

in front, but close enough to catch sight of their favorite entries,

the Pearl Harbor survivors and the Vietnam veterans.

Renowned for its simple, folksy charm, the parade had it all this

year. It had its celebrities: Actor Mickey Rooney, Nickelodeon star

Lisa Foiles and Animal Planet host Matt Gallant. It had its athletes:

three-time Olympian and 10-time record holder Dwight Stones, and the

SCATS gymnastics team, whose members did aerials on the hot asphalt,

20-second handstands and swung like chimpanzees on a high bar rigged

to the float.

It had its community groups, such as the Bolsa Chica stewards, who

marched with California native plant saplings and watering cans, and

the Dance Stars, who danced and strutted down the road with bright

red shorts, bright pom-poms and curly ponytails.

And of course, it had its politicians, such as Assemblyman Tom

Harman, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Orange County Supervisor

Jim Silva.

All in all, it had everything one might expect from any hometown

parade -- clowns, marching bands, flags, balloons and flat-bed trucks

transformed into makeshift floats. But there were the surfboards, the

colorful bikinis and the Beach Boys tunes blaring from assorted

loudspeakers that made this parade particularly reflective of Surf

City.

There are some, however, such as Orange resident Lou Carlson, who

has dressed as a Revolutionary War hero and marched with the Orange

County Historical Commission for 16 years now, who say that the

parade has become an Orange County event.

“We really see this as Huntington Beach making a contribution to

the entire region,” he said.

All afternoon, streets were packed with revelers and parade-goers,

and business on the city’s main beachside stretch soared.

Chris Saenz, general manager at Huntington Surf and Sport, said

they logged more sales than a normal day and significantly more than

the holiday last year. Sales at Starbucks on Main Street, which was

open from 5 a.m. until midnight, were up about $4,000, nearly 50%

higher than a normal day, Assistant Manager Julie Moiola said.

“We had incredible business. It was very hectic,” Moiola said. “We

had almost the whole store working that day.”

Cold Stone Creamery owner Jerry Holdren, who opened the

old-fashioned ice cream shop three years ago, said that weekend sales

were the best the store’s ever had.

“It was just a good combination of the weather, the waves and

everything,” Saenz said. “It was a good weekend.”

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at [email protected].