Crystal Cove Park hits 25

Suzie Harrison

Who wouldn’t want to celebrate a place that offers a paradise

playground to enjoy the outdoors, with miles of picturesque

coastline, wooded canyons and open bluffs in Laguna’s own backyard?

Saturday affords that opportunity with Crystal Cove State Park’s

25th Anniversary celebration -- an event with a multitude of free

activities from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to explore, experience and enjoy the

park’s treasures.

In addition to its natural splendor, the park is home to a

collection of beach cottages from the 1920s -- some of which were

built from the remains of a lumber shipwreck -- and are in the

process of being restored as a historic district.

The park itself dates from 1979, when the Irvine family sold the

land to the state.

Crystal Cove Interpretive Assn. and Crystal Cove Alliance, the

park’s two cooperating associations, are hosting the occasion to mark

the park’s quarter-century.

“We are really trying to showcase all areas; we have three and a

half miles of coastline and beautiful backcountry,” state park

naturalist Winter Bonnin said. “All these events are for the public

-- to show all the different possible opportunities you could think

of to do.”

All activities are free and family-oriented, with free parking as

well. A mountain-bike ride is scheduled for 8 a.m., a wildflower hike

at 9 a.m., a Native American presentation at noon, a dolphin-birthing

talk at 1 p.m., a spring program and art project at 2 p.m., a

tidepool walk at 4 p.m. and a sunset walk at 7 p.m.

The celebratory cutting of the cake will be at 12:30 p.m. at

Pelican Point.

Crystal Cove Interpretive Assn. President Bob Flight said the

association started shortly after the park was established.

“We fund education projects, work with children, fund the bike

trail assistance program and other projects,” Flight said.

The interpretive association sponsors special programs -- whale

watching, backcountry nature hikes, mountain-bike tours and tidepool

walks, to name a few.

“The last 10 years we have provided all the free handouts, trail

maps and programs,” Flight said. “There’s at least 15 to 20 miles of

trails in the backcountry. The park is a great resource a lot of

people don’t know is available to them. It’s one of the few parks

that has hiking, biking, camping, as well as the beach right there.”

Laura Davick, president and founder of Crystal Cove Alliance, said

most people aren’t aware that Crystal Cove Alliance is the

cooperating association for the Crystal Cove State Park Historic

District.

“Most of the activities in the historic district will be taking

place in the hollow area, the center of the historic district, on the

newly constructed deck behind the first yellow cottage they see,

which will be the future Visitor’s Center,” Davick said.

A two-hour tour is planned from 10 a.m. to noon led by Davick and

Laguna resident Mike Fenderson, a Crystal Cove lifeguard in the ‘50s.

“Between his background and my family, who have been visiting and

living at the cove since 1937, we have a wealth of great stories and

anecdotes about the history, colorful traditions and eras from the

cove’s history,” Davick said.

Davick said tour-goers will learn about the restoration history

and its future.

Plein air painters will give painting demonstrations on the newly

built deck at 9 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Plein air works will be for

sale with a portion of the proceeds donated by artists to help

support the alliance’s preservation efforts.

“This is a big deal right here in Laguna Beach,” Bonnin said. “We

want to celebrate and remind people what the park has to offer. It’s

a state park, and it belongs to all people.”

For information, call (949) 497-7647 or go to https://www.

crystalcovealliance.org.