Huntington Beach Gears Up For Annual 4th Of July Parade
HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Huntington Beach residents geared up Wednesday for the annual Fourth of July Celebration.
It's a city tradition to mark a spot and reserve a coveted front-row seat along the two-mile parade route on Main Street.
City employee Linda Wine made sure to show up before 7 a.m. to get the perfect viewing area.
"(If I hadn't done this,) it'd be standing room only and kinda jostling around and this is just worth the time and the investment to have a good spot," she said.
Children told CBS2's Michele Gile that they love the tradition.
"We all get ready and we ride our bikes down to the parade," said Alexa Palumbo.
"You get to have parties and you get to fire off fireworks," said Kade Palumbo.
Police expect the city's population to double Thursday.
"Come down early, be patient, find yourself a good parking spot, and enjoy the day. There will be a lot of traffic and there will be a shortage of parking, so you need to plan ahead," said Capt. Russ Reinhart.
Also on Wednesday, finishing touches were being put on a float honoring the life of McKenna Claire Wetzel, a young Huntington Beach girl who died of cancer.
Wetzel loved the Fourth of July parade and selling lemonade to help others.
The Wetzel family hopes that families will support their daughter's foundation, which is raising money to help fight pediatric brain cancer.
