Community Corner
Step Right Up to the Los Alamitos Carnival
The 51st Los Alamitos Family Festival is this weekend.
This weekend, Los Alamitos will celebrate with a tradition as old as the city itself: the Los Alamitos Family Festival. However, this year marks the first time the carnival will not be put on by the city.
Friday kicks off the Family Festival, a carnival at Laurel Park complete with rides, music, kid-friendly shows and gourmet food trucks. With the stagnant economy and ongoing belt-tightening, the city opted not to host the event this year, leaving one resident to take charge.
This year, Ted Holcomb, the founder of Fiesta de Carnival Promotions, a company he started in 1996, stepped up to ensure that the families of Los Alamitos will not go without their family festival for the first time in 50 years.
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“I’m a resident in Los Alamitos, and the city hired me last year to do the 50-year anniversary,” Holcomb said. “There are games, music, all sorts of fun stuff. I don’t know why the city wanted to go without it.”
City recreation supervisor Corey Lakin offered no explanation as to why Los Alamitos wouldn’t be sponsoring the event this year, only to say that, “Ted Holcomb will be utilizing our facility to provide a carnival for the community.”
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Holcomb expects 5,000 to 10,000 people during the three-day carnival but doesn’t think parking will be an issue.
“We’ll provide parking at the hospital and the school down the street off Bloomfield,” he said.
The carnival will help to “promote local business” by “using all local vendors and entertainment,” said Holcomb. “It will be a great get-together and be a fun weekend.”
This year’s event will be slightly different from years past; there will be seven gourmet food trucks to make sure no one leaves the carnival hungry.
But one of the most popular attractions of previous years will be part of the festival again: the mechanical bull.
It’s guaranteed to be a great time as long as it doesn’t rain, Holcomb joked.
The 51st carnival will be staged at Laurel Park in—between Katella and Bloomfield—Friday from 5-11 p.m., Saturday from 1-11 p.m. and Sunday 1-10 p.m. On Friday, all rides are $1.
You can get tickets through the city of Los Alamitos Recreation Department, at 10911 Oak St., or by calling 562-430-1073.
