Huntington Beach Celebrates Pierfest With Crafts, Music

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Tens of thousands of people jammed downtown Saturday to celebrate the city’s second annual Pierfest.

The event, started last year to mark the reopening of the city pier, offered volleyball tournaments, a swim around the pier, a Huck Finn Fishing Derby for children, boat races, an arts and crafts fair, a carnival and live music. The Pierfest continues today from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Huntington Beach residents Mimi Pardini and Marianne Nerguard said the festival’s most memorable experience for their children was a rescue demonstration.

“Lifeguards in a helicopter rescued a man from a burning boat,” said Pardini, 34. “It was pretty exciting.”

“The kids loved it,” added Nerguard, 35.

They and their combined five children, all under 5, also went on carnival rides, saw someone on the pier reeling in a stingray, and shopped at the arts and crafts fair.

“We’re tired now,” Pardini said with a smile. “We want to go home.”

But plenty of others stayed. The heaviest foot and car traffic was on Main Street, where people browsed at boutiques, bought refreshments or just stayed in one place to people-watch.

“The crowd is pretty mellow,” Huntington Beach Police Officer Don Howell said. “There are lots of families out. People are just enjoying themselves.”

About 300,000 attended the first Pierfest in July, 1992, to celebrate the return of the pier, which had been closed since 1988 because of storm damage. The 76-year-old pier was replaced with a state-of-the-art structure, built at a cost of $10.8 million.

Jerry Person, a city historian, said Huntington Beach had two wooden piers until they were destroyed by storms in 1914. Then, the city built a concrete pier that lasted until the storm five years ago.

A grass-roots organization, PIER (Persons Interested in Expediting Reconstruction), supported the rebuilding by raising $100,000 and helping the city get $5 million in state government funds.