Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade marches for 52nd time Saturday

Laguna Beach is gearing up to honor its own with the 52nd annual Patriots Day Parade on Saturday.

The event, which traditionally honors community members and civic groups, this year is themed “Waves of Freedom,” a name that takes its cue from the waves crashing onto Laguna’s shoreline and the American flag waving above Monument Point.

“Waves ebb and flow,” organizers said on the parade’s website, LagunaBeachParade.org, “and that is why we believe that the many freedoms in our Republic should be treasured and never taken for granted.”

Laguna Beach writer Gloria Fickling will be the grand marshal. She, along with her husband, Skip, who died in 1998, created the Honey West novels about a female detective.

World War II veteran George Ciampa is this year’s Honored Patriot. Joining him in the parade will be Citizen of the Year Heidi Miller.

The procession will begin at 11 a.m. at Park Avenue and Legion Street, then go west down Park, right onto Glenneyre Street, right at Forest Avenue and end at 1:30 p.m. just past City Hall.

Streets near the parade route will be closed to vehicle traffic. Free public parking will be available in Lots 11 and 12 next to City Hall.

To help alleviate traffic, free trolley shuttle service will start at 9 a.m. along North Coast Highway between Cajon Street and the Ritz-Carlton resort in Dana Point.

Free neighborhood trolleys will be on their normal schedules and routes.

For a complete trolley schedule, visit lagunabeachcity.net/trolley.

This year’s parade will be special for the Laguna Art Museum, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary and promises to have a big entry, said longtime Patriots Day Parade organizer Sandi Werthe.

A total of 92 groups are scheduled to appear in the lineup, about five more than last year, Werthe said.

They include Boy and Girl Scouts, the Laguna Beach High School band, a Scottish pipes band and representatives of the Sawdust Art Festival and Laguna Beach Little League.

The first Patriots Day Parade was held Feb. 22, 1967. Laguna Beach High’s band director at the time organized it along with the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Exchange Club of Laguna Beach to promote patriotism among schoolchildren and raise money for band uniforms.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint