A Sun-Spangled Day Celebrated; Crowding Shuts Mission Beach

Sunny skies and pleasant summer weather teamed up Saturday in a picture-perfect Fourth of July that brought out thousands to San Diego beaches, forcing police to close most access streets to Mission Beach, and an equal number of families to area parks for traditional holiday barbecues.

The air temperature could not have been better. Saturday’s high at Lindbergh Field was 69 degrees, 5 degrees cooler than the average temperature for this time of year.

San Diego City Lifeguards spokeswoman Marisa Umnuss estimated the “wall-to-wall people” on the city beaches at 165,000 and reported 110 rescues. The throngs of beachgoers forced police to barricade most access streets to Mission Beach when the parking lots filled up by 10:30 a.m., Lt. Dave Elliott said.

Only Mission Beach residents were allowed in the area, after proving to police that they lived there.

Despite the large crowds at the beaches, the Del Mar Fair, local parks, the zoo and Sea World, police reported only a few minor incidents. Police said that most of the incidents involved drinking minors and illegally parked cars.

“The crowds have been very cooperative, but the traffic is moving very, very slowly,” Elliott said. “There have been very few problems, except for the occasional minor caught drinking and of course the traffic congestion at the beaches and other places.”

Traffic snarls were a familiar sight throughout the county. San Diego Zoo officials were forced to open an auxiliary parking lot to accommodate an overflow of visitors. On Interstate 5, the California Highway Patrol reported a monumental traffic jam on the offramp leading to the Del Mar Fair parking lots. Fair officials reported an attendance of 75,000 people Friday night and expected to best that figure Saturday, when a daytime concert by the pop group Fifth Dimension and a nighttime fireworks show attracted thousands of fairgoers.

At most local parks families began staking out picnic spots early in the day. Frank Sanducci arrived at 8 a.m. to pick a choice site under a shady tree at Olive Grove Park in North Clairemont.

“We’re having a family gathering of about 25 people here today, and some of us older folks don’t like to sit in the sun too long. Fourth of July picnics have been a tradition in our family since we lived in New York,” Sanducci said.

The fun and relaxation was topped off Saturday night by fireworks displays throughout the county. Most localities began shooting off the colorful displays at 9 p.m., with National City capping off the county’s Independence Day celebration with a 10 p.m. show.