FULLERTON : Parade and Festival Set for Founders Day

Elephant rides, mariachi music, international food, tours of the Police and Fire departments and belly dancers will be showcased Saturday at the city’s annual Founders Day parade and street fair.

A mile-long parade along Harbor Boulevard will start the day at 10 a.m., stretching from Berkeley Avenue south to Commonwealth Avenue. Awards will be presented at 12:30 p.m. to top parade entries.

About 140 booths offering food, games, arts, crafts and displays will open at 10 a.m. on Pomona Avenue between Chapman and Commonwealth avenues, which will be closed to vehicular traffic.

Rock bands, mariachi and jazz musicians, and the Sultan’s Delites belly-dancing troupe will perform during the street festival. Elephant rides will be offered for $3, and the city’s maintenance department will offer free rides in cherry pickers.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. firefighters will demonstrate their skills and equipment at the department’s headquarters and offer fire-prevention information. Free souvenir snapshots of visitors with Smokey the Bear will be available, along with 50-cent bowls of authentic “firehouse chili.”

Just down the street at the Police Department, tours and free souvenir mug shots of visitors will be available from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Police officers also will demonstrate their marksmanship at the department’s firing range, display SWAT equipment and run police dogs through their paces.

A free shuttle service will be available from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. to ferry people between the fair and the Police and Fire departments for the demonstrations.

Other street-fair activities Saturday include a visit by officials from Fukui, Japan, Fullerton’s second sister city, a beer garden for thirsty adults and free popcorn and balloons.

Harbor Boulevard will be closed between Brea Boulevard and Valencia Drive from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for the parade. Besides the section of Pomona, sections of Whiting, Wilshire and Amerige avenues nearby also will be closed for the street fair.

All Founders Day activities are open to the public.