SEAL BEACH : Large Crowd Expected at Easter Parade

Part country fair and part Fourth of July, the 15th annual Easter Parade is expected to attract about 5,000 participants Sunday to booths, exhibitions, games and the Main Street parade beginning at noon.

The Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station will celebrate its absence from the federal base closing list by sending a color guard to lead this year’s parade, followed by essay contest winners from McGaugh Elementary School’s fourth and fifth grades.

This is the third year that the parade has been sponsored by the Seal Beach Business Assn., an organization of about 150 members who rescued the event from insolvency in 1992.

“It’s our way of saying thank you to the community,” parade coordinator Vicky Richards said. “The local businesses here actually shell out money for this.”

The business association donated $1,000 to the parade. Rockwell International and Southern California Edison Co. are sponsoring a western exhibition that will include a mock gunfight.

Six members of the American Riding Club for the Handicapped will ride horses in the parade, joining high school drill teams and drum squads, clowns and costumed children.

A family picnic and Easter candy hunt will follow the parade. Exhibitions include bicycle, skateboard and in-line skating demonstrations. Free sight and hearing tests will be available at the Lions Club Sight and Hearing Van.

Funds raised at the event, which ends at 4:30 p.m., will go to the Seal Beach Seaside Lions Club for community projects.