Around Town: Award winners announced for Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade

A variety of organizations won awards at Saturday’s 52nd annual Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade.

Beach Cities Auto Collision received the Grand Marshal’s Trophy and the Pageant of the Masters took the President’s Trophy.

Palmdale High School won the band sweepstakes, and Anneliese Schools captured first place in the elementary school band category.

The Laguna Art Museum received a first-place award for community service float. The Laguna Beach County Water District placed first in the commercial float category, and LOCA Arts Education was first in the youth float category.

In the community service novelty category, Ability Awareness took first place, while Ralphs won the commercial novelty category.

Jim and Sandy Gillam won first place for the Laguna Art Museum in the antique auto category, and John Bernard of the Rotary Club of Laguna Beach won for classic auto. The Laguna Food Pantry took first place for contemporary auto.

CERT is topic of discussion Thursday morning in Newport

Matt Brisbois of the Newport Beach Fire Department will speak about the Community Emergency Response Team on Thursday at the Good Morning Corona del Mar discussion group.

CERT is designed for civilians to help themselves and their families and neighbors if first responders can’t help immediately in a disaster.

The meeting will run from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, 1601 Bayside Drive. Admission is free and open to the public.

Forum in Newport Beach to address public pensions

The Assn. of California Cities-Orange County will hold a pension forum Friday in Newport Beach featuring several local leaders.

The discussion of California’s public pension crisis will include state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa), Newport Beach City Councilwoman Diane Dixon, Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Lyn Semeta, Fullerton City Manager Ken Domer, Huntington Beach Assistant City Manager Lori Ann Farrell and Kerry Worgan, chief actuary of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

The forum will run from 8 a.m. to noon at the Newport Coast Community Center, 6401 San Joaquin Hills Road. Tickets are $25 for association members and $45 for nonmembers.

John Wayne Airport regulations are topic of forum

The next John Wayne Airport issues forum in Newport Beach on Friday is expected to cover some of the regulatory documents associated with the airport.

The forum is part of an informational series presented by the city of Newport Beach and Orange County, which owns and operates the airport.

The forum is set for 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the City Council chamber at 100 Civic Center Drive.

Golf tournament will support Costa Mesa homeless

Fresh Beginnings Ministries and Costa Mesa’s Network for Homeless Solutions are partnering to stage a golf tournament Friday, with all proceeds going to help people who are homeless or on the edge of homelessness in the city.

The tournament will be held at the Costa Mesa Country Club, 1701 Golf Course Drive. For more information or to register, email bob@freshbeginningsministries.com.

Touch-a-Truck coming to O.C. fairgrounds Saturday

The Orange County Market Place will host an inaugural Touch-a-Truck event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa.

Children and families will be able to get an up-close, hands-on look at a selection of police and fire vehicles, construction trucks and vintage cars. There also will be opportunities to win prizes.

For more information, visit ocmarketplace.com. The Fair & Event Center is at 88 Fair Drive.

Channel cleanup event coming in Huntington Beach

The USC Alumni Assn. will hold a cleanup of the East Garden Grove/Wintersburg Channel from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday across the street from 16882 Gothard St. in Huntington Beach.

The purpose is to prevent trash and debris in the channel from flowing into the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.

Registration is available through Thursday at bccuscalumniservice.eventbrite.com.

For more information, call (714) 846-1114.

Broadcom co-founder donates $40,000 to UCI crew teams

UC Irvine’s men’s and women’s crews have received a $40,000 donation to help them participate in a national championship event in Georgia in May.

Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas is a longtime supporter of the teams, having donated more than $1 million to the program.

“Crew is a sport that gets very little glory but requires tremendous commitment, heart and character,” Nicholas said in a statement. “I like to support unsung heroes who succeed through hard work, discipline and teamwork.”

H.B. girl places in national bouldering competition

Lily Gurdison, a Huntington Beach resident and Dwyer Middle School student, recently placed ninth in her age group in a national bouldering competition, a type of freestyle rock climbing.

Lily placed at the USA Climbing Bouldering Youth Nationals in Salt Lake City in February. She trains with the Mesa Rim climbing team in San Diego and participates in Dwyer’s surf club.

Lily hopes to compete in the 2024 Olympics, when bouldering could become an official sport.

Festival of Children Foundation helps raise $250,000 for rare-disease charities

The Costa Mesa-based Festival of Children Foundation recently helped raise more than $250,000 for 32 rare-disease charities.

The foundation, alongside Global Genes, a rare-disease advocacy group, presented a fundraising event at the LeRoy King carousel in San Francisco.

H.B. seeks applicants for Human Relations Task Force

The city of Huntington Beach is looking for people to serve on its Human Relations Task Force.

The position is unpaid. Applicants must be Huntington Beach residents. Meetings are on the first Tuesday of each month.

For more information, call (714) 374-5307.

Farewell party for Corona del Mar library is March 14

A going-away party for the Corona del Mar branch library is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. March 14.

The branch at 420 Marigold Ave. will be rebuilt as a library and fire station scheduled for completion in summer 2019.

The branch will close March 17, with a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility scheduled for 2 p.m. April 10.

Laguna Boys & Girls Club hosting youth education event

The Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach will host an event March 24 designed to help young children build motor skills and effective communication strategies for school.

The event, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at 1085 Laguna Canyon Road, is sponsored by the Laguna Beach Early Development Index Community Task Force.

For more information, email Sandee Bandettini at sbandettini@lbusd.org by March 19. Spanish translation services will be available.

Junior League to hold golf tournament April 6

The Newport Beach-based Junior League of Orange County will.hold its fourth annual Golf Classic and 19th Hole Party on April 6 at Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine.

The event will benefit the league’s volunteer training programs and community projects.

For more information, visit jlocc.org/golf.