Surf City’s biggest summer events

Paul Clinton

The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals will hold an annual three-day

tournament, which draws the top athletes from that sport to the city’s

beaches.

The pro beach volleyball tournament will kick off Friday with a

qualifier event open to anyone who hopes to compete in the event. A youth

clinic has been scheduled for 3 p.m.

The event will continue from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and from

8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Women’s finals are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, with the men’s

finals on tap for 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Those matches will be televised on

Fox Sports Network.

The event will take place at the south side of Huntington Beach Pier.

Some of the top men’s competitors scheduled to compete include Dax

Holdren, Todd Rogers and Canyon Cernan. Top women players include Holly

McPeak, Elaine Youngs and Barbra Fontana.

Event sponsors will hand out souvenirs, sell merchandise and give away

samples of their products.

For more info, visit the association’s Web site (www.avp.com) or call

Matt Gage at (310) 426-7108. For questions about the youth clinic, call

Jeff David at (310) 426-8000.

Smooth as Jazz Series, June 8.

As a part of the city’s ongoing music series, smooth-jazz artist Keiko

Matsui is scheduled to perform at the Huntington Beach Cultural Center,

at 7111 Talbert Ave. The theater seats 319 people.

Matsui, who has emerged as a popular artist in the smooth jazz genre,

lives in Huntington Harbour.

Matsui was born in Tokyo and has taken piano lessons since the age of

5. She released her first solo album, called “A Drop of Water,” in 1988.

Matsui released “Deep Blue,” her latest album, last summer.

She has released 16 CDs, including a live recording.

Matsui is scheduled to perform at 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday. For more

info: visit www.bbjazzcentral.com of call (714) 377-7574. Dinner is also

available at the show.

Adventure Playground, June 17 to Aug. 24.

Local children converge on Central Park every year for a wild time

during this venerable city-organized event.

Started in 1974 by former Orange County Supervisor Bill Vance, the

event allows children to build forts, sail rafts in a shallow pond and

slide into a mud pit.

The event has become known locally as the “Huck Finn” event, said Bob

Werth, the city’s senior recreation supervisor.

The children are given safety lessons, then handed hammers, nails,

saws and other tools to build their forts and treehouses.

They can also float rafts in a pond that runs as deep as 24 inches.

The 98th annual Fourth of July parade and Celebration

The city’s annual Independence Day parade is the largest and oldest of

its kind west of the Mississippi. This year, more than 350 parade entries

are expected to participate.

The event has been known to attract about 300,000 people to Surf City

during past years.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. It travels along Pacific Coast Highway

and Main Street.

The parade has been noncontroversial in recent years, but memories are

still fresh of the violence that erupted in 1994, when out-of-control

youth roamed the streets, torched couches, busted windows and piled on

top of cars.

This year, the theme is “Huntington Beach Celebrates the Spirit of

America.”

Prior to the parade, there are 5K races for various divisions and a

fitness expo. To register for the expo, head to www.pacificsportsllc.com.

The morning has been blocked off for bands, floats, clowns,

celebrities and more. The event is sponsored by the city and, of course,

includes evening fireworks. For more info, call the city’s Fourth of July

Hotline at (714) 374-1535.

Shakespeare in the Park, July 6-28.

Local actors from the Huntington Beach Playhouse are set to perform

“Henry IV, Part 1,” one of the Bard’s historical comedies, in Central

Park.

The play is centered on a young Henry V, known affectionatelyin the

play as Hal, and his colorful relationship with the gluttonous Sir John

Falstaff. During “Henry IV, Part 2,” which isn’t on the agenda, Hal

ascends to the thrown after the death of his aging father King Henry IV.

More information about the event can be found at the playhouse’s Web

site (www.hbph.com) or by calling (714) 375-0696. To buy tickets online,

visit www.seatadvisor.com.

Philips Fusion U.S. Open of Surfing and Beach Games July 27

to Aug. 4.

More than 600 competitors from all over the world will compete for

prizes in the West Coast’s largest professional surfing event. The

nine-day event also includes competitions in skateboarding, bicycle

stunts and other “extreme” sports.

Internationally-known surfers usually fill out the roster of the

event. Some well-known names include Rob Machado, Sonny Garcia, C.J.

Hobgood, Taylor Knox and Tim Curran. Machado won the surfing portion of

the event last year.

The surfing competition includes a men’s and women’s division.

The event doubles as a music festival and exposition. Organizers are

busy nailing down the final lineup of bands that will sidelight the

festival. That lineup, in the past, has featured local acts such as the

Joe Wood Band and more regional acts such as Common Sense.

The event is heading into its 20th year in the city.

More information about the event is located at two Web sites

(www.bluetorch.com and www.fusion.philips.com) or by calling (310)

473-0411.

Surf City International Film Festival, Aug. 22-25.

In its inaugural bow, the film festival is pulling together a lineup

of international and independent movies to show in late August.

Organizers are planning to show 35 features from Australia, Brazil and

other faraway places at Mann Pierside 6, at 300 Pacific Coast

Highway. Several local filmmakers have also submitted entries.

More than 100 films will show -- including music videos, shorts,

features and documentaries -- during the four-day festival.

A number of surfing and extreme sports movies are also set to screen

during the festival.

A celebrity panel has been assembled to judge the movies, including

‘80s music icon Pat Benatar, radio critic Leo Quinones (a.k.a. “The Film

Freak”) and radio talk show host Doug Steckler.

As the festival centerpiece, organizers will show “Fast Times at

Ridgemont High,” a teen comedy from 1982. The movie was first shown in

Huntington Beach during a test screening before it was released to a

wider audience.

Organizers will also hand out an audience award to one of three

independent directors -- David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino and John Waters.

Schedules of the screenings and other information will be posted on

the festival Web site (www.surfcityfilmfest.org). More info: (714)

969-3492.

Civil War Reenactment, Aug. 31 to Sept. 1.

A group of American Civil War buffs dress up in period clothing and

relive a typical battle from the nation’s struggle to avert unraveling

into “a house divided,” in the words of Abraham Lincoln.

The event is in its seventh year and is sponsored by the Huntington

Beach Historical Society. It will take place in Huntington Central Park.

The actors don authentic costumes and personas from the time period.

Each actor will research the life of a person from the time and will go

“into character” as a member of either the Union of the Confederacy for

the event.

There are four battles scheduled for the two-day event. They are

scheduled for 1 and 4 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

For more info, contact the historical society at (714) 962-5777 or

City Hall at (714) 536-5486.