Long Beach Cancels Pride Festival for Missing Permits, Safety Plans

The city of Long Beach canceled the Long Beach Pride Festival scheduled for this weekend at Marina Green Park on Shoreline Drive, citing missing permitting and public safety documentation, while officials said the Pride Parade and other Pride-related events will still proceed as planned. The festival, which was set to begin Friday at 5 p.m., was shut down less than an hour before the scheduled start after a cease-and-desist letter was issued to the organizers, according to the city and Long Beach Pride.

Long Beach Special Events officials said the required operational, construction and public safety plans were not provided in time to complete safety reviews, inspect critical infrastructure such as staging, electrical systems and tents, and verify emergency exiting plans to meet public safety standards. In a statement, the city said, “Unfortunately, one event, the Long Beach Pride Festival, will not be able to take place this year as sufficient information to safely permit the event has not been made available by the event organizers.”

Long Beach Pride President Tonya Martin said organizers believed the paperwork had been submitted on time and expressed disappointment with the...