by Noella Noelophile®
(Photo courtesy of LA Fleet Week® and used with permission.)
Who are the best cooks: our Navy, Marines or Coast Guard?
Are you up for “Conquering the Bridge”?
And, who is going to win the “Battleship Blast” Robotics Competition?
L.A. Fleet Week® 2018 invites you to explore the answers to these questions, this weekend at the Port of Los Angeles!
Every Labor Day weekend, on the L.A. waterfront, L.A. Fleet Week® celebrates our nation’s Sea Services with a free-to-the-public, multi-day event. Ship tours, aircraft flyovers, a kids’ STEM expo, live music and fireworks are just a few of the events on the schedule from Friday morning through Monday evening. (Here’s the full schedule for the weekend.)
(Photo courtesy of LA Fleet Week® and used with permission.)
Just a few of the activities you might enjoy? Well, at 8:30 Friday morning, the public ship tours begin. (They’ll be continuing all weekend long, and on Monday.) At 10:00 Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, the L.A. Fire Department Historical Society demonstrates fire boat restoration, throughout the day.
Starting off with entertainment
Live music starts at 3:00, Friday afternoon, on the Bob Hope USO Delta Air Lines Main Stage. The program, featuring Michaela Page, the Navy Band Southwest and Jo Kross with special guest Luniz, goes on till 6:00 pm. And at 10:00 that evening, there will be fireworks over the Battleship Iowa.
From 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday, the “Battleship Blast High School Robotics Competition” happens, at the STEM Expo Village’s Indoor Expo Hall.
Between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm Saturday, Sunday and Monday, aerial demonstrations, sponsored by Clyde & Co., are scheduled. (A Navy EA-18G Growler and an L.A. County Fire Department Firehawk are among the planes listed in the flyover schedule.)
Although the Beach Boys are scheduled for a Military Appreciation Concert on Saturday evening at 5:00, L.A. Fleet Week’s website advises that tickets are no longer available. However, there’s another show going on: L.A. Fleet Week® 2018 is celebrating 100 years of the U.S. Navy in the film industry, with a three-day “Navy Film Festival” at San Pedro’s historic Warner Grand Theatre!
The film festival starts Saturday evening at 5:00, with ticket sales starting at 4:00. Active military, veterans and children under the age of three receive free admission. Saturday’s theme is “Marine Corps Night”, while Sunday is “Navy Air Night”, and Monday night’s theme is “Navy Ships and Subs”. Here’s a link to the schedule.
An activity-packed Labor Day schedule
(Photo courtesy of LA Fleet Week® and used with permission.)
Then, on Monday morning, September 3rd, the tenth annual “Conquer the Bridge” 5.3 mile run/walk race begins at 7:00, and goes on till 10:00. Hundreds of women and men from our active military will be participating, and you still have time to register if you’d like to participate.
But. I admit, I’m most looking forward to what happens on Monday morning at 11:30, on the Bob Hope USO Delta Air Lines Main Stage. That’s when “Galley Wars” is happening! This is a ninety-minute culinary competition between the sea services, on the Bob Hope USO Delta Air Lines main stage. Teams from the Navy, Coast Guard and Marines will face off over their stoves, and may the best cooks win!
With the exception of the film festival, tickets are not required for L.A. Fleet Week® 2018 events.
L.A. Fleet Week 2018 happens Friday, August 31st through Monday, September 3rd at the Los Angeles Waterfront in San Pedro. With the exception of the film festival, admission is free. Here’s a link with a map and parking information.