Classic cars drive down Bay Avenue during the ‘Old Fashioned’ July 4th parade in Ocean Park.

LONG BEACH PENINSULA — The smoke has cleared and the concussion of fireworks has concluded after nearly a week of Independence Day-related revelry on the Long Beach Peninsula.

Thousands flocked to the coast for the long Fourth of July weekend to partake in the annual celebration that commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.

Sizzling celebration, sizable cleanup

Unseasonably warm temperatures — roughly 20 degrees above average — spanned the holiday weekend, with daytime highs hitting the 80s for five straight days Thursday, July 4, through Monday, July 9, with a peak of 89 degrees reached on Friday, July 5.

Avoiding the hot afternoon temperatures, local volunteer groups saw the highest cleanup participation since before the pandemic. The GrassRoots Garbage Gang had 611 volunteers participate in their annual July 5 morning beach cleanup, their highest turnout since 2018 and third-highest total ever (2010 had 750 and 2018 had 620).

The nearly week-long celebration didn’t come without destruction however. Local fire departments were spread thin responding to numerous fires and keeping the coast from becoming a tinderbox, including a dune grass fire that blackened nearly a quarter-mile just south of the Seaview beach approach on Saturday afternoon.