Monterey Park Mayor Mitch Ing, Vice Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian, Councilmember David Lau, City Clerk Dave Barron welcomed new citizens Guiru Wang, Qiangsheng Fan and Zhufu Chen during the annual celebration held at Barnes Park.

Vice Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian welcomed new citizen Eva Chung Levbarg to the event.

Monterey Park Mayor Mitch Ing, Vice Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian, Councilmember David Lau, City Clerk Dave Barron thanked the Garcia family, the Zheng family and the Chan family and their military members for their service to our country.

McGruff joined with participants of the Kids Patriotic parade. Some of them rode their decorated bikes and scooters or walked around the baseball diamond celebrating America’s birthday.

Five-year-old Marlin won a bike during the drawing sponsored by the LAMP Optimist Club and the city. Lamp members Sam Luk and Vince Chang, Mayor Mitch Ing and McGruff join him.  He will need to grow into his bike.

Mayor Ing thanked all the children for participating in the parade. He read the special poem carved into the Statue of Liberty that welcomes the immigrants from Europe to the United States. He asked that everyone remember that today is about our country and the flag that represents our country.  He recognized the 22 million veterans who serve and served our county. We are the beacon of liberty. Enjoy the day. He thanked all for their participation in this special event.

Vice Mayor Real Sebastian welcomed all to Monterey Park. We are all Americans and celebrate our day of Independence. Happy Birthday! Thank God for our freedoms. She let the Pledge of Allegiance.

Many of the young children with the American flags joined the Council on stage to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Councilmember Lau welcomed everyone to Barnes Park. We are here to celebrate the birthday of the best country in the world. We need to get along as a nation under God. We are a diverse country and we need to respect each other. Always remember the military members, our firefighters, police officers and the veterans. He thanked the sponsors for their generous donations and the staff, volunteers and the service clubs for making this a great event. He thanked everyone for joining us in this celebration. Happy July 4th!

City Clerk Barron shared his brother-in-laws’ 80th birthday. He served in the Marines for 44 years and was stationed in Korea and Viet Nam. He was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He attended Roosevelt High School. His family is very proud of him. He thanked everyone for being here today.

The Monterey Park Concert Band played patriotic music and show tunes.

The Rudy Macias Band played “Oldies” to the audiences delight. They sang and danced back into the past.

The event featured games and contests as well as face painting and balloon animals.

The food booths provided a delicious fare of hot dogs, pizza, watermelon, shaved ices, roasted corn, kettle popcorn, ice cream and Chinese food.

The event ended with a colorful display of fireworks that lit up the night sky that was shared by other local cities and family displays.

The bombs burst into the air and our flag was still there.  Happy Birthday to US!