Halloween hits Main Street

Costume-clad partygoers eager for a good time in Surf City this

Halloween will have a lot to choose from.

Organizers are expecting as many as 10,000 to attend the 12th

annual Main Street Halloween Celebration, which will feature kiddie

rides, a petting zoo and a costume contest open to all ages.

There will be 12 rides, including bounce rides, pony rides and

slides, said Steve Daniel, president of the Huntington Beach Downtown

Merchants Assn. and organizer of the event. Many of the merchants

will be passing out candy.

“This is our 12th year, and it just keeps getting bigger and

bigger every year,” Daniel said. “It’s for the local Huntington Beach

people.”

The fair will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Main Street,

Downtown. For more information, call (714) 969-0795.

Hurricanes Bar and Grill will also host a Halloween Bash,

featuring Steel Rod & C. Funk and D.J. Devin. The cost is $10.

Attendees must be 21 and older will valid I.D. Call (714) 374-0500

for information.

People over 21 can also dance the night away at Carnival De Bazaar

at the Old World Village. DJs Joe Curl and Rudy Artavia will host the

event.

The event will feature a surreal circus-style show by Dakini Diva,

a three-person aerial contortion act, exotic stilt dancers and

club-kid drag queens Boom Boom and Rocky Raccoon. Prizes will be

awarded for a costume contest.

There will be full bars and food served until 12:30 a.m. The cover

charge is $10 at the door before 9 p.m. and $15 after. Old World’s

Cave is at 7561 Center Ave. For more information, call (714) 647-7107

or (714) 240-9662 or log on to https://www.oldworld.ws.

Conditions at Talbert Channel improving

Scientists have taken steps to improve the foul odor and dying

marine life in the Talbert Channel that they say is caused by a

natural decaying process.

To neutralize the odor, officials from the county’s Public

Facilities Resources Department have been spraying the channel with

an enzymatic odor-reducing substance, said Bruce Moore, supervisor of

monitoring programs for the department.

“It’s supposed to get at the source of the odor and eliminate it,”

Moore said.

Two floating devices that were installed to measure the levels of

dissolved oxygen in the water have shown oxygen levels slowly

improving, Moore said. The channel seems to be healing itself.

Scientists say that the decaying process has been caused by

decreased circulation in the water, compounded with red tide

conditions.

During a normal tidal cycle, water circulates in and out of the

channel every two weeks, and during low tides, nearly all of the

water in the channel empties out into the ocean and is replaced by

fresh ocean water.

But a sandbar that has been blocking the outlet to the ocean has

been keeping the channel from emptying at low tide, resulting in

unusually stagnant conditions.

County environmental officials are hoping to obtain a permit from

the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board to open up the

sandbar by the end of the week.

Moore said removing the sandbar should improve conditions

significantly.

“We’re hoping to see a marked difference,” Moore said. “It would

increase the circulation and move all of that stagnant water out of

there.”

Residents will be honored for environmental work

Mayor Connie Boardman and a member of the city’s environmental

board will present the group’s annual awards at the City Council

meeting Monday. Awards will be presented to nine people who have

worked to improve the environment in Huntington Beach.

Gina Bartrom, a member of the Huntington Beach Tree Society, works

to keep plants and trees in the Huntington Beach Urban Forest healthy

by watering and weeding.

Nancy Donovan was one of the founders of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica

and the group’s first secretary. For two years, she served as

president of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. She has also served as a

member of the Huntington Beach Environmental Review Committee.

As executive director of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Flossie

Horgan has worked with the coastal commission and county, city, state

and federal government agencies to restore the Bolsa Chica Wetlands

and to acquire land at Bolsa Chica. The Bolsa Chica Land Trust has

more than 5,000 members and an annual budget of more than $100,000.

Horgan was also instrumental in the passage of Proposition 50, the

Clean Water and Coastal Protective initiative, designed to reduce

beach and water pollution and protect drinking water.

Shirley Knopf has been actively involved with the Tree Society

since she requested the group’s assistance in planting trees in Hawes

Park. She has continued to plant and water trees throughout city

parks.

Juana Mueller is still active in the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. She

has also been very active in the Shipley Nature Center. Her

involvement included serving as a board member and writing a chapter

in the center’s docent manual.

Louann Murray belongs to the Friends of the Shipley Nature Center

and spends nearly 40 hours per week writing grants and performing

docent training at the center. She has also served as a docent for

Amigos de Bolsa Chica and as the first research director of the Bolsa

Chica Conservancy.

Stephanie Pacheco stepped up as the first president of the Friends

of the Shipley Nature Center. During her administration, the center

has grown from only a few members to nearly 1,000 members. She

recently secured a $40,000 grant for the center.

Jan Vandersloot heads the Ocean Outfall Group, an environmental

group that pushed to raise the standard for the treatment of sewage

released into the ocean in Huntington Beach. Vandersloot has been a

community activist for 23 years and has worked to preserve the city’s

ocean’s, beaches, wetlands and other natural resources.

The environmental awards will be presented at 7 p.m. Monday in the

council chambers.

Waterfront Residential homes sold

The first eight homes in Surf City’s newest beachside community

were sold this month.

Sea Colony is one of two communities that will make up Waterfront

Residential, a seaside housing complex, slated to open in May 2004.

The paseo homes will have open courtyards and luxury interiors from

2,961 to 3,384 square feet. Sea Colony will have 78 units, and its

neighbor, Sea Cove, will have 106.

Those first Sea Colony homes, which will be behind the Huntington

Beach Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa, cost from $955,000 to $1.1

million.

The Redevelopment Agency will receive 15% of the gross sale

proceeds above $31.2 million for the 78 homes. The next eight homes

were released for sale Oct. 25, costing from $985,000 to $1.2

million. There will be no more releases until December.

More information on Christopher Homes can be found at https://www.

Christopher-homes.com or by calling (714) 960-0717.