Fiesta Days, according to the LCF Chamber of Commerce website, is an annual Memorial Day celebration hosted by the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce & Community Association. It was founded in 1973 to celebrate the Spanish heritage of our community during the week of Cinco de Mayo. It has since become an all-encompassing and complete small town community celebration and has moved to the end of the month of May.

Memorial Day Parade

As part of the Fiesta Days celebration, the annual Memorial Day Parade wound its way down Foothill Boulevard on Monday morning to the delight of thousands. Cheered on were vehicles (including the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoach), animals, floats and dancers.
Photos by Ed HAMILTON

Fireworks and Barbecue

Family dinner in the park was the highlight of Sunday night with the La Cañada High jazz band kicking things off. A new barbecue menu by Los Gringos Locos, which included special concierge seating for meal ticket buyers, was particularly welcome. Fireworks, sponsored by the Allen Lund Co., finished the night.
Photos by Olivia BROWN and Steve GOLDSWORTHY

Memorial Park

Spreading out from the gazebo at La Cañada Flintridge’s Memorial Park, hundreds gathered on Memorial Day morning to honor and remember the fallen, to recognize the service and sacrifice of veterans from every war and era. Among those gathered was John Doherty. He shared the story of his uncles who are enshrined on the Memorial Wall and shared the story of his childhood friend John Flagg.
“They told me that John can’t be on the wall because he wasn’t killed in combat and I understand that. But he went to war and he spent 30 years struggling to come home,” Doherty told the Memorial Day crowd. “I have a hard time when people say Happy Memorial Day. I say we take a minute to thank all the John Flaggs and the families of them. Let’s wish each other instead a thoughtful Memorial Day.”
Photos by Julie BUTCHER