Sea to Shining Sea LBC to celebrate America’s 250th with three fireworks shows at once — and more

Long Beach is gearing up to host a massive Fourth of July celebration, which this year will mark America’s semiquincentennial — or 250th birthday.

The event, dubbed Sea to Shining Sea LBC, will feature three simultaneous and synchronized fireworks displays over the coastline, a week of sporting events to pay homage to the city’s upcoming role in the 2028 Olympics and more.

Sea to Shining Sea LBC was a passion project brought to life by John Morris, the owner of Boathouse on the Bay, who had organized and hosted Big Bang on the Bay, an annual July 3 fireworks celebration and block party, since 2011.

But because of a yearslong dispute between Morris and the California Coastal Commission, the 2026 iteration of Big Bang on the Bay was canceled after the state regulatory body rejected Morris’ appeal to continue the fireworks show this year. The commission, instead, has mandated that Morris transition the Fourth of July celebration to a drone show.

Morris had been planning to go all out for the 2026 Big Bang on the Bay celebration since the 2025 event ended, he said in a Friday interview. Morris even bought the fireworks he would need for the 2026 celebration last July, he said, in preparation for his celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

“My whole vision was, of course, to have Big Bang be a kickoff for the country’s 250th birthday,” Morris said. “I ordered the fireworks that night, luckily, otherwise there wouldn’t be any. We laid low in hopes that the third (of July) would come together, but unfortunately it didn’t.”

But once Big Bang was officially off the table for this year, Morris turned his ambitions elsewhere, and began working on planning Sea to Shining Sea LBC with the help of the city, Visit Long Beach (the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau), and many other parties that have contributed to the planning.

In addition to the usual Fourth of July fireworks display at the Queen Mary, Sea to Shining Sea LBC will also feature two additional over-the-water fireworks displays: One off of Granada Beach and another off of Junipero Beach.

The fireworks will be operated by the same company that usually oversees Morris’ Big Bang display, he said.

All three shows will be free and open to the public, with plenty of viewing spots along Ocean Boulevard and at the city’s beaches and bluffs, including near Lions Lighthouse, at Shoreline Village and at the Belmont Pier.

There will also be “premium viewing experiences,” according to Visit Long Beach, including at the Queen Mary, which is hosting its own Fourth of July celebration aboard the ship, the Long Beach Museum of Art and on Harbor Breeze Cruise vessels, among others.

The three fireworks shows all happening at once is a first for Long Beach, with few other cities in California doing anything similar, Visit Long Beach President and CEO Steve Goodling said on Friday.

“A year ago, especially on the West Coast, we really weren’t thinking about the nation’s 250th birthday,” Goodling said. “On the East Coast, it was a more prevalent thought. But John was thinking of it, and so he secured the fireworks. They were selling out quickly, because other parts of the nation were already planning their 250th (celebrations).”

And Sea to Shining Sea LBC, Goodling added, is a first-of-its-kind celebration for the city, with few other celebrations like it planned anywhere else in the state. Visit Long Beach decided to come on board and help plan the event, he added, in hopes of giving the community an additional way to get out and enjoy what Long Beach has to offer.

“Coming out of the pandemic, the same (Visit Long Beach) board approved fireworks, which were not budgeted,” Goodling said. “Nobody had a budget for it, but we felt strongly enough about it. So coming out of the pandemic, we were the first city to do fireworks again. (And now), we’re the first city to do three fireworks shows between Santa Barbara down to Del Mar, and just like in Boston, just like in New York, just like in D.C., it’s going to be a big deal, and it’s going to be a big show.”

The event’s organizers are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to attend the events and watch the fireworks shows. Big Bang on the Bay and the Queen Mary’s Fourth of July celebrations, for example, have typically drawn more than 100,000 attendees each every year.

Besides the fireworks, Morris and Visit Long Beach have organized Sea to Shining to Sea LBC to help residents get a feel for what the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games will look like in Long Beach.

The city will host 18 Olympic and Paralympic events during the Games, including plenty of water sports like rowing, water polo and sailing. Morris and the team behind Sea to Shining Sea LBC hope to showcase the role Long Beach will play during the Games.

So to give Long Beach residents a taste of what the Olympics will be like, Sea to Shining Sea will also feature of week of sporting events, including coastal rowing competitions and beach sprints on June 27 and 28, a week of kite surfing and a water polo tournament on July 2 and 3.

“Sea to Shining LBC is a celebration of our nation’s history, our city’s future and the spirit that makes Long Beach unique,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a written statement. “From world-class athletic competitions to a spectacular fireworks finale along our coast, this unforgettable week will salute our country and showcase Long Beach as we look toward 2028.”

The water polo tournament, for example, will be hosted and organized by five-time Olympian and Long Beach native Tony Azevedo, alongside his colleagues at the 908 Club, a youth water polo organization.

“We’ve been talking about how can we do something pre-Olympics (to get) people excited about the sports that are going to actually be here in Long Beach, so it’s not just go watch a game — it’s, ‘I’ve seen that game,’ or, ‘I know how to play that game,’ and maybe they stick around,” Azevedo said Friday. “So we created, or John (Morris) created, this atmosphere to get everyone excited, leading into the 250th anniversary of the (country), leading to the Olympics.”

The water polo tournament will feature 908 Club’s youth players, including those under 10, under 12 and under 14, and there are plans for other youth club teams from all over the country to come out and participate.

Other members of the 908 Club’s team, including Azevedo’s father, Ricardo Azevedo (formerly head coach for USA Men’s WaterPolo Team, the USA Junior Team and Long Beach State University’s team), alongside four-time Olympian Ryan Bailey, are planning to conduct a free class to help introduce local youths to the sport.

“The idea is you come, you can get on your board, you can swim out, and you can get a little floaty and watch some of the games,” Azevedo said. “There’ll be prizes, there’ll be, you know, three courses. Malmsten is sponsoring it, which is huge at this last second to just get three courses out there on Horny Corner. It’s going to be really exciting.”

The tournament will also be named in honor of a Club 908 player from last year, who experienced an injury that has since left him semiparalyzed.

“He’s on this journey to recovery,” Azevedo said. “He was one of the best players, and now, he still can’t walk or swim or play. His dream has always been to play in the Olympics, so what we ended up doing is calling it, on the water polo side, in his honor.”

The proceeds of the event, Azevedo added, will go to the player’s family to help in his recovery.

Azevedo also said he hopes this event will help solidify Long Beach as a hub for excellence in water sports, particularly for water polo. Long Beach is known as the Aquatic Capital of America and has produced countless Olympic athletes in water sports for decades.

“Hopefully, it’s something that grows to support all these clubs and sports that the Olympics are going to bring,” Azevedo said. “Right now, it’s expensive to play, so the more we can show the popularity of the sport and get support from, you know, the city and whomever else.”

More details about the other sports events, including times and dates, will be released in the coming weeks.

Sea to Shining Sea LBC will also feature other entertainment and offerings, including potential “food courts” featuring local restaurants and breweries, according to Morris, to offer attendees a chance to get a taste of Long Beach while watching the fireworks.

The fireworks shows, meanwhile, are expected to last around 20 minutes and will be free for the public to view. More information about Sea to Shining Sea LBC will be available on visitlongbeach.com.