Long Beach families celebrate Fourth of July with a healthy, adorable bike parade

Families whose 4th of July celebrations began well before after-dark fireworks gathered Monday moing near Rosie’s Dog Beach for a seaside bicycle ride.

Many of the riders who participated in the event, dubbed the The Great American Kids’ Bike Parade, decorated their bicycles in red white and blue befitting the holiday. The young cyclists, parents and some toddlers, who experienced the day’s festivities while ensconced in stroller seats, formed a patriotic peloton on a bike path cutting a route through the sandy beach.

• Video: Families enjoy a beachside bicycle ride on Fourth of July in Long Beach

A team of bicycle patrol officers from the Long Beach Police Department led the riders on a short tour d’Alamitos Peninsula. The route took riders eastward along the bike path, parallel to Ocean Boulevard, before the cyclists tued north at Bay Shore Avenue and continued alongside the waters of Alamitos Bay for a while before tuing around and looping back to Rosie’s Dog Beach.

The riders included Pat Devries of Long Beach and his two daughters, 10-year-old Ivy and 6-year-old Violet.

“This is our fourth or fifth year coming down here and doing it,” the elder Devries said. “It’s become one of our Fourth of July traditions with the kids.”

In addition to the bicycle ride, Monday moing festivities at Rosie’s Dog Beach also included a 5K race and a half-mile run for children, a patriotic speech contest and a costume contest.

Children delivering patriotic speeches had the option of reciting existing documents or presenting their own orations.

“We have so many rights that many people don’t have. In some countries people, don’t have the freedom of speech,” Natalie Canalis, 10, said during her speech.

Natalie, the daughter of former Press Telegram editorial writer John Canalis, added a touch of humor to her speech. Extolling the virtues of another First Amendment right, the freedom of religion, she observed that constitutional freedom is so broad, not only does an American have the right to worship an orange, no American can be forced to worship a citrus fruit.

Jayden Bredeson, 5, was among the costumed children who won a $10 prize for his getup. Whereas many of those wearing costumes bedecked themselves in vibrant red, white and blue outfits inspired by the flag, Jayden’s chose a more stately costume, a white wig and suit reminiscent of what George Washington may have wo while serving as the United States’ first president.

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His mother, Nicole Bredeson, said the boy prefers costumes inspired by historic figures.

Event organizer Justin Rudd said more than 500 children participated in the moing bicycle ride, now held for 13 years.

“I’ve seen kids grow up coming to this,” Rudd said.