CULVER CITY'S 100 YEARS

Culver City is turning 100 next year and will begin the yearlong celebration this Saturday with a parade, opening ceremonies and a neighborhood-wide, interactive celebration of creativity, community and cuisine.

It will be put on by the Downtown Business Association dubbed Culver City’s Block Party of the Century starting at 12:30 pm and continuing until 4 pm.

At 9 a.m. the Community Parade begins at Overland Avenue and marches along Culver Boulevard, concluding in Downtown Culver City. With bands and vintage cars the parade is estimated to have more than 1200 people marching.

11:00 a.m. the opening ceremonies begin in front of the Harry Culver statue and the Culver Hotel at Culver Boulevard and Main Street. Local dignitaries along with Mayors and representatives from our sister cities in Canada, Japan and Mexico will be on hand.

The parade will form on Overland Blvd. between Culver Blvd. and Braddock and march to downtown Culver City at Culver Blvd. and Lafayette St. (Two blocks from the Opening Ceremony).

Residents are urged to come out and cheer on your neighbors and celebrate the city's 100th birthday.

The block party will include the following:

• Free entertainment, with Culver City-based performing artists of all types — from A cappella singers to samba dancers, indie rock musicians to poets, comedians to gymnasts — filling the streets of downtown Culver City as they compete for the coveted people's choice ‘Culver Cup’ and $1000 grand prize.

• Activities for kids and families will include face painting, chalk art, musical explorations and more.

• The outdoor, ticketed ‘Taste of Culver City’ will showcase Culver City culinary stars, including: Akasha, City Tavern, Essential Chocolate Desserts, Grilliant, Hanjip, Janga by Derrick’s Jamaican Cuisine, Kay n' Dave's, K-zo, Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ, Make Out, Meet in Paris, Rush Street, The Culver Hotel, Tub's Chili, Wildcraft, Culver City newcomer Spinfish and more.

Admission to the block party is free and to participate in a “Taste of Culver City” the tickets are $20 if purchased in advance or $25 on the day of the event.

To purchase tickets in advance visit http://www.downtownculvercity.com.

Street closures will begin on Saturday at 6 am. The Culver City Police Department will determine when it is safe to reopen the streets. It is estimated the streets should be opened by 6 pm.

Shuttle buses will be running from 7am to 4 pm for the public. Additional information is available at the Centennial Committee’s website-- http://www.culvercity100.org.

There will be ample parking. The recommended parking areas are: Ince, Cardiff and Watseka parking structures.

Visitors are asked to park in one of the following designated areas not in the surrounding neighborhoods. We are trying to keep the traffic impact on those areas to a minimum.

On the West end of the parade route closest to the staging area there will be limited parking in the Veterans Memorial Park lots along Culver Blvd.

On the East end of the parade route ample parking is available in the Ince parking structure located in between Culver and Washington Boulevards. This is the best location as it will put you closest to the end of the route and the shuttles will be able to take you throughout the downtown area.

Much of the event was made possible by the generosity of local sponsors. The sponsors include: COPY TK EARLY AFTERNOON