Event attendees participate in an entertainment zone event, a city pilot program that allows sanctioned outdoor drinking. Photo courtesy of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance
Throw on a costume and bring your ID for some Halloween cheer and beer.
On Saturday, Oct. 25, Downtown Long Beach will transform into the first Fright Fest. Pine Avenue and The Promenade, between Broadway and Third Street, will be entangled in the webs of Halloween, opening up a block party full of live music, vendors and spooky sips.
Attendees will also get the chance to participate in the city’s second “EZ Sip” event, part of the City of Long Beach’s one-year pilot Entertainment Zone program that allows open drinking in permitted areas.
Boasting haunted mazes, pumpkin patches and specialty-themed drinks, the Downtown Long Beach Alliance event will run from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Early parts of the day will include pumpkin patches and family-friendly fun.
Past 6 p.m., expect things to get more rowdy – that’s when the 21+ activities kick off.
“This was all in an effort to kind of bring business to downtown and urban centers,” James Ahumada, the senior vice president and deputy CEO of DTLB Alliance, said. “It’s really a way to make dense areas like ours more fun.”
Traditionally, patrons purchasing alcohol are not allowed to walk outside a bar with a drink in hand. EZ Sip events change the game.
In 2024, Senate Bill 969 was passed to allow cities and counties to have “entertainment zones,” where open drinking is permitted within certain parameters. Long Beach is the third city in the state, behind San Francisco and Santa Monica, to try out the program.
The pilot kicked off with a launch event in August that Ahumada described as a success.
Image courtesy of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance
For the upcoming Saturday event, signage will be displayed to outline the appropriate rules and conduct for the event.
While attendees can take their drinks outside of businesses, they must stay within certain parameters and not bring them into other businesses. Each participating establishment will be labeled with color-coded EZ Sip cups that permit outdoor drinking.
“This basically kind of removes some of those barriers. You still can’t walk in with your own outside drink, but you can go into a business and kind of support them,” Ahumada said.
DTLB Alliance collaborated with Baby Bros Pizza, Horrorville and Halloween Depot to create the event. Visitors will find establishments, including Alter Society Brewing, Dog Haus, The Ordinarie Tavern, Broken Spirits and more, all participating in the fun.
While this new open-drinking experience is not an everyday thing, Ahumada and his team hope to use entertainment zones for future events to promote traction to local businesses.
“So far, it’s [public impression] been very positive,” he said. “And people, I think, just really want to support businesses downtown.”
While Fright Fest is free to enter, all-access tickets are available for purchase at the event
Learn more about Fright Fest on DTLB Alliance’s website.