Cerritos, Artesia Officials to Participate in Long Beach Dragon Boat Race

Cheer on your local city officials at this Saturday's annual Dragon Boat race in Long Beach. 

Cerritos mayor Bruce Barrows, Artesia mayor Sally Flowers and Cerritos council member Carol Chen will be competing in the VIP Race at the Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival as part of the BLINDSTART team. 

Alongside the city officials who will be blindfolded during the race will be blind and visually impaired paddlers. 

Aside from the VIP Race, attendees can watch other races, enjoy the opening ceremonies which include traditional dances, stroll through the vendor booths and dine at festival eateries. 

The festivities will take place on Saturday, July 27, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Marine Stadium on Paoli Way (no parking) in Long Beach. The VIP Race starts at 11 a.m. 

Members of the BLINDSTART team include:

Community Leaders:
Cerritos Mayor, Bruce Barrows         
Artesia Mayor, Sally Flowers         
Cerritos Council Member Carol Chen         
Long Beach Rotary, Efren Baca         
Jeweler, Carol Chambers         
Brad Beach         
Bill Chupinghong      
Pre-school Teacher, Elvia Gonzalez   
Naresh Solanki

Visually Impaired Paddlers:
Founder and CEO, Brian Tom
Actor and Singer, Robert Smith
Former Marine, Durrell Johnson
American Honda, Michael Yu
Massage Therapist, Lawrence Lancaster
Former Teacher, Venetta Davis
Spec. Ed. Assistant, Elizabeth Pezone
Marathon Runner, Christian Alvarado
Braille Employee, Tiffany Johnson
Joel Centeno

Directions to Festival, BLINDSTART Booth