Labor Day weekend will be filled with cannons thundering and war whoops as the Huntington Beach Historical Society stages its 24th annual Civil War Days Living History Event at Central Park on Saturday and Sunday.

Organizers are hoping the only violence will be of the faux kind.

For the second time in three years, however, the event, which is the largest of its kind on the West Coast, is being held in the wake and shadow of prominent national news of racial strife and violence. And for the second time, organizers are talking about their event in terms of teaching moments and dialogue on race and identity in the context of history.

“I’d like to think we’re out here to provide living history and prompt discussion,” said Darrell Rivers, president of the Huntington Beach Historical Society. “We’re not going to censor anyone.”

The Huntington Beach Historical Society holds a Civil War reenactment and living history event annually at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Armando Brown, Register.

Rebel and Union forces square off each year at the Huntington Beach Historical Society’s Civil War Days and Living History Event. (Photo by Armando Brown Register.)

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The Huntington Beach Historical Society holds a Civil War reenactment and living history event annually at Central Park. Many participants portray real historical figures. (Photo by Armando Brown, Register)

The Huntington Beach Historical Society will hold its Civil War reenactment and living history in the wake of racially charged turmoil in Charlottesville, Va., (Photo by Armando Brown, Register)

Cannons fire at a Huntington Beach Historical Society Civil War reenactment and living history at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Armando Brown/Register)



Robert Broski portrays President Abraham Lincoln in a past Civil War Days and Living History Event in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Frank Bellino, Register)

In Manassas, Va., site of two battles in the Civil War, the city’s annual Civil War re-enactment was called off in the aftermath of the racially charged and deadly conflict Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Va.

In canceling its 13th annual Heritage Day, Manassas issued a statement that read: “Recent events have ignited passions in this country surrounding the Civil War and the symbols representing it. The City of Manassas is saddened by these events and abhors the violence happening around the country. The City does not wish to further exacerbate the situation. Consequently, Civil War Weekend, which was to be held Aug. 25-27, has been canceled for the safety of our residents, visitors and re-enactors.”

Manassas is also the site of a Stonewall Jackson monument in its National Battlefield Park. City leaders worried that may have “ignited passions,” given the recent removal of other statues of Confederacy leaders elsewhere.

However, in Huntington Beach, there are no Confederate monuments and, according to Rivers, there has been no negativism.

“We’ve had nothing but positive messages about the event,” Rivers said.

Bea Jones, a teacher with Orange County Learning Black History, said the Historical Society of Huntington Beach does a well-balanced job of presenting the Civil War in context.

“I make my students go,” she said of the annual re-enactment.

There also seems to be a little less passion about the Civil War on the West Coast.

“We are a little more removed from where the violence occurred,” Reeves said. “Maybe in California it’s like something that happened to the people back east.”

During the Civil War, California was still a young state, having been admitted as a free state in the Compromise of 1850, and far removed from the bloodshed. Mostly the state’s involvement included sending gold east to support the Union. Volunteer combat units were formed to replace regular forces in western territories of the United States, but no California regiments went to fight in the war, although volunteers went east on both sides.

In 2015, there was hesitation about flying Confederate battle flags on the field of battle in Civil War re-enactments and parades as debates raged in South Carolina and Mississippi about the flags over their state capitols. The 2015 Huntington Beach re-enactment was also staged after the killing of nine black parishioners in a South Carolina church in June by white supremacist Dylann Roof.

The Huntington Beach Civil War Days Living History Event is the largest re-enactment of the war in Southern California, according to Rivers, drawing 800 or more participants each year. The event features simulated battles between Union and Confederate troops, and a re-creation of a 1860s-era village with participants wearing period clothing and often adopting characters of the time.

Rivers said the Huntington Beach event is not about celebrating or honoring the Confederacy or any political stance.

“This is different,” he said. “This is a living history more than a memorial.”

If you go

What: 24th annual Civil War Days Living History Event

When: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 2 and 3; battles at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Central Park, 7111 Talbert Ave.

Cost: Free

Information: 714-425-2634 or hbhistory.org/civilwar