Kids Fishing Rodeo, Boat Races And Cajun Festival On Sea Festival's Calendar

August arrives on the Long Beach Sea Festival calendar with a pair of fun events taking place the first weekend to kick off another fun and busy summer month.

It starts with a highlight event for the area's children, a Kid's Fishing Rodeo on Friday, Aug. 2. This marks the 59th year for this event, which involves more than 800 kids receiving free fishing lesions from the Southern California Tuna Club. It takes place on the Belmont Pier from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., and it's open to all Long Beach-are residents, 16 and under.

The poles and bait are provided and there are also fishing-related booths and prizes awarded in several categories.

When the weekend arrives, the Sea Festival has two events, a fast one and a tasty one.

The fast one is the Lucas Oil Sprint Nationals, a two-day event of "circle boats" in a series of races at Marine Stadium. The event features 19 classes of the fastest flat bottom, V-Bottom, Jet Boats and PWC from around the USA competing for titles and prize money.

There's concessions, a beer garden and merchandise for sale. The event runs Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The cost is $15.

The weekend also marks the return of the Long Beach Crawfish Festival, a two-day event with two stages of Zydeco bands, Cajun flavor all around and, of course, about all the crawfish you can handle.

It goes from noon-11 p.m., on Saturday, and noon-10 p.m., on Sunday. Admission is $15 at the gate.