San Clemente’s famous July 4th office chair race banned – NBC Los Angeles

Starting this year, San Clemente will no longer ring in Independence Day by racing down the neighborhood’s steep streets in makeshift cars and office chairs.

The popular tradition, which began in 2005 with a small group of friends, was recently deemed unsafe by the city, despite attracting thousands of spectators over the years.

The city said last year’s event attracted over 7,000 people, more than half of whom came from out of town.

For many, the end of the annual tradition is a disappointment.

“We’ve been looking forward to this all year. We’re all in college most of the year, so we look forward to this moment,” said Benjamin Mix, a San Clemente resident. “It really brings our summer together and we hang out together every single day.”

“Definitely pretty depressed,” said Noa Serpa, another resident. “We were planning to start building our new sand castle.”

At last year’s race, Mix and Serpa constructed a vehicle called the Freedom Crib out of a crib they found on the street. People cheered and threw water balloons at them as they raced down the hill.

This incident, however, was the last straw. San Clemente city authorities said the neighborhood was left in chaos: several injuries were reported, burst balloons were strewn across the street and urine was scattered in people’s gardens.

“Someone was hit by a frozen water balloon. We also had an injured person on the road and our firefighters were unable to respond without also being hit by water balloons,” said Samantha Wiley, director of the Department of Beaches, Parks and Recreation.

The city plans to replace the race with a family-friendly event called “Stars, Stripes & Slip ‘N Slides,” which will feature live music, food, a 300-foot San Clemente Slip ‘N Slide (for ages 8 and up) and a 17-foot water slide (for ages 2 and up).

A sanctioned race for the office chair could be reinstated, Wylie said, but it would have to be conducted through proper city channels and with all safety precautions in place.