It\u2019s been a Fourth of July tradition in Ocean Beach since the 1980s. But many Obecians are saying they have finally had enough after last month\u2019s appalling mess involving too many marshmallows and too many revelers with too little judgment who were too eager to skip out without cleaning up.
\nThat was the clear consensus of the more than 60 concerned citizens who gathered at the Point Loma Masonic Lodge recently in search of a solution to the increasingly infamous Marshmallow Wars.
\nThe tradition, which reportedly first took place in a small area between two fire pits on the sand, has spread to include the entire beach from the Ocean Beach Pier to Dog Beach and even beyond. A resident from Orchard Street, several blocks south of Newport Avenue, reported the street was covered.
\nThe ugly, cruddy goo left behind and documented by nearly every local media outlet had made Ocean Beach so notorious that, in the judgment of one observer, it took the controversy surrounding the scandal-plagued mayor to divert attention.
\n“Other than Bob Filner, we were the story,” said Dave Cieslak, a board member of the Ocean Beach Town Council, which hosted the town hall-style discussion during its July 28 meeting.
\nSome speakers said the tradition should be done with forever. Others said the event, which has never been officially sponsored nor organized, can be redeemed by setting up formal boundaries or taking steps to reduce some of the hype that attracts so many marshmallow chuckers from outside the community.
\nBut even defenders of the marshmallow wars said they\u2019re surprised at how out-of-control things have gotten.
\n“You can\u2019t take it away from the children. They view it as Christmas,” said Shauna Aken, who described herself as a long-time resident who invites friends over from other communities to enjoy the scene.
\nBut Aken added her group was pelted by indoor patrons as they walked along Abbott Street at Santa Monica Avenue. “They were flying out of the bars,” she said.
\nFrank Gormlie, editor of obrag.org, also wanted to continue the tradition \u2014 but with structure. He presented an idea partly inspired by La Tomatina, a tomato-throwing tradition in Spain, and the Battle of the Oranges in Italy.
\nHe suggested putting up a “marshmallow arena” to contain participants in well-defined boundaries on the sand. The event would last exactly one hour, which would begin and end with the sound of a starter pistol.
\nHis plan called for placing a limit on the number of participants and charging fees to pay for cleanup costs. Participants would have to wear bathing suits so they couldn\u2019t smuggle in marshmallow guns, and spectators could watch from behind nets in temporary bleachers.
\n“Keep it, but keep it safe,” Gormlie said.
\nLocal jeweler Gary Gilmore called for launching an aggressive publicity campaign with the theme, “Keep it on the sand,” to encourage voluntary restraint.
\nHe suggested using traditional and social media to promote a more family-friendly fight and discourage the use of launching devices or altering ammunition by freezing or lighting marshmallows \u2014 practices that have reportedly become more common in recent years.
\nThe “Keep it on the sand” message could be reinforced throughout the day over the lifeguard loudspeaker, along with reminders to “keep it clean” and hold fire until after the fireworks, Gilmore said.
\nCraig Klein also wanted a publicity campaign \u2014 but to end the event.
\nKlein said he is no longer a “fun-loving and willing participant” because the event has been hijacked by people “who think it\u2019s a free-for-all that\u2019s been sanctioned and they can come down and trash our town.
\n“Ocean Beach residents should just say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re not going to play anymore,\u2019 ” Klein said. “We should stop promoting it \u2026 and let this thing die a natural death.”
\nBoard member Steve Grosch, whose family was among the original participants, agreed.
\n“It used to be a blast, but now it\u2019s dangerous,” Grosch said. “I originally favored \u2018Keep it on the sand,\u2019 but I just don\u2019t think that makes a strong enough statement. I think we need an all-out campaign to move it out of here.”
\nSeveral speakers complained of the complicity of local business owners, charging they may be fueling excessive enthusiasm by hawking T-shirts, marshmallows, and guns and slingshots. Board president Dave Martin, who also serves on the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, said he would lobby that board to address the merchants that profit from the marshmallow war.
\n“If we\u2019re going to get serious about this, we have to work as a team,” Martin said.
\nHe encouraged interested citizens to participate in an OB Marshmallow War poll\/survey on the group\u2019s Facebook page. Results will be announced at the Aug. 28 meeting, he said.
\nPolice Capt. Andy Mills said law enforcement would support whatever solution the community comes up with. He also noted Del Mar has had some success controlling crowd impacts by limiting parking and to-go alcohol sales on the Fourth of July.
\nBut don\u2019t expect police to engage in foot pursuits into a crowd, except in extraordinary cases, Mills said in response to a question.
\n“If we get in the middle of that mix, we become the object,” he said.
\n“This has taken on a life of its own. The police department can\u2019t control everything,” Lt. Natalie Stone said. “Our hope is the community can come up with a solution that we all can support and be proud of.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a Fourth of July tradition in Ocean Beach since the 1980s. But many Obecians are saying they have finally had enough after last month\u2019s appalling mess involving too many marshmallows and too many revelers with too little judgment who were too eager to skip out without cleaning up. That was the clear consensus […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":273284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Obecians vent frustrations about Marshmallow Wars","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}