The Huntington Beach Historical Society hosts a Labor Day Weekend Civil War Re-enactment each year in Central Park in HB. The event includes for gun battles (each different) with strategies, canon fire, and some losses (pretend).

There are vendor booths selling collectible and and Civil War related items, food vendors, musical entertainment and a church service on Sunday morning.

The public can attend this free events, one of the best Civil War reenactments in California, thanks to the weather and no admission fee, and enjoy spectacular costumes, enthusiastic participants and an eerie feeling that you've been here before. Maybe you have. The event has been going on for over 10 years so you may have attended it and experienced the effects of feeling as if you stepped into a time warp.

Characters such as President Abraham Lincoln attend the event and recite the Emancipation Proclamation, wowing kids and adults with costumery and recitation.

It is better than any history class you can take or a good adjunct to one in that the living history provides a real sensory experience as to what the war must have involved in affecting families, babies, parents, and the U.S. in forming itself into one encompassing country that exists today.

When: Labor Day Weekend

Where: 7111 Talbert Ave. (behind the public Central Library), Huntington Beach, CA

Cost: Free

Time: Saturday & Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.