Long Beach Mud Mania

$5-7, all attendees need a ticket to gain admission to this event

4600 Virginia Road, Long Beach, CA

call (562) 570-1755

rancholoscerritos.org

Adobe is one of the oldest and most common building materials known to man. Traditionally sun-dried, adobe blocks are made of sand, clay, water and straw and were used to construct the home at Rancho Los Cerritos -- built 168 years ago in 1844. Adobe brickmaking was used in Spain starting from the eighth century B.C onward, and was introduced in California and the Southwest by the Spanish.

Celebrate adobe, learn about its properties, and have fun with it at an event in Long Beach, Calif., where you are invited to squish some history between your toes at Mud Mania. Guests make real adobe bricks, plaster a wall with mud, construct a mini-adobe home, compete in mud relay races, and learn about our local adobe soil and its many uses throughout history.

At Mud Mania, guests young and old can squish and stomp mud in the adobe pit, where they will learn all about building homes with adobe bricks. Digging through the adobe soil in our archaeology lab, they can uncover lost treasures from bygone years -- fragments of kitchen pottery, metal cutlery and even bone from the cattle and sheep that once grazed on the 27,000 acre Rancho.

Participants will also have an opportunity to see and touch different insects that live in the soil, make a clay pot, and play mud-related games. For those who prefer to stay neat and tidy, Mud Mania offers plenty of clean activities including cuneiform writing on clay tablets, Mud Mania trivia, and paper crafts.

Also, The Grasslands Bluegrass Band will be performing lively bluegrass music throughout the event, and light refreshments will be available for purchase. For Mud Mania, park in the overflow lot across from our entrance or on the street; carpooling is desirable.

No more than six children per adult, please. Shoes are required, except in the mud pit, and guests are encouraged to wear old clothes and bring a towel plus a change of attire for the ride home.

De-mudding stations will also be available for limited clean up but there are no showers.

Today Rancho Los Cerritos is one of the few remaining two-story adobes in Southern California and is normally open Wednesday-Sunday between 1-5 p.m. for free tours; however, the house will be closed on August 19 due to the muddiness of the event. Mud Mania is supported by Friends of Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site, Long Beach Parks, Recreation & Marine.

ATTRACTION: Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is one of the nation's premier ocean aquariums. Don't stand in line and wait! Get your tickets here!

The Rancho is located at 4600 Virginia Road in Long Beach, northwest of the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and San Antonio Drive.

Events are not guaranteed. It is your responsibility to confirm before going.