Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific long has paid homage to the cultures of the Pacific Ocean with weekend festivals, and will start the 2022 series this weekend, Sept. 17-18, with the 18th Moompetam American Indian Festival.
Participants will include members of the Tongva, Chumash, Acjachemen, Costanoan, Luiseno and Kumeyaay tribes. There will be dance and music performances, and displays and demonstrations of cultural materials, such as basketry, items of adornment and artifacts.
As part of the festival, aquarium officials will present the Heritage Award to Cindi Alvitre, an American Indian studies professor at Cal State Long Beach. She also serves as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act coordinator there.
A descendant of the Tongva, Alvitre was the first woman chair of the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council. She also cofounded the Ti’at Society, which focuses on the maritime culture of the Tongva. The awards ceremony will be at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Honda Pacific Visions Theater.
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The Baja Splash Cultural festival will follow on the weekend of Sept. 24 and 25 during National Hispanic Heritage Month. That festival, the 21st iteration, celebrates cultures bordering the Pacific from Mexico to South America. Southeast Asia Day is on Oct. 1.
Festival attendance is included with general admission: $36.95 for adults, $26.95 for children, free for aquarium members. Reservations are required. For more information, go to aquariumofpacific.org.