History buffs will not get a chance to participate in Pierce College’s Heritage Days this semester because the college’s president cancelled the Civil War re-enactment in response to neighbors’ complaints.
The re-enactment was the only one of its kind in LA County.
“Ultimately, I had to make the decision, and I made the decision to cancel,” Kathleen Burke-Kelly, the Pierce’s president, said.
The event draws in a large crowd from the community and features real cannon’s fire, creating significant levels of noise around the area.
Pierce’s Farm Center has hosted this two-day event, which for the last three years.
Heritage Days has attracted over 400 participants to take part in the recreation of the Battle of Gettysburg. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle.
Ed Mann, an organizer of event for Pierce and also participates, declined to comment, telling the Roundup in an email that he was asked to “stand down by the person at the Farm Center.”
Mann did, however, give a statement in a video by ABC7.
“A lot of people are going suffer for it. Not just the re-enactors, but all the several thousand people that have come in the last three years,” he said in the video. “This is the only event that would have occurred in the Los Angeles County, and now it’s gone down the drain.”
The cancellation has sparked protests by past participants and spectators, some of which have posted comments on media outlets’ stories covering the termination of Heritage Days.
Some comments express irritation with the nearby residents who voiced their complaints, as well as with Burke-Kelly for her decision.
The Civil War Alliance will be hosting a Civil War re-enactment in Vista, Calif. on March 9-10. Information can be found at civilwaralliance.com.