Five days’ notice was all the Warped Tour community needed to show up and show out to the “EZ-Sip Downtown Long Beach Block Party” on Feb.1.

The Vans Warped Tour partnered with the city of Long Beach to host the free outdoor entertainment event, which aimed to highlight local businesses in the community and bring awareness to Feed Our Children Now, a nonprofit organization the tour has partnered with for two decades.

Fans quickly noticed that the initial Instagram post made no mention of any performing artists. Though moderators of the Warped Tour Instagram wryly responded to the few skeptic comments with, “music is kinda what we do so I wouldn’t get worried,” it may be safe to assume that long-time supporters of the tour would have shown up for the cause regardless.

However, about fifteen minutes before the event was set to start, those subscribed to the tour’s promotional messages received a text message announcing a surprise set.

On a small stage between First Street and Third Street in the Promenade, performances by Big Ass Truck I.E., Girlfriends and Holy Wars set the scene and gave attendees a taste of all the fun to come this summer. The three bands, all of whom are native to Southern California, were announced as part of the Long Beach lineup that morning.

During his band’s performance, Girlfriends vocalist Travis Mills recalled his time growing up on the Warped Tour. A Riverside native now living in Long Beach, Mills made his debut on the tour in 2009 as a solo artist. Before going into the song “West Coast,” Mills highlighted how the Warped Tour has consistently been “the place that made him feel like he wasn’t alone.”

Throughout the five hour event, attendees crowded the stage, vendor booths and the Promenade businesses. Even with short notice and little information provided, the large turnout was a testament to the faith that the Warped Tour community has in the brand and in each other. That groundwork has been laid by the countless number of people that make the tour and its affiliated events possible each year, all of which is at the helm of Kevin Lyman.

Lyman, the founder of the Vans Warped Tour, also works as a full-time professor at the University of Southern California, teaching the Music Industry program in the Thornton School of Music. Lyman expressed his gratitude for the community that made the pop-up event a success.

“To know that we could just invite people out and they trust our judgement of giving them some good entertainment: that’s what the

Warped Tour is all about,” Lyman said. “It’s the big bands that you know and then those ones you learn about, and hearing how much people are talking about these bands and supporting them, it’s a great feeling, seeing so many people that still back us.”

The “Block Party” served as a sort of “thank you” to Long Beach, which will serve as the West Coast stop of the Warped Tour in July. Being labeled as an “EZ Sip Event” made it part of the year-long Downtown Long Beach Entertainment Zone pilot program.

The program, which was approved last year by the Long Beach City Council, allows for sanctioned areas of Long Beach to host patrons of legal drinking age to enjoy alcoholic beverages in city-permitted outdoor settings on specified days. Designed by the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, the program aims to boost the local economy by putting the focus on local businesses.

The Warped Tour, which hit its 30-year milestone last year, has sold millions of tickets in that time, and thus built a solid foundation of fans that know the punk rock festival is not only rooted in the love of music, but the importance of giving back.

Historically, the list of nonprofit organizations along for the ride of the tour has been almost as long as the bill of bands itself. This event’s focus was on Feed Our Children Now, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide food to children in need. The organization partnered with the Volunteer Center of South Bay, Harbor and Long Beach to get the donations to local food banks.

According to Pam Rima, programs coordinator for the Volunteer Center, the donation of canned goods for the day weighed in at 147 pounds. Rima noted that though the short notice did not allow people much time to coordinate larger donations, the presence of the nonprofit still served as a reminder to Warped Tour Long Beach ticketholders of their opportunity to donate this summer.

The Vans Warped Tour will make its stop in Long Beach on July 25 and 26. Following a decades-long tradition, attendees will have the opportunity to skip the entry line with the donation of three cans of food or five dollars, supporting Feed Our Children Now.