Westminster  a unique community admired for its rich heritage and diversity.  Once home to orange and lemon groves, Westminster is now home to pleasant residential neighborhoods, parks, churches and schools.  One of the most enjoyable aspects of living in Westminster is the great sense of community.  In Westminster, our community is one of genuine cooperative spirit among citizens and businesses alike in an effort to provide great education, excellent civic and recreation services, cultural programs, and a better business climate with strong economic development.  Westminster attracts perhaps the greatest Asian population any place in the United States.  A visit to Westminster's Little Saigon  is a trip to another land.  The Asian Gardens Mall is one of several shopping venues that offers an array of Asian foods, clothes and an abundance of jewelry.  Only 7 miles from sandy beaches of Huntington Beach, a short distance form Disneyland , Knotts Berry Farm , great sporting events like the Angels baseball team  and Anaheim Ducks hockey team , great  cultural destination a stones throw away in Santa Ana and with the local ski slopes less than a two-hour drive, Westminster is in a great spot to take advantage of everything great in southern California.

For shopping and dining, Little Saigon is a major tourist attraction representing the largest concentration of shopping and Vietnamese cultural amenities in the world outside Vietnam.  With the influence of Saigon, Cambodia, Thailand and Korea, the area offers foods, spices and clothes plus services such as catering, tailoring, wedding planning, and photography. Popular Little Saigon attractions include the Asian Garden Mall , a 150,000 square foot shopping place of ethnic boutiques, shops, cafes and the largest gold jewelry mart under one roof in the United States. The Asian Garden Mall is located in the heart of Little Saigon and its Asian-style facade alone is a site worth seeing.  The life-size Happy Buddha in front of the entrance is accompanied by marble images for fortune, longevity and prosperity.  After shopping, take a break and sip some sugarcane drink or try a papaya salad.   Westminster definitely has great shopping destinations for all tastes.   South Coast Plaza  is within minutes and offers great upscale and boutique shopping.  Our local Westminster Mall  with over 185 stores, featuring large department stores such as Robinson-May and JC Penney, is one of the most popular shopping locations in the region.  For great community theatre, try the Westminster Community Theatre . This is the only live theater in the city with more than 180 plays presented there over the past 38 years, and with a little something for everyone, the season includes musicals, murder mysteries, dramas and comedies.

Westminster has great community events  of every kind and folks who live here enjoy the range and diversity.  A popular and not to be missed happening is the Tet New Year Celebration .  The streets of Little Saigon come alive with the celebration of "Tet," the Vietnamese celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year with many festivals and a parade.  For this event, Little Saigon is cloaked in the good luck colors of red and yellow.  If you've not seen a Chinese New Year celebration, it is a real treat and is one of the most colorful and lively events you can experience in Westminster.  For a festival of another color, the Brothers of St. Patrick host the annual Saint Patricks Family Festival where green is all the rage.  This celebration of Irish culture is the largest of its kind in Southern California. The daylong event begins with a mass followed by Irish football and hurling. There is Irish food along with traditional music and dancing.  To celebrate Independence Day, hundreds of spectators gather together for the annual Fourth of July Fireworks to enjoy colorful explosions bursting below a starry night.   Continuing with the theme of celebration, for three days families gather for the Blessed Sacrament Parish annual festival.  Rides fill the church lot, along with mini raffles, a grand raffle, a country store filled with donated goods for as little as 25 cents, a grand beer garden, along with Vietnamese and Spanish food stands representing the diversity of this old city.  The city also hosts the Holiday Happening Craft Faire every year, attracting thousands of shoppers looking for one-of-a-kind gifts and decorations, all handmade and just in time for the holidays.  In the summer, the greens of the Civic Center play host to free concerts with musical groups ranging from pop, jazz and blues to country western. 

Orange County is great place for business.  Incredibly business friendly and with an unemployment rate well below the national average, there are great opportunities in every field.  Westminster enjoys unique benefits from the cultural business areas of Little Saigon, which is a great shopping district in its own right, but also brings many tourists to this area.  The roughly three-square mile area is the home of more than 3500 Vietnamese-American businesses making Little Saigon an important engine for Westminster's economy.  Employment opportunities abound with at national retail companies.

With a supportive community of students, parents, teachers and local businesses, the Westminster School District  offers one of the best ways to get your child off to a great start, and that is good news for parents.  The schools in Westminster are first-rate.  High achievement for all Westminster School District students is top priority in our schools.  We are proud of our California Distinguished Schools, our Title I Achieving Schools, as well as recognitions like School Principal of the Year and School Superintendent of the Year.   In Westminster, students are empowered to become lifelong learners.  In addition, through the Middle School Enhancement Program, there are great opportunities for students to enjoy a variety of after-school activities including campus clubs, intramural sports and homework assistance on their own campus.

In Westminster we enjoy twenty-four community parks with a range of amenities for everyone. Recently renovated, the parks offer a great way to enjoy the outdoors with everything from picnic areas, baseball fields, basketball courts, and playground equipment.  Westminsters first skateboard park  is located at Liberty Park, designed to be an "entry level" park, its a great spot for beginners.  The park gives our young people an opportunity to pursue skateboarding in a safe environment. Westminster offers a wide variety of recreation programs, with the art and aquatics courses among the biggest draws in addition to the youth sports programs.  The programs are great at teaching basic fundamentals while emphasizing teamwork, participation and sportsmanship. Kids can take part in basketball, soccer, softball, T-ball and flag football.  For the big kids, there is adult softball, which utilizes the services of Major League Softball.  Westminster offers adult fast-pitch and slo-pitch softball throughout the year, and players are offered up-to-the-minute statistics, league leaders and standing information with professional umpiring and scorekeeping at each game.  For swimmers and water lovers, Westminster offers swimming pools and lessons throughout the city.  For a slower pace and beautiful botanicals, a stroll through the All American Rose Garden provides a gorgeous way to spend the day.

With its strong roots in culture and diversity, Westminster offers the best of southern California with a worldly perspective.  Westminster combines all the facets that make life wonderful, good schools, safe neighborhoods and a healthy sense of community.