OCEANSIDE — For the third straight year, a local shopping center is honoring members of the military and their families with a day of fun at Mission Marketplace’s Military Appreciation Day from noon to 5 p.m June 18.

Located at the back door of Camp Pendleton, at the corner of College Boulevard and Highway 76, the shopping center’s 6,000-square-foot parking lot will be filled with carnival rides, games and food.

All rides are free for military personnel and their families with valid ID.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to give something back,” said Ryan Williams, promotional director for the shopping center’s managing company, NewMark Merrill Companies LLC. Williams said that NewMark operates more than 50 shopping centers throughout Southern California, but Mission Marketplace is the only one to hold such an event. He credits the center’s strong military connection to its location to Camp Pendleton, whose Marines provide business to several of Mission Marketplace’s 50 merchants.

Many of those stores will be featuring special military discounts, such as Roundtable Pizza, which will be selling $1 slices of pizza.

Teaming up with NewMark is Operation Interdependence, which will be collecting food and supplies to be sent to troops stationed abroad and to their families in the United States.

Albert Renteria, president and founder of Operation Interdependence, said the organization will accept everything, from thank you letters to food, but it is especially focused on the basic necessities that are sometimes taken for granted, such as toothpaste, deodorant and soap.

Operation Interdependence has been sending care packages to military members and their families since its inception in December 2001. Last year it sent 400,000 packages, 40 percent of which went to families living in the United States.

Renteria said that the family members left behind are sometimes in just as tough a situation as the loved one fighting overseas.

With the recent return of many Camp Pendleton Marines, Renteria called the carnival a sort of homecoming, where he and other supporters will have a chance to meet some of the men and women they have sent supplies to.

The organization provided music, a vintage car display and special ribbon-cutting ceremony June 15. The carnival was set for June 16 to 18, but military discounts are limited to June 18.

Williams said he expects more than 2,000 people to attend Military Appreciation Day, which includes some of Camp Pendleton’s highest ranking officials.