Locals Say It Started on a Cowboy Whim : Festival: What may have been a casual picnic has grown into Conejo Valley Days, an annual event that begins today and celebrates the West.

It started on a whim about 45 years ago. It was nothing more than a picnic organized over a few beers in a Thousand Oaks bar by a couple of bored cowboys--or at least that’s what some locals believe.

But, over the years, Conejo Valley Days has become an extravaganza, complete with a rodeo, a parade, carnival rides, a country fair and an old-fashioned barbecue.

The annual event, the largest of its kind in eastern Ventura County, will kick off at 5 p.m. today in Conejo Creek Park on Janss Road east of the Moorpark Freeway.

About 100,000 people from Orange County to Santa Barbara are expected to attend the five-day fete that commemorates the area’s Western heritage.

“It’s a slice of Americana,” said Doc Needham, a member of the event’s executive committee. “And it’s a gathering of old friends.”

No one is really sure when the event started, but it might have been in the mid-1940s.

According to Needham’s wife, Beth, a member of the Conejo Valley Historical Society, the festival started after a group of cowboys was “sitting about saying, ‘This town is so quiet, let’s have some fun.’ ”

Over the years, the event, usually held in spring or early summer, has been called different things--Mayor’s Days, Conejo Days and Mardi Gras and Whiskeroo Days.

When the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce took over the event in the 1950s, it was dubbed Conejo Valley Days, a name that stuck.

John Gore, an event chairman, said the festival is almost entirely run by volunteers. And all the event’s proceeds--expected to be about $50,000 after expenses--are donated to local charities and community organizations.

“If we didn’t have this, the community would suffer,” Gore said. “For some of these groups, it’s their only fund-raiser.”

One of the more popular fund-raisers at the festival is the Western Pit Barbecue, sponsored by the Methodist Men’s Fellowship Club.

But the barbecue also has a controversial past.

About 30 years ago, the barbecue was sponsored by the Conejo Volunteer Fire Department, said Bruce Oxford, one of the organizers of this year’s barbecue. But one fateful day at the picnic, the volunteer firefighters became, well, a little drunk and neglected the meat being barbecued, which burned.

From the next year on, the Methodist group has sponsored the barbecue, Oxford said.

“Hey, we stay sober,” Oxford quipped.

And there are other gaffes associated with Conejo Valley Days.

Back in the early days, when the Jungleland animal theme park was still open, event organizers put the proceeds from the festival in a lion’s cage, Beth Needham said.

“I guess they thought it would be safe there,” she said.

But when they returned after having beers, the money was gone, Beth Needham said. To this day, no one knows who had the nerve to take it.

About 10 years ago, chairmen were red-faced when someone misspelled the name of the valley on the official souvenir patch, Beth Needham said.

“Conjeo” was written on the patch instead of “Conejo.”

“Boy, did that get a lot of attention,” she said.

The event has had other troubles too.

In 1968, it was scaled down and postponed a week when Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) was assassinated.

And several years ago, the festival was nearly rained out. But people still showed up for the parade, which is popular no matter what the weather.

About 10,000 people are expected to attend Saturday’s parade, which is scheduled to have about 200 entries. It starts at 9 a.m. on Thousand Oaks Boulevard at Auburn Court. Ray (Boom Boom) Carafelli was selected as grand marshal because he raised the most money--about $26,000--for charity.

Admission into the festival grounds costs $2.50 for adults, $2 for children and senior citizens and $1 for children ages 7 to 12. Youngsters 6 and under will be admitted free.