VENTURA : Holiday Street Fair Held on Main Street

Artists and merchants set up booths along Main Street in downtown Ventura on Sunday, selling everything from candy canes to kites during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

Police projected that about 40,000 people would turn out for the semi-annual street fair, but released no crowd estimates on Sunday. The fair came off without incident, police said.

Michelle DeCant, who spent much of the afternoon at the event, said she drove from Santa Barbara to bargain hunt for Christmas gifts.

“This has blown me away,” said DeCant, clutching a plastic bag filled with earings, knickknacks and other small gifts. “I’m trying not to buy for myself.”

But Judy Walters of Ventura said she went to the fair just to browse. “I like to make my own presents,” she said. “I came here to get ideas.”