OXNARD : Contest Entrants Turn Eggs Into Art

Adrian Coronado has probably had egg on his face before, but Thursday was the first time that the Oxnard man had his face on an egg.

His bespectacled countenance, sketched on an egg with a black marker, was among the 16 entries in an egg-decorating contest at the Oxnard Farmers’ Market.

His artwork didn’t win, but his sister, Sassy Coronado, took the adult division of the contest. With meticulous care, she had painted a colorful assortment of fruit on her egg.

Had it not been for Sassy Coronado, the contest would have been half its size. She urged all her relatives to enter, and at least 10 of them--adults and children--answered the call.

“I told my mother yesterday, ‘I’m going to win this for you,’ ” she said after taking first place. Her mother, Evangeline Coronado, 61, is blind.

Sassy Coronado, a correctional officer for the California Youth Authority, used plastic paint that makes it easier for her mother to feel the design.

For her efforts, she won a bag of goodies--an apron, flowers, avocados, oranges, nuts and, yes, a dozen eggs.

The winner of the children’s division of the contest was Brande Ventura, 10, of Port Hueneme. Her entry was a pinkish, purplish Humpty Dumpty with curly eyelashes, a bow on the top and legs made of folded paper.

All other egg contestants were, well, runners-up. Janette Coronado, 12, picked a Winnie the Pooh theme with the bear and his honey pot. Desire Ventura’s egg, resting in a basket with dried flowers, was painted to look like a watermelon with a wedge cut out.

As the judging went on, a dozen or so small children crowded around the display of eggs and couldn’t resist touching them.

“We had one casualty,” said Ruth Bernstein, manager of the market and coordinator of the contest.