MOORPARK : 7,000 Expected for Chamber Fete

About 7,000 visitors are expected to converge Saturday on downtown Moorpark for the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Country Days celebration.

The event will include a daylong street fair, parade, concert and other special events.

Among the scheduled activities are a 7 a.m. pancake breakfast at Chaparral Middle School, a 9:30 a.m. parade from Poindexter Avenue to High Street and a downtown street fair on High Street from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., said Bill McMahon, a vice president of the chamber and acting chairman of the Country Days committee.

Corporate sponsors and local businesses will assume most of the estimated $12,000 cost of staging the event, McMahon said.

The city has pledged $4,000 toward the celebration, which is intended as a chamber fund-raiser and last year earned $4,500.

The celebration actually began last weekend with a barn dance and a men’s slow-pitch softball tournament.

Country Days will end Sunday after a 6 a.m. 5K, 10K and one-mile walk/run and a 3 p.m. concert at Moorpark High School.

“It’s an event that everybody in the city looks forward to,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

“We’re all excited to get out on High Street and see the parade and get to congregate. It’s really a nice, family oriented event that brings the community together.”

Because of the lingering recession and concerns over costs, organizers this year decided to stage one all-day fair on High Street instead of the three-day carnival held last year on the athletic fields of the former high school on Casey Road.

Last year, the event attracted about 10,000 over the three days, officials said.