Small in Their Boots : Marchers Are Little and the Pace Slow at Conejo Valley Days Children’s Parade

This year, 5-year-old Sean Murphree played it safe.

While 300 other kids strutted down Auto Mall Drive in the 27th annual Conejo Valley Days Children’s Parade, the blond kindergartner in wire-rimmed glasses cozied up to his mom on a grassy hill.

After his participation last year ended in semi-disaster--the wood frame decorating his bike splintered when he hit a bump--Sean chose to watch the Saturday morning festivities from a distance.

But the solemn-faced boy couldn’t resist showing his Conejo Valley Days spirit: over his baggy blue sweat pants, Sean wore a shiny pair of black-and-red cowboy boots.

He had plenty of company.

Pint-sized holsters, blue jeans and bandannas dotted the crowd and plastered the Thousand Oaks parade course as children from toddlers to teen-agers marched past the backdrop of the Ventura Freeway, dressed to suit the theme “Western Styles and Country Smiles.”

“This day is a great example of the enthusiasm that’s at the heart of the Conejo,” Thousand Oaks Mayor Judy Lazar said, pausing before she began tallying points in the best-costume contest.

The children’s parade marked the midpoint of Conejo Valley Days, an annual festival that began with a picnic March 2 and kicks into high gear late this month with a carnival and rodeo. For many, the parade is a cherished tradition.

“This parade is the best way to experience the Conejo Valley because you get to experience the people instead of just an event,” said longtime Thousand Oaks resident Tom Hollow, whose troupe of 17 “Conejo Cowgirls” and prancing cardboard steed won first prize for a presentation that best fit the event’s theme.

“The kids are just the best--they’re so pure and innocent and they enjoy this so much,” Hollow said. “And we get to be proud parents, so it’s fun for us too.”

Despite overcast skies and a chilly breeze, scores of spectators turned out for the hourlong event, fastening colorful balloons to strollers and plopping cowboy hats on infants’ bald heads. A few brought Walkmans to tune into the news from Los Angeles, but most said they were glad to stay away from the city in the hours after the verdicts were announced in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial.

“This is real homey,” said Sheryl Scott, settling in with her 3-year-old daughter to watch the last stragglers.

Scared or shy or just plain bored, a few junior onlookers refused to wave at the Cub Scouts, junior equestrians and tiny tot queens who marched proudly down the parade route.

“The police car at the beginning scared her,” Andy Bade said as his toddler buried her head in his neck. “I don’t think she really understands what’s going on.”

Others, however, couldn’t tear their eyes away.

Abandoning his apple juice drink box, 5-year-old Carl Hinds jumped up and down excitedly as the first marchers passed. His younger sister, 3-year-old Sara, seemed equally delighted by the vision of her peers wearing tiny denim jumpers and red bandannas.

“The best thing about the parade is that kids can get involved and feel special and you don’t have to pay a lot of money for it,” said their father, Robert Hinds.

“Look at that girl, for example,” he added, pointing to a blond preschooler wobbling on her bike down the course. “It’s not much of a float, but there she is, in a parade, and she’s probably having the time of her life.”

Decked out in fringed suede coats, dragging bucking hobby-horses or riding pink tricycles festooned with crepe paper, participants took the theme to heart. Pausing in front of the reviewing stand, one troop of Boy Scouts began howling like wolves, keeping remarkably straight faces as the judges cracked up.

Individual winners for best costume spanned the ages, from 22-month-old Jesse Kyle Israilson, who struggled to pull a wagon as he toddled down the course, to 12-year-old Ryan Seymour, who rode a tan horse and waved his black cowboy hat. A group of a dozen preteens in vibrant yellow dresses won another top prize for their song-and-dance routine touting themselves as the “Sunshine Generation.”

The meandering pace made a few spectators antsy, but most parents said they were thrilled to find a mellow alternative to the noisy, hyped-up parade that ushers in the carnival and rodeo.

“The kids relate to this a lot better,” Shari Sullivan said.

Her husband, Greg, agreed that their two children seemed to love the roving clown, costumes and free cookies. But he admitted enjoying the morning on Auto Mall Drive for quite a different reason.

“Actually, I didn’t see much of the parade because I was busy looking at cars,” he confessed. “I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone?”