Concerts Debut Before Strawberry Festival

Eight-year-old Alyssa Reid had everything she needed but a writing pen.

A rolled-up California Strawberry Festival program at her feet and a grilled corn on the cob in her fist, she was scouring her mother’s purse as the band took to the stage.

“This is her first concert, so she’s really excited,” explained Alyssa’s mother, Michelle Reid, a sales manager from Camarillo. “She wants somebody’s autograph, anybody’s autograph.”

The mother and daughter were among the hundreds of people who turned out Sunday on a balmy Mother’s Day for Country in the Meadows, the concert series prelude to the California Strawberry Festival in Oxnard.

“The weather’s nice, I get to come out and get a tan, hear good music and be with my daughter,” said Reid, soaking up sunshine to the tunes of Shenandoah. “It’s a really good setup.”

The 10th annual California Strawberry Festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday at College Park, is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the 20-acre site next weekend. But this past weekend it was the music--not the plump and tangy fruit--that drew the ovations.

Music lovers on Sunday were treated to the talents of the Charlie Daniels Band, Shenandoah, Robert Earl Keen and Steve Hill on the second day of the inaugural concert series that organizers predict will become as much a fixture as the festival itself.

“It’s our 10th anniversary, so we wanted to do something a little different than usual,” said Strawberry Festival committee member Don De Armond. “We decided to host two concerts and start utilizing this amphitheater a little more.”

On Saturday, Los Angeles-based Los Lobos joined Etta James, Mitch Woods and Rosie Flores for an afternoon of live performances.

“It’s a good way to extend the Strawberry Festival another 10 years and put this amphitheater to good use,” said Bill Garlock, festival manager and concert producer.

“It’s probably one of the most affordable family entertainment values in the country,” he added. “For $5, you can listen to good music, buy arts and crafts and enjoy the fruits of the Oxnard plains.”

Garlock, completing his seventh year as festival manager, spends months preparing for the two-day event that celebrates strawberries but also raises tens of thousands of dollars for local nonprofit groups.

“People talk a lot about private- and public-sector cooperation, and this is a good example of that,” he said of the city-sponsored festival.

But Rick Herron of Simi Valley wasn’t much interested in government and business relations. He just came for the music.

“We’ve been working all week, so we came out to hear country music,” the loan officer said. “Our mothers are out of town, so we came out here to spend some time with some close friends and have a good holiday.”

The California Strawberry Festival starts at 10 a.m. Saturday with more than 200 booths, including arts and crafts, a petting zoo and face-painting for children, food and live music with the Spinners, Brewer & Shipley, Koko Taylor and others.