Festival Aims to Appeal to a Spectrum of Tastes

Kids can’t stomach the roller coaster? Maybe they’d rather enter a coloring contest. Air too chilly for the Ferris wheel? Try an indoor story hour. Rodeo too rough and rowdy? How about an exhibit of children’s photographs?

When the 30th annual Conejo Valley Days festival opens tonight, organizers hope to provide something for every taste.

The strong-stomached can down cotton candy and hot dogs and then swirl through the twilight on dozens of gut-testing rides.

Those less enamored of dizzying twists can browse through the two big-top tents, picking through children’s clothes, golf clubs and other paraphernalia from local stores.

And those eager to indulge in nostalgia about Thousand Oaks’ bygone small-town days can swap memories at the Badgeroo Contest. Longtime residents will show off their Conejo Valley Days buttons from years past and trace the history of the event from the first low-key community circus to the current, five-day extravaganza.

While a few leftover showers may sprinkle the fairgrounds this morning, by the 5 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony “things should be all cleared out,” National Weather Service forecaster Dave Gomberg said.

Temperatures should hover just above 50 degrees tonight, and the weather should steadily improve through the weekend, Gomberg said.

Conejo Valley Days volunteers are hoping that the cheery forecast will draw big crowds on opening night. But in case the weather isn’t enough, they’ve come up with a gimmick: a Family Night pass that allows youngsters to romp through all the Kiddy Land rides for just $5.

To prepare for tonight’s festivities, volunteers, vendors and carnival operators spent a hectic Tuesday afternoon setting up their booths and rides on the damp field.

“There’s a lot of hustle and bustle out there,” Jennifer Cummings, the event coordinator, said from her command post inside the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. “Everything’s on schedule.”

The carnival’s first event, the annual Badgeroo Contest, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the outdoor stage. Contestants will try to outshine one another with creative displays of buttons from Conejo Valley Days past.

One recent winner pinned them to a miniature covered wagon, event coordinator Jim Nelson recalled, but most stick the buttons to hats, vests and dungarees. “It’s a madhouse,” Nelson said.

Even more crazy than the contestants: the price tags on some of the old Conejo Valley Day badges. The rarest button, a tin star that folded over a vest pocket, commemorates the 1966 fair and goes for $400.

“I lost mine on the Ferris Wheel” three decades ago, Nelson said ruefully. “I didn’t know then how valuable they would be.”

While Badgeroo Contest focuses on tradition, this year’s Conejo Valley Days will also feature several new events, most notably the Conservation Corner in the children’s tent.

To celebrate Earth Day, which officially was April 22, the city and a local environmental group have arranged for mascots like Sierra the Bear and Tammy the Recycling Eagle to teach children about conservation.

The Trash Monster, a gruesome creature created from unrecycled junk, will also make a guest appearance.

“The kids will go to the rides and then they’ll go through the children’s tent,” predicted Grahame Watts, the city’s recycling coordinator.