Conejo Valley Days Opens With a Shiver : Thousand Oaks: Hundreds turn out on first day of carnival despite the cold. Many remain upbeat despite the weather forecast for weekend.

On the opening night of the Conejo Valley Days carnival, 16-year-old Katie Petrick sat shivering on the platform of the dunking booth.

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Wearing only a bathing suit in the 50-degree chill, Petrick and a half-dozen other Newbury Park High School cheerleaders worked harder to maintain their smiles than they ever did at a losing football game.

“We’re freezing to death, but we’re still having fun,” Petrick said after being dunked. “This is what Conejo Valley Days is all about.”

That may be true this year, as hundreds showed up Wednesday night for the first day of the five-day country-Western festival despite the cold and the thick cover of black clouds.

And, while weekend forecasts include the chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday, everyone from the grand marshal to a sandal saleswoman tried to remain upbeat.

“Everybody has done so much work and made this place look so great, I just think it’s going to be terrific,” said Maria Prescott, this year’s grand marshal. “Rain can’t kill the spirit here.”

Late Wednesday, volunteers hammered the final spikes and turned the last few screws, and Conejo Valley Days officials cut the ceremonial ribbon to open the carnival.

Two shimmering white tents, hundreds of booths and rides, and an 86-foot-tall brightly lit “skywheel” filled the grass lot at the Moorpark Freeway and Janss Road.

Over the next four days, festival officials said, as many as 75,000 people are expected to crowd the site to buy food, merchandise and enjoy the rides and games, all to raise money for area charities.

It is a 37-year-old festival steeped in tradition, and has long included events like the women’s Western wear competition, the interservice luncheon and bingo--which are scheduled for today.

Slated for the weekend are a rodeo, a parade down Thousand Oaks Boulevard and a barbecue.

“We always start slower on Wednesday and Thursday and build up toward the weekend,” said Doug Ross of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. “You’ll see on the weekend that things will really get hopping.”

Ross and about 25 others attended the quiet ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in a remote corner of the festival grounds.

Later, area residents began streaming onto the site to sample the food and try the rides.

Westlake residents Sam and Gerry Minas brought two of their grandchildren to the event and strolled casually around the children’s tent, which is a new addition to the carnival.

“I think it’s just a fantastic way to relax and to show the kids a good time,” Sam Minas said as he helped his grandson pan for gold. “The kids just love it.”

In the main tent, representatives from a host of nonprofit groups offered literature and information, and vendors sold items ranging from cowboy hats to sunglasses.

Sandal saleswoman Georgiann Tommasino said she was excited about the event, but cautiously eyed the sky, hoping rain wouldn’t dampen her business.

“I think even in the cold weather people will come in and buy the sandals,” Tommasino said. “But I think the weather’s going to get better. This is just to tease us.”

Forecasters from the National Weather Service, however, were less confident that the skies would turn blue for the remaining four Conejo Valley Days.

Daytime temperatures through Sunday are never expected to get above the mid-60s and there is a chance of rain late Saturday and early Sunday as a second storm crosses over Southern California, forecasters said.

“I hope it doesn’t turn out that way,” said Christina Blanchard, who is selling frozen-banana ice cream to raise money for the Rainbow Girls of Conejo Valley. “All we can do is hope for the best.”