Strawberry-Lined Path to Temptations : The Motown hitmakers’ show should be the cream in Saturday’s festival salute to the local crop.

Given civilization’s relentless drive to pave things over, counting on agriculture to continue in Ventura County is as iffy as investing in Darryl Strawberry rookie cards. But for this, the 11th annual California Strawberry Festival, you can rest assured. There will be plenty of strawberries, also damn fine entertainment as personified by the greatest soul group of all time, the Temptations. They sing. They dance. They dress to impress. They blow your mind. What else is there?

Since the band’s inception in 1961, the Temptations have had 14 No.1 songs, and have won three Grammys. By 1973, Motown had already released a three-record set of their greatest hits. In 1989, the group was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Thus far, the group has a cool 50 albums, with a boxed set due in August.

In the early years, Eddie Kendricks’ unearthly falsetto and David Ruffin’s raspy tones dominated the group as they scored with such hits as “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “I Wish It Would Rain” and countless others. Ruffin left the group in 1968 (replaced by Dennis Edwards) and Kendricks departed in 1971. Both returned for a reunion in 1982, but both have since died, Ruffin in 1991 of a drug overdose and Kendricks a year later of lung cancer.

Over the years there have been many Temptations, but the group lives on with founding members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin and also Theo Peoples, Ron Tyson and Ali-Ollie Woodson. While most groups have no good singers, the Temptations have five great ones and, according to Williams, business is booming.

“We’re out there about 40 weeks a year,” Williams said. “People may think we party all the time, but we don’t. We treat this as a business. It’s our livelihood. You can’t abuse yourself. The main thing is to get plenty of rest, eat properly. We exercise. I think that’s our secret after 34 years.

“We just got back from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia--there’s Temptations fans over there. Everybody goes to our shows--we get little kids and 70- or 80-year-old people. We have a very broad base of fans. We’ve been just about everywhere except for Rio de Janiero, Greece and parts of Africa; and last year, we signed a lifetime contract with Motown.”

In the early ‘60s, besides those Temptations, Berry Gordy’s Motown roster included acts such as the Miracles, the Marvellettes, Martha & the Vandellas, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, the Four Tops, Junior Walker & the All-Stars, Gladys Knight & the Pips and later, the Jackson Five. Not surprisingly, Motown dominated Top 40 radio in the ‘60s.

From the beginning, Gordy surrounded himself with a number of capable writers and producers. Smokey Robinson and Norman Whitfield wrote hit after hit for the Temptations.

“The early ‘60s was like being in Camelot,” Williams said. “We were young and confident; we got the red-carpet treatment and doors were opening for us. Motown was cranking out hit after hit. It was a wonderful time.”

Always very image-conscious, Gordy devised something called International Talent Management Inc., which was sort of a finishing school for his flock of hitmakers.

“It was an in-house management program, sort of a grooming school,” said Williams. “We were just young kids and they taught us how to dress properly, how to walk, how to do interviews. It’s stuff we still use 34 years later. Motown tried to maintain a very positive image of crossing all barriers during a very tumultuous times in the ‘60s. Dr. King was doing his thing. The Vietnam War was in full swing. The women’s movement was happening.”

After Ruffin left in 1968, Whitfield wrote tunes--”Cloud Nine,” “Ball of Confusion” and “Psychedelic Shack”--that brought the group into the psychedelic era. Brimming with sharp social commentary, “Cloud Nine” was different than everything that came before.

“It changed things for us because we wanted to step away from the ballads we were known for,” Williams said. “We wanted people to know we could do more than ‘My Girl.’ For the first few weeks, people were saying ‘No, that’s not the Temptations.’ We won our first Grammy with that song.”

And you can bet your bottom shortcake that Oxnard will be out of strawberries before you catch the Temptations miss a step--their choreography is impeccable. And so is their attire--you’ll see Jackie Onassis wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt before you’ll see one of the Temptations in a wrong suit.

“We’ve always been known for our singing and choreography and our clothes. We probably have 50 to 75 different (suits) right now. No one has ever shown up wearing the wrong suit; we have people to take care of that stuff.”

Once again, the two-day Strawberry Festival will offer a varied music schedule including Three Dog Night, Big Mountain, Doug Kershaw, the Ordinaires, Spencer the Gardener, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Zydeco Party Band and others. Call 385-7578 for more details.

Details

* WHAT: The Temptations.

* WHERE: Oxnard Strawberry Festival, 3250 S. Rose Ave.

* WHEN: Saturday, 1 p.m.

* HOW MUCH: $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and children.

* FYI: 385-7578