EL RIO : Annual Fiesta Raises Funds for Church

Kenny and Tammy Henschel of El Rio took their 21-month-old son, Brandon, to church Sunday, but this time, they didn’t go to pray.

Instead, they headed for the Santa Clara Chapel’s 10th annual fiesta in El Rio, a fund-raiser billed as a summer music explosion with half a dozen bands, carnival rides, food booths and games.

“We came out here for the eats and the rides,” Henschel said. “We’re having a good time.”

Henschel, a warehouseman who has lived in El Rio all of his 29 years, said the festival gave his family a fun outing and helped them support their church and community.

“This way we can do both,” he said.

A fun house, Tilt-a-Whirl, bumper cars and other attractions enticed hundreds of children, who traded dollars for tickets to take a spin on the carnival rides during the three-day event, which ended Sunday.

“It’s going really well,” said Father George Miller, who ministers at the century-old chapel. “The weather’s nice, the turnout’s good and people are enjoying themselves.”

Miller said he hoped that the festival would generate at least $20,000 to fund the chapel’s upkeep and other programs.

Joe O’Neill, fiesta committee chairman, said this year’s event is more important than previous fund-raisers because of the possibility that the chapel will have to be relocated when the Ventura Freeway interchange at Rose Avenue is redesigned.

“This church is going to have to be moved because they’re putting in a new cloverleaf,” said O’Neill, an Oxnard attorney who owns a home in El Rio. “When Caltrans decides it’s time to go, we’re going to need a lot of money.”

The small chapel has already been moved once, Miller said. In 1952, it had to be relocated from its spot near Sears in Oxnard for expansion of the Esplanade mall.

For the first time in seven years, volunteer organizers offered a “Sweet Tooth Booth,” a dessert booth selling cupcakes, brownies and other hand-made confections.

“Everything’s homemade by different people in our parish,” said Eileen Meza of El Rio, who has attended church services at Santa Clara Chapel for 11 years.

“Everyone here is donating their time because we love the community and we love the church,” she said.