Youngsters Dedicate Time Capsule at Arts Plaza Ceremony : Thousand Oaks: The 61 ‘guardians’ vow to reassemble in 20 years to open the plastic tube. Event is a prelude to city’s 30th birthday party.

Sixty-one guardians of a time capsule dedicated Sunday in front of the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks headed straight for the refreshments as soon as the speeches ended.

Iced fruit punch and cookies awaited hundreds of people attending the outdoor ceremony as Mayor Alex Fiore dedicated the capsule that will be opened in 20 years, on the 50th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.

“It’s hot,” said Ashlee Knight, a 10-year-old Girl Scout who pledged to return in two decades to oversee the capsule’s opening.

Temperatures reached into the 90s under cloudless skies as residents deposited dozens of items that reflect life in Thousand Oaks in 1994.

A program from the inaugural season of the Civic Arts Plaza, a local telephone book, a videotaped City Council meeting and dozens of other items will remain locked inside a sturdy plastic tube placed within a concrete bench along the wall of the newly opened performing arts center.

In 20 years, the 61 mostly 10-year-olds will reassemble to open that time capsule and begin another. The ceremony will be repeated on the occasions of the city’s 75th and 100th birthdays, scheduled for the years 2039 and 2064.

“I will not be serving on the City Council when it comes time to open these,” the mayor joked in his opening remarks.

The time capsule celebration Sunday was a prelude to the city’s formal 30th birthday party, a black-tie event to follow the Oct. 21 grand opening of the Civic Arts Plaza.

Thousand Oaks artist Denise Filz designed the gray concrete bench that will hold the time capsule as well as the 200-pound brass oak tree hanging above it. She spent months bringing the idea to fruition.

“I wanted (the bench) to be something that could be used and be visible,” she said. “Something for the kids to climb on.

“And we wanted something that would reflect the roots of our lives,” Filz added. “Hopefully, enough of the guardians will come back in 20 years when they hand down the new guardianship.”

Rob O’Neill, co-chair of the committee that organized the time capsule campaign, added to the tube a letter to the young people who will be on hand when it is opened in two decades.

“In it I tell them not to be disillusioned,” O’Neill said. “You can take a voice and make a difference in your community.”

O’Neill called the time capsule a portrait of the city, and predicted that in 20 years the Civic Arts Plaza would still be a state-of-the-art facility.

“We’re really still in our youth” as a city, O’Neill said. “To blossom and grow into an antique is really a wonderful thing.”

The committee co-chair also took a moment to relish the accomplishments of those who worked for years to open the arts plaza.

“It’s been a long, hard struggle,” he said. “We didn’t know that we could ever get to this day.”

Ten-year-old Christina Ballas said it was an honor to be selected as a guardian of the time capsule. She and five dozen other children submitted predictions for the future.

“It’ll be neat for our kids or somebody else’s in 20 years when they open it,” said Christina, a member of Girl Scout Troop 646.

“I’ll probably be gone,” said Julie Zelman, another 10-year-old Girl Scout selected as a guardian. “But I’ll remember to come back.”

Westlake real estate agent Patty Woodard was one of more than 100 people to sign the six-foot plastic tube.

“They said to just put our names on there to leave room for everyone else,” Woodard said after writing on the capsule with a thick felt-tip marker.

Woodard said she has looked forward to the Civic Arts Plaza opening since she first heard it was planned.

“It’s a much-needed facility,” Woodard said. “It’s something that will really add to the community and bring some culture to the Conejo Valley.”

Millie Sanabria, whose 10-year-old daughter, Vanessa, was among the 61 guardians, said the time capsule would become part of the city’s history.

“If I’m around in 20 years, I will be here to see what’s changed,” said Sanabria, an insurance agent who lives in Thousand Oaks. “But my daughter will definitely be here.”

For her part, Vanessa said she wasn’t sure what she would be doing or where she would be living come 2014.

“I’ll probably be working, get married and have a child,” she said. “But I’ll be here, even if I live in Florida.”