Wild West on Parade for Conejo Valley Days

A posse of cowboy-hatted businessmen led the way, with beauty queens, politicians and tuba players following, as Thousand Oaks celebrated Conejo Valley Days on Saturday with an old-fashioned parade.

“It’s a great day for a parade,” said Wes Neighbor of Newbury Park, who added that he has been coming to the Conejo Valley Days procession for 30 years.

Neighbor and his wife, Darlene, had arrived on Thousand Oaks Boulevard at 7 a.m. to snag a piece of prime, sun-drenched curb space. They parked their camper in the lot of a strip mall on the boulevard and set their lawn chairs up right next to the reviewing stand and across the street from the Thousand Oaks Meat Locker.

Like many of the onlookers, Neighbor was dressed in a cowboy hat and boots.

But it was not a special costume selected for the Western-themed festival.

“This is my everyday attire,” he said, proudly touching the wide brim of his tightly-woven straw hat. “I used to ride in the parades on horseback.”

Ross Spaulding Sr. was another spectator who could have passed as a participant. Spaulding, who is employed at a dry-cleaning store on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, had come to work early Saturday with a red bandanna tied around his neck and, of course, the requisite cowboy hat.

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Standing in the doorway of the store with his son, Ross Jr., he deemed the parade “peachy,” as he watched bands, floats, horseback riders and firetrucks make their way down the two-mile parade route.

Sgt. Adel Moussa of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said that about 5,000 people lined Thousand Oaks Boulevard for the event. Ray Carafelli, a Conejo Valley Days volunteer who was announcing the parade for a cable television broadcast, put the number at up to 15,000.

Not all the 115 parade entries chose the cowboy look.

Gillian Mellon, 6, pronounced herself to be an “Indian princess from the Pawnee tribe.”

She and her father, Tim, both clad in patch-covered suede vests, rode down the parade route on the back of a flatbed truck.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a parade from the other side,” Tim Mellon said.

There were also some city slickers.

Gregory Fibble of Los Angeles was feeding a bottle to 7-month-old Sydney Elizabeth.

“This is her first parade,” he said, reaching past the pager and cellular phone hanging from the front of his daughter’s carriage.

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The crowds also brought out campaigners, as candidates in the June special election for Thousand Oaks City Council peppered the sidewalks with balloons and absentee ballot applications.

For the most part, though, those watching the parade were ordinary citizens from Thousand Oaks, just like the participants.

Some, like Claire Massey, acknowledged that the collection of Thousand Oaks City Council members, real estate agents, middle school marching bands and miniature automobiles piloted by middle-aged Shriners “is not exactly the Rose Bowl Parade.”

Still, Massey, a secretary for the city, finds the parade enough of an attraction to keep coming back, year after year, since 1961.

“It’s fantastic,” she said.

Conejo Valley Days ends today with bingo, a rodeo and a barbecue at Conejo Creek Park.

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Conejo Valley Days

All events are held at Conejo Creek Park, Moorpark Freeway and Janss Road, unless otherwise noted. Carnival admission is $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and students, $2 for children ages 7 to 12 and free for children 6 and under.

TODAY

Noon to 8 p.m.: Carnival

Noon to 8 p.m.: Bingo

Noon to 6 p.m.: Western pit barbecue; $6 adults, $4.50 children

1 and 4 p.m.: Rodeo