Strawberry in Spotlight for Festival : Oxnard: Officials expect about 85,000 visitors to gobble up millions of the red berries in a variety of forms this weekend.

The 12th annual California Strawberry Festival opens in Oxnard today with an estimated 2.25 million strawberries--and every conceivable variation on the tasty red fruit.

Strawberry burritos, strawberry-topped pizza, strawberry kebabs, strawberry sculptures, strawberry toys, the strawberry shortcake-eating contest, the strawberry tart toss--you name it. If it even remotely includes strawberries, it will be there for the 85,000 expected visitors to devour.

“It promises to be a good one,” said festival manager Bill Garlock. “We’ve got all the ingredients.”

The two-day festival at the Strawberry Meadows of College Park is being dedicated to late Oxnard mayor and strawberry festival co-founder Tsujio Kato, who died this year. The Strawberry Meadows Amphitheater has been renamed in his honor.

On Friday, food sellers and arts and crafts vendors were building their makeshift booths, quietly preparing for the inevitable horde of strawberry-starved visitors. One group of vendors got an early start Friday afternoon and dipped about 10,000 strawberries in chocolate.

The preparations began Monday, when organizers arrived at Strawberry Meadows and found themselves ankle-deep in a rutted, rain-soaked mess.

“It looked like the end of Woodstock,” said Jack Lavin, who is in charge of the festival grounds. “But it’s coming together.”

Everyone was seemingly devising a strawberry angle to peddle his or her product. Some were shakier than others.

“My friend has some strawberry refrigerator magnets,” said Jacklyn Sanford, a member of Oxnard College’s ceramics club, which set up a booth full of elaborate, but largely strawberry-less bric-a-brac.

Mickey Bloom said he planned to use some strawberries to garnish his Polish sausage and gyros, but had no real strawberry concoction up his sleeve.

“People have to eat something substantial,” said Laura Boles, helping Bloom set up his booths. “They can’t eat strawberries 24 hours a day, can they?”

Of course not: Visitors will need some time to take in the music lineup. Today at 1:30, Jr. Walker & The All-Stars will strut to “Shotgun” and their other Motown hits, and at 3:30, Grammy Award-winning blues-rocker Robert Cray will lay down some of his legendary guitar licks at the amphitheater.

On Sunday, Grammy Award-winning Western swing group Asleep at the Wheel will perform at 1:30, and Zachary Richard, a critically acclaimed Cajun musician, will take the amphitheater stage at 3:30.

Numerous other musicians will play everything from bluegrass to Peruvian pipes on the festival’s three stages.

“We’ve probably got the best entertainment lineup we’ve ever had,” said Garlock, who has managed the last nine strawberry festivals. “It’s very diverse and eclectic. Obviously, we’re very excited about getting Robert Cray.”

Moreover, the festival continues to build on its reputation as one of the finest showcases of arts and crafts in California. More than 200 arts and crafts booths offering everything from birdhouses to rocking horses have set up tents at the festival.

Walt Mericaof Sonoma, who sells handmade rugs for a living, said the California Strawberry Festival is one of the best craft shows around.

“This one’s top-class,” said the 52-year-old, unloading a stack of strawberry rugs. “This is always a good one.”

Some of the craftsmen will be wearing T-shirts from the Oklahoma City Arts Festival, which was aborted due to the Oklahoma City bombing, leaving organizers with a $600,000 deficit. Garlock, an Oklahoma City native, said he is hoping to receive donations to help the Oklahoma festival.

The California Strawberry Festival began with an entertainment budget of about $2,000 in 1984. Now it is a big-time endeavor that grows every year. The current entertainment budget is about $90,000, Garlock said.

Among the new additions to the event are an expanded Strawberryland, the popular children’s area that includes a petting zoo.

And there are several new contests for visitors to jump into, including limbo, karaoke and dance contests as well as the 10K run and the waiter/waitress race--not that the strawberry festival needs to change much, organizers say.

“The thing people like most about the festival is the tradition,” said festival publicist Aileen Stein. “They know what they’re going to get when they come here.”

Strawberries. Lots of them.