ALL’S FAIR: With Christmas over, can the...

ALL’S FAIR: With Christmas over, can the Ventura County Fair be far behind? Well, yes. It won’t get going until August, but here’s some news to tide you over. The theme of the 1996 fair will be “Planting Memories.” . . . Fair publicist Teri Raley said the theme is picked by the nine-member fair board from a dozen or so ideas dreamed up by her company. . . . Raley’s favorite themes: “Through a Child’s Eyes” in 1987 and “Making Magic” in 1993.

CETACEAN MIGRATION: Whale-watching season began this month, and there are already a lot of the big guys out there. Passengers on whale-watching boats are seeing nearly a dozen of the mammals, along with different species of dolphins, on trips out to the Channel Islands, said Mark Connally, co-owner of Island Packers. . . . For the land-bound, Ventura Harbor Village will offer a Whale Celebration from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, complete with educational booths, entertainment and a touch tank with smaller forms of sea life for the kids.

HEADS UP: Paintball is not just for survivalists any more. At least that’s what Dave Palmer will be banking on when he opens his Urban Quest complex this weekend (B1). . . . Although Palmer hopes to see lots of families at the complex, he knows that most players are 18- to 40-year-old men. “I like to see the big, macho guys, with all their cammo, come off the field covered in pink.”

MAKING MUSIC: The New West Symphony dropped in at the Civic Arts Plaza for some youthful outreach, playing to an audience of third-graders from around the Conejo Valley (B1). But the orchestra is getting even more up-close and personal with 21 teenagers who made the All-Star Student Symphony and will be performing with the group during its final selection tonight. . . . Piccolo player Danny Black, a Ventura High School junior, will be there. “They’re way better than any of us. But they don’t treat us like that. They treat us like one of them.”