Eager Children Prime Acts for Today’s Parade

Working hard to match the theme of this year’s Conejo Valley Days celebration--”Western Kicks in ‘96”--Michelle McConathy and Hugren Stewart made sure their dance routine for the children’s parade included lots of--well, kicks.

Sure to impress the judges is a move that combines a kick with a complicated twirl of a cowboy hat, 11-year-old Michelle of Thousand Oaks hopes.

Today, she and her sister Samantha, 5, and cousins Hugren and Elizabeth Stewart, 11 and 8, will find out if the routine works.

Together, they will strut their stuff, along with about 300 other youngsters, in the Children’s Parade--a procession of “floats” made of wagons, bicycles and strollers making their way around the Civic Arts Plaza.

The mini-parade, set to start at 9:30 a.m., is one of the kick-off events of this year’s Conejo Valley Days, a weeklong Western-themed celebration featuring carnival rides, rodeos, country and rock music and contests judging men by the lengths of their beards, women by the flare of their Western wear and cooks by the fire in their chili.

But as adult organizers plow through the last-minute preparations that on Wednesday will convert Conejo Creek Park into a carnival extravaganza, these children are busy with their own plans.

Sticking also to the name of their group, the Kissing Cousins, the Stewart and McConathy cousins are decorating giant pin~atas, shaped like Hershey’s chocolate kisses, with eyes, ears, noses and mouths, that they will carry with them in the parade.

Having participated in the parade since 1989--when their youngest member had to be pushed in a stroller--the cousins feel confident they can leave with a trophy. They already have seven--including two first-place wins, several second- and third-place finishes and one for best theme.

Elsewhere in the city, 8-year-old Megan Achin, a two-time trophy winner, has greater worries. The pony she rode in last year’s parade just foaled, so she instead will have to ride a small horse belonging to her grandmother.

For a week, she and her grandmother have been sneaking up behind the horse and popping balloons to train it not to bolt during the commotion of today’s parade.

“The first time he was scared,” she said. “The second time he wasn’t.”

Not until this morning, when she streaks the horse with “war” paint, will Megan know how her ensemble will look.

Nonetheless, she also believes she has a good chance of winning again. She has already won awards for creativity and placed second in the equestrian category.

And if not, she says, she’ll still have fun.

Among Sunday’s events are a chili cook-off that will include recipes from 30 to 40 cooks and a contest to determine the Conejo Valley’s best, softest, longest and most unique beards and mustaches.