Parades Come by Land and Sea to Mark the Fourth

From the quick rat-a-pat-pat of a snare drum to the deafening ka-boom! of fireworks blasting through the night’s sky, residents across Ventura County celebrated the Fourth of July with a series of noisy parades and savory barbecues.

On the east end of the county, revelers cruised in boats decorated in red, white and blue across Westlake Lake during an afternoon best-looking boat competition and sailboat race.

Earlier in the day in Ventura, hundreds of children donned cowboy hats and boots to stomp their way down Main Street during the Children’s Pushem Pullem Parade.

This year’s theme was Westward Ho, and many participants got into the spirit by transforming red wagons into covered Conestoga wagons, or tying western bandannas around the necks of their dogs.

At the start of the parade route at Cemetery Park, Margaret Engesser, 8, Elizabeth Barbosa, 10, and Amber Peterson, 8, eagerly lined up on decorated bicycles like prairie girls waiting for a land stampede.

“It’s a mad dash to the street,” said Ventura resident John Engesser, Margaret’s dad.

A parade participant for nine years, 52-year-old Mike Stark joined the city’s all-star marching band, a motley troupe of kazoos, trumpets, washboards, tambourines and drums that led the children’s parade.

Dressed in a hobo-like red and blue outfit, Stark carried an unusual instrument: two bicycle horns attached to a stick.

“I love it,” he said of the parade. “It’s the only day of the year I can be stark raving mad--legally.”

*

In a display of true American capitalism--and an attempt to beat Thursday’s heat--12-year-old Tina Allen set up a roadside lemonade stand near Ventura’s downtown street festival.

“Ice-cold lemonade 25 cents a glass!” she yelled to a throng of festival goers who meandered down Main Street.

“I’ve been out about 15 minutes,” she said, lowering her voice and checking her cash box. “I’ve made about $6 or $7 . . . you have to be willing to invest about $10.”

In Westlake Village, 10 flat-bottom electric boats were greeted by cheering waterfront residents as the vessels circled an island in Westlake Lake during Thursday’s boat race.

“Everyone gets into the act,” said Omar Slayter, one of the skippers from Westlake Yacht Club. “All the houses on the lake have something going--a barbecue, a Dixieland band, a lawn decorated with flags.”

The boats were capped with decorative rockets--the theme of the day--and carried such American icons as a 7-foot Uncle Sam, a live Statue of Liberty and cardboard cutouts of Marilyn Monroe and Bill Clinton.

*

Slayter, who organized the first Fourth of July floating parade around the lake in 1944, said the turnout wasn’t as good as in past years.

“To me, it’s a little distressing because we usually have a lot more boats,” Slayter said. The 76-year-old Westlake Village resident wore a T-shirt that read, “Born in the U. S. A. a long long time ago.”

The low turnout, however, did not dampen the spirits of the boat’s passengers, who celebrated the holiday with champagne, chicken wings and salmon pate.

For one of the passengers, the holiday was particularly meaningful. Jeffrey Tavares was celebrating his fourth year as a U.S. resident. On July 4, 1992, the 23-year-old Thousand Oaks man, who is originally from Hong Kong, received his green card.

“Next year, I hope to celebrate the Fourth as a U.S. citizen,” Tavares said. “I love it here.”

Thousands of Ventura County residents strayed from the traditional Fourth of July boats-and-barbecue routine to take in the alien-invasion movie “Independence Day,” which was playing on 14 screens around the county.

*

George and Laurie Marin of Newbury Park were among the 6,000 or so ticket buyers at the Edwards Cinemas in Camarillo who saw the sci-fi blockbuster.

“We saw the ads in the sky and were intrigued,” said 25-year-old Laurie Marin. The advertising campaign for the movie included helicopters pulling ominous messages about the end of the world across Southern California skies.

With tickets selling for as much as $6.75 and attendance figures setting all-time box office records, theater manager Frank Soto had a lot to celebrate this Fourth of July.

“ ‘Batman Returns’ did well, but not as good as this,” said Soto, smiling approvingly at the never-ending line of film goers that wound around the theater.

Since Tuesday’s opening, Soto has run “Independence Day” on three screens in the morning and four at night. Movie times start as early as 10 a.m. and run as late as midnight.

“On opening day, by 8 p.m. all the [remaining] shows had sold out,” Soto said. “And on Wednesday, every show had sold out two or three hours in advance.”

D.J. Schoenewald , 11, of Camarillo and his 7-year-old brother, Tristan, were among those who missed one of Thursday’s screenings--they arrived at the theater too late.

*

“We wanted to see the one o’clock show,” Tristan said. Instead, they settled for Eddie Murphy in “The Nutty Professor.”

The cool confines of a movie theater were an attractive option for some county residents as temperatures continued to linger in the upper 80s and low 90s in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Fillmore and Ojai.

Temperatures were cooler in Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura where the high only reached 75 degrees. The mild weather drew about 5,000 people to Ventura’s beaches, lifeguard Craig Sap said.

Five lifeguard towers were in operation from the state beach north to the Ventura Pier, with one on the north side of the pier staffed by two people, Sap said. Three lifeguards stood watch at the Harbor Cove tower near Ventura Harbor.

Other than chasing off a few people who cruised their personal watercraft too close to the surf line, the beaches presented few problems on Thursday, Sap said. “It was basically a safe day at the beach.”

Wilson is a staff writer and Helft is a correspondent. Correspondent Scott Steepleton also contributed to this story.