Events to Celebrate Frontier Heritage

Simi Valley Days will celebrate the city’s frontier heritage with a variety of activities and events during the next several weeks.

This weekend, the Simi Valley Days Country/Western Music Festival will feature several bands, a barbecue and refreshments. The festival will be Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Los Angeles Avenue and Tapo Canyon Road, outside the Dataproducts building. Daily admission is $12.

The Miss Simi Valley pageant will be at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave. Admission is free.

A two-day horse show featuring western and English-style riding displays will be the weekend of Sept. 14-15 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Arroyo Simi Equestrian Center, 2900 Royal Ave. Western-style riding will be highlighted Sept. 14, and English-style riding will be the focus of the Sept. 15 event. Admission is free.

Also Sept. 15, the American Red Cross car rally will start at the rodeo grounds at Los Angeles Avenue and Madera Road. Drivers competing in the event must solve puzzles directing them to certain destinations to win. The entry fee is $25.

The lights will go on at Simi Valley Days’ carnival midway at 5 p.m. Sept. 18. The carnival, at the rodeo grounds, runs through Sept. 22. Admission is $3 Sept. 18 and $5 Sept. 19-22. Prices for seniors and children under 12 are $2 and $4.

The admission fee also includes the rodeo, which will run Sept. 19-22. Starting times for the rodeo are 8 p.m. Sept. 19-21 and 2 p.m. Sept. 22.

A rodeo dance will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 20 at the rodeo grounds.

On Sept. 21, the Simi Valley Days Parade will begin at 9 a.m. down Los Angeles Avenue, traveling west from Erringer Road to the rodeo grounds at Madera Road. The parade’s theme this year is “Community Heroes.”

Cow chip bingo is also scheduled for 1 p.m. the same day at the rodeo grounds.

Simi Valley Days’ grand finale, the Western Roundup and Hoedown, will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Robert P. Strathearn Historical Park & Museum, 137 Strathearn Place, featuring dinner and dancing. The $20 admission fee includes dinner and entertainment.

For more information or reservations for the hoedown, call 581-4280.