Area Wrapped Up in Season’s Events

Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Ventura and Oxnard will be hopping today with holiday happenings.

Kwanzaa, an African American holiday honoring family, community and culture, will be celebrated in two east county locations.

Songs, dancing, poetry and a Karamu feast with traditional African food will be part of the activities from 8:30 a.m. to noon at Cal Lutheran University’s Preus-Brandt Forum in Thousand Oaks.

In Simi Valley, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum hosts “A Sampling of Holiday Traditions.”

Activities and food associated with Kwanzaa begin at 1 p.m., and at 3 p.m. the Southern California Lithuanian community celebrates its Christmas heritage.

At noon, the 35th annual Camarillo Christmas Parade begins at the corner of Las Posas Road and Temple Avenue.

This week’s rain has brought memories of 1993--the only occasion when the event was postponed because of inclement weather--resulting in a torrent of inquiries about the parade’s status.

Rain is not in the forecast.

The 99 entries, including 15 marching bands and 13 floats, will head west on Las Posas to Carmen Drive and turn south to the community center park on Modesto Avenue. A crowd of 7,000 to 10,000 is expected to line the 1.2-mile route for the 2 hour, 15 minute parade.

About 6,000 people are expected to take part in downtown Ventura’s third and final ArtWalk of 1996 from 5 to 9 p.m.

Exhibits, musical and drama performances and other events in the holiday version will be held at a record 51 venues scattered throughout downtown and the Avenue area.

Shuttle buses will run every 15 minutes ferrying people around downtown and the outlying studios near Ventura Avenue where people can watch artists at work.

Maps and entertainment schedules are available at participating businesses.

At 7 p.m., Oxnard’s 31st annual Parade of Lights will take to the water of Channel Islands Harbor against a backdrop of decorated seaside homes.

Seven small craft and 34 large vessels will make two passes through the harbor.

In addition, for the first time the smaller boats will pass through the narrow east channel in front of Fisherman’s Wharf and Harbor Landing, giving diners in restaurants and apartment dwellers along Peninsula Road a parade peek.

Warm weather last year brought a record crowd estimated at 50,000 to the harbor.

The gusty winds reaching 20 mph that are forecast for tonight may keep the temperature--and turnout--lower this year, but organizers still suggest that people arrive by 5 p.m.

“You’ve got to wear a scarf and mittens to feel it’s Christmas time,” spokeswoman Susan O’Brien said.

Twenty tons of “snow” from a local ice-making company will be trucked in at 10 a.m. for children 8 and younger to play in, and an art show begins at noon.