Oxnard Church Holding 14th Annual Fiesta

Despite early concerns that the fund-raiser wouldn’t happen, the 14th annual Santa Clara Chapel Fiesta attracted scores of local festival-goers this weekend.

Construction around the church at Rose Avenue and the Ventura Freeway did not stop planners from presenting nine bands, dozens of food booths, games and rides.

“Despite all the construction, I think we’ll get a better crowd this year,” said Ray Vasquez Jr., who lined up the bands for the three-day festival.

Some volunteers said Saturday afternoon that they observed smaller crowds than in previous years, speculating that traffic might be keeping people away. But they were optimistic that the numbers would increase Saturday night and Sunday.

Ten-year-old Alexandra Munoz of Oxnard helped her mom, Diana Munoz, run the “Going Fishing” booth, where participants threw a wooden fishing pole over a small wall and retrieved prizes of a sun visor or sunglasses.

“We’re just trying to raise money for the church,” Alexandra said. “If we didn’t raise money, we wouldn’t have a good church.”

Although she was happy to help her mom, she said the carnival rides were still her favorite part of the fiesta “because they’re fun and some of them are fast.”

The church depends on the money raised each year to support its operational budget. This year, the parish has its sight set on getting a new roof.

Planning begins in January to coordinate the booths, rides and bands. Food vendor Emy Arboleda of Oxnard started cooking Wednesday so that she and a group of 10 friends and family members could serve up Filipino specialties like pancit and lumpia.

“You’ve got to have a good time to do this,” Arboleda said. “It’s a labor of love.”

The festival will conclude today about 7 p.m.