43,000 Chow Down at Big Berry Bash

The contestants shifted restlessly, their hands behind their backs.

“Remember, you guys are not allowed to break the bowls with your face!” shouted the referee. “On your marks, GO!”

Less than 20 seconds later, 11-year-old Dominique Watson of Oxnard raised his face--smeared with whipped cream and strawberry chunks--in a victorious grin to the sky.

Dominique had won the second heat of the strawberry shortcake eating contest at Oxnard’s 15th annual California Strawberry Festival.

Under sunny skies--predicted to return today for the second day of the fruit fest--about 43,000 berry lovers flocked to College Park in Oxnard to drink strawberry beer and chow down on strawberry tamales, strawberry pizza, strawberry shortcake and every other concoction imaginable made with the luscious red fruit.

Saturday’s crowds marked the best first-day attendance for the festival in more than a decade, according to spokeswoman Lisa Carey.

With its sunshine, sandy soil and sea breezes, Oxnard is the second-largest producer of strawberries in California--growing 25% of the state yield, according to the California Strawberry Commission. Watsonville in Northern California is the largest producer.

Oxnard companies harvest more than 14,667,400 trays of the sweet berries from 5,776 acres and ship them throughout North America and to Germany and Japan.

Saying this year could break previous attendance records, festival organizers greeted the beautiful weather and strawberry-starved crowds with relief after strong winter storms devastated local crops in recent months.

“El Nino did its job on us,” said Don DeArmond, festival chairman. “But we have survived. And the strawberry festival caught the sunniest weekend so far.”

The more than 40 inches of rain this winter and spring forced farmers to sell berries--harvested during the rainy season--more cheaply as juice stock, rather than packing them fresh.

“There were lots of questions during the rainy season,” festival director Shelley Merrick said. “People were asking, ‘Are we going to have the festival? Are there going to be strawberries?’ ”

But she said crowds Saturday were phenomenal. And the strawberry shortage should not be a problem.

“We are not being careless with our strawberries,” she said. “But we will not run out.”

No berry rationing was apparent at the myriad strawberry-based contests--such as the tart toss, strawberry shortcake eating contest and the berry-stemming, tart-tossing, shortcake-eating relay.

After sampling the tarts--made with crusts from Marie Callender’s, whipped cream, and a huge pool of goopy, sticky strawberry sauce--Thomas Rock decided to place his face in a hole in a wooden wall and let his Simi Valley relatives launch tarts at him.

Only his wife’s brother hit him.

“He made it worthwhile,” Rock said as he wiped the goo from his nostrils, glasses and hair, then licked some off his fingers. “The others were nowhere near as successful. My grandson, who is a baseball player, didn’t even come close. I expected him to plaster me.”

Cindy Rahm and Krystle McKern, both 12 and visiting from the San Fernando Valley, decided to compete in the relay race.

In that contest, the first team member races out with a bowl of sauce, leaps over a bale of hay, hoists the bowl over a rope, catches it, throws on whipped cream and shortcake, dodges a gantlet of chairs, then passes the concoction to a partner.

The partner grabs the bowl, stems three berries, places them in the bowl, does the obstacle course in reverse, eats the mountain of shortcake, then stumbles across the line.

Cindy and Krystle missed the finals by 3 seconds.

Meanwhile, back at the strawberry shortcake eating contest, contestants discussed strategy.

“A lot of people took their heads up to breathe,” said 10-year-old Stephanie Andrade, who won the first heat. “I didn’t.”

Second heat winner Dominique had a different game plan.

“My strategy was, get an inch from the plate, and then when the thing goes, just stuff your face in there.”

The weather today is expected to be mostly sunny with highs of 68 degrees, according to the

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Concert Lineup

TODAY

Dr. Kato Stage

11 a.m.-noon: Ashford Gordon Band, Ventura

12:30-1:30 p.m.: Hyperions--psycho-billy surf music

2-3 p.m.: Papa Nata, Ventura--raggae, pop, R&B;

3:30-5 p.m.: Tower of Power--jazzy rock

Festival Stage

10 a.m.-noon: Sound Effect, Oxnard--country

Noon-2 p.m.: Guy Martin Group, Ventura--blues guitar

2-4 p.m.: Red Elvises, Santa Monica--Russian rock

4-6 p.m.: Nuestro, Oxnard--Latin

Park Stage

10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Rincon Ramblers--eclectic bluegrass

2-5 p.m.: Jazz 911, Ventura--jazz duet

Strawberryland for Kids

10-11 a.m.: Pleasant Valley Band--folk/fiddle

11 a.m.-noon: Jest in Time--variety show

Noon-12:30 p.m.: Pleasant Valley Band

12:30-1 p.m.: New Banjo Minstrels--novelty banjo and tuba

1-2 p.m.: Jest in Time

2-3 p.m.: New Banjo Minstrels

3-4 p.m.: Jest in Time

4-5 p.m.: John Welborn--acoustic folk guitar

Noon and 2 p.m.: Jest in Time--strolling

Noon, 2 and 4 p.m.: Wonderworld Puppet Shows