Festival Preparations Are in Full Swing

By Thursday morning, organizers of this year’s California Strawberry Festival were ahead of schedule.

The hay-bale seats were being positioned. The Budweiser Clydesdale pull team was being bathed. The tents and sponsors banners were being unpacked and put up.

And, oh yes, the strawberries. Those were on the way.

Things were running smoothly in anticipation of this weekend’s 16th annual festival--four days after committee members began transforming College Park at Oxnard College into a strawberry empire. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

“We’ll start next month to prepare for next year,” said Todd Terres, a member of the entertainment executive committee. “We’ll critique this year, decide what to keep and what to change.”

Some of this year’s changes include a new parking entrance at the north end of the festival site and nearly a third more portable toilets.

The California Strawberry Festival premiered in 1984 at Channel Islands Harbor, but outgrew the site after eight years. It has since been held at the 75-acre park and continues to expand, said spokeswoman Lisa Carey.

The two-day event will feature singers Taylor Dayne and Rita Coolidge, more than 330 booths of food, games and arts and crafts, a children’s area and lots and lots of strawberries.