Celebrating Diversity

Hawaiian dancers, Scottish bagpipers, American Indian jewelry and a buffet filled with dishes from around the world are some of the offerings expected at this year’s Multi-Cultural Festival in Oxnard, an annual event to celebrate diversity and promote unity among residents.

In its fourth year, the festival, created by the city’s Commission on Community Relations, will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Center for Performing Arts at 800 Hobson Way. Admission is free.

“Our goal is to bring the community together in an atmosphere that fosters the appreciation and celebration of the differences that make each others’ cultures unique,” said Ed Blumenstock, a spokesman for the event.

Inside the large arts center, visitors can enjoy drummers playing Japanese songs, Polynesian and Irish dancers, singers and mariachi bands. The performers will take turns performing on the main stage.

Vendors will sell crafts from around the world, including American Indian woodwork, Hawaiian beads, leis and handbags and Japanese dolls. There will be hula lessons and Filipino artists demonstrating how to paint on silk.

A local radio station will sell Mexican food specialties, and a noodle company plans to cook up Mongolian fare. Local caterer Forest Pinkard is responsible for this year’s international buffet.

Several organizations will have educational booths at the festival, including the Salvation Army, the Coalition to End Violence, the Oxnard Library and the El Rio Parent-Teacher Assn.

Representatives from the Internal Revenue Service and the Census Bureau will also be available to answer questions.

Outside the center, the Oxnard Police Department will host a bicycle training booth for kids, and the Oxnard Fire Department will display several fire engines.

Other fun stuff for adults and children will include Tarot card readings and face painting.

There will also be a large display of laminated drawings by children throughout the county.

The “Youth Art Project” asked local kids to draw a picture representing this year’s festival theme, which is “Joining Hands Around the World,” said project coordinator Marilyn May.

“The purpose of the art project is to promote awareness of the diversity of cultures within our community, to foster harmony and respect between these cultures, and to encourage youth to actively join in bringing about unity in our community,” May said.

More than 100 drawings from students in Oxnard and surrounding school districts, as well as members of the area boys and girls clubs, can be viewed at the festival.

The exhibit will be moved next week to the Esplanade Mall in Oxnard.

Around noon, Charles R.E. Howard, co-founder of the organization Vision of Race Unity and past president of the county’s Cultural Diversity Board, will give the keynote speech.

The festival will open with the Pledge of Allegiance, to be led by 10-year-old Ashley Mizuno, this year’s recipient of a local junior fire marshal award. Ashley helped rescue her family from their burning home in June.

Two local residents who contributed their time and musical talents to past festivals, Sam and Debbie Hobel, are this year’s festival honorees.

For more information, call the city’s human services office at 385-7947 or 385-7434.

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Paintings, photographs, drawings, mixed media, furniture, sculptures and ceramics will highlight the 16th Annual Ojai Studio Artists tour, a self-guided walk planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets for the two-day event are $15 in advance or $20 at the tour and include a reception and art auction Saturday night at the Ojai Art Center.

Thirty artists, whose work is widely known and sold internationally, will open their studios for visitors to purchase artwork on display and learn about how it was created.

Visitors will see watercolor works of historic houses tucked away on country roads, bronze sculptures, painted eggs--even a high-tech installation dedicated to the new millennium.

New to this year’s show are printmaker and painter Maudette Ball Finck, potter Edward Morgan and mixed media artist Suzannah Sale. Past favorites, including pastel artist Bert Collins and potter Otto Heino, will be part of the tour too.

Proceeds from the tour and auction will fund community outreach programs sponsored by Ojai Studio Artists, including scholarships, library books, art center improvements and classes for senior citizens.

Tickets are available at the Ojai Chamber of Commerce at 646-8126. For more details, check out the chamber’s Web site at: https://www.the-ojai.org/

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Tip of the Week: Indian corn, gourds, pick-your-own pumpkins and a petting zoo are available to visitors this month at the McGrath family’s Central Market, located at Central Avenue and the Ventura Freeway. Call 983-1211 for details.

Ideas for Jaunts can be forwarded to holly.wolcott@latimes.com.