Big Crowds Expected for Strawberry Festival

If a “strawberry-choco-taco” is what you have been craving, this is your weekend.

The 19th annual California Strawberry Festival runs Saturday and Sunday in Oxnard, coming just as this year’s strawberry season peaks and paying homage to Ventura County’s second-largest cash crop behind lemons.

Music, children’s activities, arts and crafts, a wine pavilion and lots of berry-laced food will be on deck both days from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at College Park, 3250 S. Rose Ave. Saturday’s musical lineup includes salsa and country groups, an Elvis impersonator and Richard Street of the Temptations. Sunday’s includes a Beatles tribute, Latin rock and Christopher Cross.

More than 57,000 people attended last year’s celebration, and at least that many are expected this weekend. The National Weather Service in Oxnard predicts low clouds in the mornings and evenings but sunny afternoons with temperatures in the high 60s.

Organizers this year have moved the festival’s food court to create more space near the amphitheater and improve the flow of foot traffic.

Other changes include admission discounts for military personnel with photo IDs and a new interactive bus exhibit for children. Sponsored by Gull Wings Children’s Museum in Oxnard, the bus has areas where children can paint their faces and dig for faux fossils.

The festival’s scholarship programs have grown, with the creation last fall of a $25,000 endowment at Cal State Channel Islands for Ventura County students who work in a strawberry-related industry or have parents who do.

Camarillo High School’s athletic booster club will be slapping together sweet tacos at one of the festival’s 40 food booths.

Oxnard’s new Pacifica High School is rolling out this nacho recipe: Fried flour tortilla chips sprinkled with cinnamon, then topped with whipped cream and--of course--sliced berries.

California yields more strawberries than any place in the world--$750 million worth last year. The Oxnard Plain is the state’s second-largest growing spot, behind the Watsonville-Salinas area.

Strawberries brought in $186 million countywide in 2001, down from the year before. But with 8,582 acres planted locally this year--about 1,000 of those are new --and with months of mild temperatures and clear skies, growers expect this year’s numbers to rebound.

“It’s been an excellent season,” said festival Chairman Don DeArmond, who runs a cooling and shipping business.

“We hope that the future stays red for us.”