With a strawberry on top

You are familiar with those improbable guessing contests, like “guess the weight of the Jabba the Hutt-sized pumpkin and win brunch for the family”? In that vein -- but no prizes awarded here -- have a crack at it: How many strawberries does it take to put on the California Strawberry Festival? (We’ll pause briefly while you contrive.) Organizers of the 22nd annual event project the number to be somewhere around 1.5 million. Debauchery accounts for some of the consumption, and recipes gone wild are the rage at an eclectic cooking competition. There is the pie-eating challenge. At the tart toss you can fling a suitably concocted pastry at a bull’s-eye: another person’s kisser. Beyond the 50 food and beverage booths are two concert stages with varied musical bills, hundreds of arts and crafts vendors, and a substantial children’s entertainment center.

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California Strawberry Festival, Strawberry Meadows at College Park, 3250 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. $5 to $12; children 4 and younger, free. (888) 288-9242. www.strawberry-fest.org.