Conejo Valley Days Kicks Off Its 50th Anniversary

For half a century, Conejo Valley Days has drawn crowds to Thousand Oaks to celebrate Ventura County’s Western roots. This week, organizers hope to see as many as 65,000 people, despite forecasts of cloudy skies.

The five-day festival, which is marking its 50th anniversary, began Wednesday evening and runs through Sunday at Conejo Creek Park South.

Organizers said there are new midway rides and attractions this year, including the ConejoX Motocross Invitational -- a stunt show of acrobatic motorcyclists, which took place opening night.

Mary Ann Keeler, the festival’s general chairwoman, said she expects capacity crowds on some days. Average attendance in recent years has been about 40,000.

All the hard work of organizing the festival’s many moving parts -- including a beauty contest, chili cook-off and classic car show and picnic -- takes its toll, she said.

“I’m brain dead at this stage,” Keeler said Wednesday while reviewing last-minute preparations.

Keeler, 71, said she’s hanging up her cowboy hat after 46 years of Conejo Valley Days involvement: “This is my swan song. I’m turning it over to the young guys.”

The carnival’s 65 food and concession booths are operated by local charities, many of which use the event as their major annual fund-raiser.

Keeler organized her first Conejo Valley Days 23 years ago.

“That was the one time when it rained all five days,” Keeler said. She said she hoped this year would be a big improvement: “It doesn’t look too swift out here [now], but we shouldn’t get rain.”

National Weather Service meteorologists predict night and morning clouds burning off by early afternoon through early next week, and only a 20% chance of drizzle today with almost no chance of precipitation through the weekend.

“In other words, we got ‘June Gloom’ a bit early,” Bill Hoffer, spokesman for the National Weather Service’s forecast office in Oxnard, said Wednesday.

Musical entertainment includes local rock n’ roll bands tonight, the best of high school rock bands Friday, and Saturday night’s headliner Starship, featuring Mickey Thomas.

The annual Conejo Valley Days Parade will roll down Thousand Oaks Boulevard on Saturday morning before the carnival opens.

Festival volunteer Kim Ruda, who was last year’s general chairman, said his favorite event is Friday’s Special Kids Day, when the park opens from 9 a.m. to noon for children with physical disabilities and other special needs, along with their friends, family and caregivers.

“They get to come here and just have fun. It makes you feel good when you see those kids out here smiling and they don’t have to worry about other things going on,” Ruda said.

Next week, after the extra lights are removed and the midway rides are shipped to the next carnival, the Conejo Recreation and Park District, which owns Conejo Creek Park South, will begin the months-long process of restoring the site for soccer games.

Providing Conejo Valley Days organizers use of a major city park for nearly two months slows the annual rehabilitation of the park’s grassy areas for soccer season, but it’s worth it, said Jim Friedl, the park district’s assistant general manager.

Every year, people who come to the festival discover the site and its companion park on the north side of Janss Road, he said.

“It’s a historic and traditional community event that were happy to be a part of,” Friedl said.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Information

Location: Conejo Creek Park South, south of Janss Road and east of California 23.

Hours: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. today; 5 p.m. to midnight Friday; noon to midnight Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Rodeo on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., and on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Parking: At Conejo Creek Park South, with additional space across the street in the paved lots for the Thousand Oaks Library, teen and senior centers. Free shuttles will be available.

Additional details at www.conejovalleydays.com