Save the Date for Conejo Valley Days May 2-5, plus Ticket Giveaway!

April 24, 2013 by 49 Comments

Leave a comment to enter to win four tickets to 2013 Conejo Valley Days happening May 2-5 at Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks!

CVD crowd shote 5

If you loved Reyes Adobe Days, think of that on a grand scale for our whole region. The 57th Annual Conejo Valley Days is coming up May 2 through May 5 at Conejo Creek Park South in Thousand Oaks. In short, it’s a carnival. An awesome, multifaceted carnival, that will feature, among other things:

  • the Golden Horsehoe western saloon with live music
  • motocross exhibitions (Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5 at 2:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.)
  • a section just for kids with a petting zoo and pony rides.
  • in the LOL category:

New this year is the CVD Outhouse Races. Each entry includes all the outhouse essentials including a toilet seat and paper. “Outhouse races are popular around the country,” says Dennis Mayer, outhouse race chairperson. “We expect a lot of creative entries and the races to be a lot of good, clean fun.” The races will take place on Saturday May 4 at 4:00 p.m. with a short parade starting at 3:00 p.m. The races are double elimination.

CVD ride shot

  • a Home Emporium hosted by Reeds furniture with items auctioned off
  • cowboy hats, boots and other western gear for sale (also found prior to CVD at Reeds Furniture in Agoura Hills)
  • dog trick shows taking place on Saturday and Sunday (1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.).
  • jugglers, magicians and western entertainers
  • tethered hot air balloon rides sponsored by RE/Max
  • non-profit groups will raise money hosting a dunk tank, water slide, a spider climb and water ball challenge.
  • two big top tents

CVD crowd shot 4

Tickets:

To purchase entry or ride tickets in advance and for more information on entertainment, carnival rides and other festival and carnival attractions go to the Conejo Valley Days website. Follow CVD on Facebook/ConejoValleyDays and twitter.com/CVDays2013. A number of schools are participating in a CVD online fundraiser. For every unlimited ride CVD wristband purchased online, $2 will go to a designated school. Special promo codes for each school are listed on the website. All live entertainment including motocross exhibitions are included in the CVD admission price ($8, ages 13 to adult, $5, ages 6 to 12 and free for kids ages 5 and under).

2013 CVD logo

Hours:

CVD hours are: Thursday, May 2, 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday, May 3, 5:00 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, May 4, noon to midnight and Sunday, May 5, noon to 8:00 p.m. Thursday is Family Night when festival goers can hop on an unlimited number of carnival rides for $15. Parking is $5. Conejo Valley Days 2013 commemorative badges will be available along with CVD sweatshirts and other merchandise.

Sponsors:

CVD premiere sponsor is Children Skills For Life, a nonprofit organization that helps orphans and children in need with financial and educational support. Other sponsors include the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, Reeds Furniture, Smart & Final, Chivaroli & Associates, Coldwell Banker, United Studios of Self Defense, Alvalyn Creative, Buster Lighting Design, Robin Hagey/Keller Williams, GoBeDo Productions, Ventura County Star, Thousand Oaks Inn, Blue Green Resorts and KHAY-FM.

The CVD folks have given me a package of 4 tickets to give away here on this site. To enter, simply leave a comment below by Sunday, April 28 at 11:59PM. One entry per family. Winner will be chosen by random number drawing. I will mail the tickets on Monday morning.

Filed Under: Around Town, Events, Giveaways, Local Businesses Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sip, Ride, Eat – Pedalers Fork Opens April 22

April 17, 2013 by 2 Comments

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Saddle up, cyclists, coffee lovers, and foodies – there’s a new joint opening Monday in Calabasas that you’re going to want to visit. You may not want to leave.

Located on Calabasas Road across from the Leonis Adobe in “Old Town” Calabasas, Pedalers Fork is a coffee shop, bike shop, farm-to-table restaurant, and bar, with a patio next to a creek (did you even know there is a creek there?) and an epic bike rack in the back. It’s the brain child of Robbie Schaeffer, who is an avid cyclist and wanted a place where he could meet his cycling pals early in the morning for a cuppa joe, then hang out after their ride for a delicious meal and/or beer, likely both. He teamed up with restaurateur Tim Rettele, who happened to be visiting Calabasas in search of an appropriate place to lay his beloved family dog to rest (did you know there is a pet cemetery there?!) and spotted the vacant building, and the rest is history.

Last week I attended a media preview dinner at Pedalers Fork. I actually walked around gasping in delight because the place is breathtaking. It’s airy, aesthetically pleasing, filled with eye-catching details and reclaimed materials. The creekside location and the patio made me instantly envision a future meetup.

It was a glorious, sunlit evening, and the cocktails, designed by noted LA-area mixologist Aidan Demarest, were flowing nicely. Based on my personal preferences, he selected for me the Cabacito – basically a margarita made with fresh grapefruit, which was delicious.

IMG_8216Menu choices for the evening included a baby kale Caesar salad with almond tofu Caesar dressing (delicious and incredibly garlicky), picturesque steamed mussels, braised beef with roasted Asian pear, and apple berry cobbler with almond milk sorbet. PF’s sommelier poured wines with our meal, and there was a pinot noir in there whose name I cannot recall but whose taste I will remember forever.

Knowing that everything on our plates was locally grown or sourced and obtained by special Pedalers Fork food procurement vans so that it could be as freshly served as possibly made the meal extra delicious, at least to me. We capped off the evening with coffee drinks from the coffee shop, and a pound of Kickstand Blend Ten Speed Coffee was in our gift bags, and is now on my kitchen counter waiting to start off my morning tomorrow.

I say it all the time, but it bears repeating: we live in a beautiful area. I’m delighted by Pedalers Fork opening a business here that blends in, takes advantage of local services, respects the town and the natural beauty surrounding it, and provides a gathering place for locals and a destination for visitors. I can’t wait to go back.

Pedalers Fork
23504 Calabasas Rd
Calabasas, California 91302
(818) 225-8231

More photos from the press dinner:

Filed Under: Around Town, Food, Restaurants Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Tale of Three Kids’ Birthday Parties

April 15, 2013 by 18 Comments

IMG_7047My birthday boys (not the guy in the middle!)

April is a month of birthdays for our family – my own two kids were born in April, 2 years and 8 days apart – and many of their friends celebrate birthdays in April, too. I still make my boys celebrate their birthday at the same time, whether we have a big birthday party or take them on a fun trip. I’m not sure how long I can get away with that, but I’ll keep trying.

Treasure Hunt

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This year, my kids wanted a scavenger hunt for their birthday. I took that idea and changed it up a little devising a clever but easily solved treasure hunt for them and a few of their friends. It was hardly Pinterest-worthy, but I did craft a pretty good hunt. I limited the kids to just a few friends each, and sent them off in two teams in opposite directions around the block. Here are some of the weird and random locations:

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The goal was to find the treasure, and there were 10 clues that led them to it. To find the next clue, they had to solve a puzzle or a riddle which would tell them the next location. I planned this thing for two full days. It took them 30 minutes to complete. During the rest of their visit, they had an epic squirt gun fight and some birthday cake.  Done.

Socks Mandatory

IMG_7087My boys stealing some poor kid’s thunder

The next day, we attended back-to-back parties in Simi Valley. The first was at Imagymnation, a warehouse-turned-gymnastics center for kids. The helpful young party workers led the kids through games and jumping around. Not even an hour into it, both of my boys were sweaty and happy. The parents sat on the sidelines, chatting or checking their smartphones. The party ended with pizza and cupcakes.

The second party was on the other side of Simi Valley at Scooter’s Jungle, a relatively new indoor playground that has giant inflated slides, bouncers, a climbing structure, and mini scooters. Again, the kids were let loose to climb, jump, and slide, and they did it over and over again. At one point the party leader had the kids grab their parents to go down the giant slide with them, but I was spared, because my kids ignored me. If I hadn’t tweaked my back I would have made more of an effort to join in, because it looked like fun!

After the frolicking, we all went into a cafeteria-style room for munchies, vegetables, and pizza (again) and birthday cake. The whole thing lasted about 3 hours. I thought the children would fall asleep on the ride home, but it was me who was bushed! I noted, however, that both locations, aside from being great for kids’ birthday parties, have free play hours during the week, which will be perfect on hot summer days when I have to get the kids out of the house to burn up energy!

Filed Under: Around Town, Fun, Local Businesses Tagged With: , , , , , , ,