Conejo Valley Days Still On!

Despite the drama of the Camarillo Springs brush fire, which at the time of this writing burned over 28,000 acres in Camarillo and Newbury Park, Conejo Valley Days 2013 will stay open as planned.

The western-themed carnival and entertainment festival takes place now through Sunday May 5 at Conejo Creek Park, near the junction of Janss Road and the 23. This is well northeast of the fire, but fears about poor air quality as the Santa Ana’s gave way to onshore winds blowing smoke in this direction have made many community sports league cancel outdoor events through Saturday. The US Youth Volleyball League and Agoura, Westlake, and Newbury Park Pony Baseball league canceled all games during that time.

A CVD rep said the outlook is good with weather likely to cool down Saturday and Sunday.

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

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!

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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.

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  • 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

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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.

Scenes From the Weekend: Venice

The stars aligned in such a way that I found myself in Venice two nights in a row. This, from a woman who hates to venture east of Calabasas. I do it for the love, people.

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First – on Friday night I joined a friend and took PCH down to Witz End on Lincoln Blvd. to see my friend and former coworker play a one-hour, one-man acoustic set. Charlie Vaughn, everybody!

Venice, Take 2

On Saturday night three of my friends and colleagues and I drove down to Hotel Palomar in Westwood for a three-hour blogging event sponsored by Invisalign. We didn’t venture up to see the rooms but I took a moment to appreciate the hotel’s streetside and lobby hallway. I love hotels. I should amend that to say I love nice hotels.

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After our event at Hotel Palomar, we snaked through the streets of West LA and down Lincoln to Hotel Erwin at Windward Circle in Venice to meet our pal and colleague who was in town for CicLAvia. She was showing off the app she represents, called Field Trip. We took the elevator to the roof and enjoyed some tasty drinks at the hotel’s bar called “High.” The view of the city was great, and though the flaming heat lamps were fired up, it was pretty chilly up there.

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Perfect spot for summertime drinks at sunset, though. Parking in the adjacent lot was only $10. Sigh. Only $10. Did I really just type that?

In other news, we had baseball this weekend:

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And we made a quick stop into the Goodwill store in Thousand Oaks, where we emerged with a completely unplanned purchase of a snazzy “new” blazer for my little fashion enthusiast:

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And here is a photo of the intrepid ladies outside Vons on Agoura Road in Westlake Village who were protesting the use of GMO’s in Kellogg’s products. I had read about their protest in The Acorn, and thought I’d drop by to check out the throngs of angry protesters. There were only two here when I drove by, and they just seemed tired.

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 What did YOU do this weekend?