Strawberry Festival is back with new location
Ventura County’s top crop will again be celebrated with the return of the California Strawberry Festival.
After a three-year hiatus, the 37th annual event will be held on May 20 and 21 at a new location — the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
The festival, which attracts between 20,000 and 25,000 guests a day, offers a variety of family-friendly attractions. Festivalgoers can make their way through a ninja obstacle course, climb a rock wall, listen to 24 bands and browse nearly 200 food, beverage and arts-and-craft booths.
And of course, there will be plenty of strawberries and strawberry-themed foods and drinks. There will also be a Strawberryland for kids to explore.
“It’s our ‘comeback’ year and we want to come out bigger and better than ever,” said Dean Kato, chairman of the festival’s board of directors, in a statement.
The festival was last held in 2019 at Oxnard’s College Park but was canceled the following three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The south Oxnard park had hosted the event since 1991. Prior to that, the festival had been at Channel Islands Harbor since it began in 1984.
Kato said it would take organizers weeks to prepare the park for the festival. At the fairgrounds, the event can be set up in just days and can better accommodate guests thanks to various dining areas, large indoor spaces, parking lots and access to transportation.
The festival will be spread around 45 to 50 acres of the fairgrounds' 63-acre property, said Stacy Rianda, CEO of the fairgrounds.
“We have all the infrastructure they need,” she said. “In the past, they always had to build the event from the ground up.”
Julie Mino Buffo, president and CEO of Visit Oxnard, said she is sad the festival is leaving the city but understands it’s time for it to seek out a larger venue. She added the festival isn’t just an Oxnard or Ventura event but a countywide celebration of strawberries.
“Ventura County as a whole has such a rich agricultural history,” Mino Buffo said. “The festival helps to share that history.”
In 2021, strawberries brought an estimated gross value of $712 million, earning the spot as Ventura County’s No. 1 crop, according to the county's annual crop and livestock report.
Marlyss Auster, president and CEO of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau, welcomed the move to Ventura and agreed the festival isn’t just a boon for one city. Festivalgoers from outside the county will spill into other cities as they hunt for lodging.
Of the approximately 50,000 visitors expected throughout the two-day event, about half will come from neighboring Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties, Kato said.
Brian J. Varela covers Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo. He can be reached at brian.varela@vcstar.com or 805-477-8014. You can also find him on Twitter @BrianVarela805.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: California Strawberry Festival returns after hiatus with new location
