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Max and Ali. Looks like nap time
is approaching |
They have strawberry pie eating contests, strawberry souffle, strawberry costume contests, strawberry wine, strawberry beer, strawberry dancing, strawberry raffles, strawberry lemonade, strawberry candy, strawberry jerky, strawberry kebabs, strawberry funnel cake, strawberry art, and on and on.
Oxnard is known for strawberries. If you don't know that before arriving at the
Strawberry Festival, you will. There are fields of the red fruit running north and south of the 101 and it's juicy bounty is celebrated every summer for a long weekend in Ventura County.
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| Enjoying a strawberry wine |
My family attended the festival, invited by our friends Max and Margaret. We pushed around our baby daughter Frankie in a stroller, doing our best to shield her from the scorching sun. Max brought his little girl, Ali, who had been to the festival the previous year so she was a pro on knowing where to go, what to see, and what sweets to eat.
The four adults enjoyed strawberry wine while the kids shared fried rice and noodles from a Thai food truck. Needing a break from the sun, we found a shaded park bench beside a tranquil duck pond, giving us a moment to talk about our kids, people-watch, and regret the number of chocolate-covered strawberries we ate before having dinner.
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| Ali tries to calm an irate Frankie |
Like San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, Oxnard is one of those small California towns that I love. It's an agricultural community that's also near a stretch of coastline which has some of the most magical sunsets I've ever seen. The annual Strawberry Festival is a perfect reminder for anyone nearby to make their way to Ventura County and be reminded again that California has a lot more to offer than LA and the Bay Area.
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| Max and Frankie enjoying the shade |
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| Image from the Festival website |
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| Image from the Festival website of a chef presentation |
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