Strawberries
constitute an important part of
California's agricultural economy. , they were grown on in
Ventura County alone—bringing in $176 million—making it the county's second-largest crop after
lemons. In 1983, councilman and former mayor of the city of
Oxnard—Tsujio Kato—was asked by
public relations consultant Terry Pimsleur if there would be any interest in creating a
strawberry festival there. Strawberries were very important to Kato, whose uncle was the most significant grower of strawberries in the area at the time. The city council voted to approve the festival and provided the funds, making it a city-sponsored event. Kato and Pimsleur, along with city staff members Kathy Burris and Jim Faulconer, worked together to organize the festival and create a logo. They called it the California Strawberry Festival, to emphasize the state's growing reputation in strawberry cultivation. Kato recruited board members throughout the city for their advice and expertise. Then-director Shelley Merrick explained that one of the rationales for starting the festival was to pay homage to
harvest festivals of the past. drawing 5,000 visitors. The participation of local businesses, growers, and industries was a big factor in the festival's success, especially
The J.M. Smucker Company, the event's first-ever patron.
Budweiser later came on as a sponsor, at times sending in their
Clydesdales for promotion. The income from the festival helped thirty nonprofit organizations that year. Free parking was available at a number of fields surrounding the venue, and
hay bales were substituted for seating. The organization provided $5,000 in scholarships to students of
California State University, Channel Islands who were strawberry pickers or the children of farm workers. The shuttle program was expanded in 2004 to 18 buses, which added more stops in town and in nearby
Camarillo, reducing the amount of cars on major arteries in the park's vicinity. The festival's final iteration at College Park took place in 2019, after which the event was cancelled for three years due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The festival restarted in 2023 at its new location at the
Ventura County Fairgrounds in
Ventura. ==Description==