For a free event I truly thought the Banana Festival was a great time. The fact that it's free and…read moreopen for all ages makes this the perfect weekend spot annually to partake with friends and family. I also appreciate the variety - initially I thought everything was "bananas only" but my friend informed me that while booths have banana specials and some banana centered booths, this is truly a well rounded event showcasing all kinds of different shops and food stalls for banana addicts and people just here for a good time and some non-banana items. I love a good theme but I'm not the biggest banana fan so I was happy to be able to try food and drink vendors that catered to the masses. This year I supported a few local vendors and tried lumpia, dim sum, and fresh fruit juices. The food and drinks were 10/10. I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of food and drink vendors they had. They also had a small beer garden which was great to see. Aside from food there were some shopping stalls, kids arts and crafts areas, and a kids play area. Again, great for all ages. Also throughout the day they had different artists and dancers to keep the crowds entertained. This event is super walkable and honestly I was able to see all I wanted to see in about 1.5-2 hours. A small but mighty festival. Some notable tips: I would highly recommend getting here early / at opening. Parking is sparse and when arriving close to opening I had to park pretty far, I didn't mind the walk but for those elderly and such it's smart to get parking closer in the beach lots. They also had a shuttle to get people from the lots to the event but I opted to walk. Also keep in mind that seating is always limited at these types of events... I felt like they did a good job of setting up multiple tables and chairs for people dining but by lunch all of the tables were taken. No issue for me as I was here early, but I could see as it got busier It would be difficult to be able to sit down to eat. All in all, this was a really great free event and I'm so happy I came. I definitely love to come support every year and I'm so grateful the community has such a fun festival such as this one.

We went to the festival thinking they would have all kinds of banana things to eat. You know like…read morebanana pudding, frozen chocolate covered bananas, banana shakes. NOPE the 3 largest producer companies were handing out free bananas.... That's it !!! There were plenty of food vendors but they were the same old thing you find anywhere. There were a few ride type things for the kids and a beer garden for the party people. Honestly if it wasn't for the car show out front of the festival it would have been a major disappointment. We did get our free bananas so the best thing to come from it was I made banana bread the following weekend. And if you go be prepared to either walk a ways or wait in line for the shuttle bus.

Spectacular! Small enough to be WELL WORTH IT, and large enough to make it worthwhile. I never…read morewould have known about it, had it not been for Living Social. I had a free weekend, I drove up, stayed near Camarillo Outlets, then drove into Ventura for the balloon festival. There's only need to attend ONE day of the three. It's a GREAT hometown festival, whose main attraction are the balloons. Parking is good, wish I had time for the town tour, arrived early to take in the fest, and stayed late to experience all the balloons. I had the opportunity to watch them roll out the balloon, line up the strings, participate in the group effort to stand 'er up while the balloonist blew hot air within. The lighting of the balloons at night is spectacular, but probably would have been even more so if every balloon was alit during the fest. See pics.

Buying tickets online was easier this year because you could print out your entrance ticket…read moreimmediately. They also had streamlined the entrance process at the gate. Only bummer - they had the same bad t-shirt art again this year. How about taking a lesson from the Avocado Festival and having local artists compete for the t-shirt art and then maybe people would buy them? We started at the Wine Tasting Pavilion. 5 wineries this year. $2 per taste. I liked 75% of the wines this year. And towards the end of tasting time, the pours definitely were more generous. Although I did think it strange that a summer event would have all red wines, except for one white - a Chenin Blanc that was delicious. The boys headed for the beer tasting pavilion but ended up just buying full glasses of beer. I did try a Summer Shandy beer that was excellent. Dinner was from the Spencer MacKenzie fish truck again this year. I tried a less flammable sauce this year and enjoyed my fish taco more. I also enjoyed an order of their seasoned fries - thin, not overly greasy and lightly sprinkled with seasoning. The vendors were varied for craft items. I didn't purchase any impulse items, but the girl with us did purchase a few candles. The band for Friday evening played mellow County music and it fit with the casual evening. (I heard there was an unbefitting Rock band on Saturday.) The balloons are always center stage here and we weren't disappointed this year. They started inflating them just before sunset. They had more present than the previous year we had attended. We loved the alien-looking balloon called Outlander. And the Humpty Dumpty balloon was a hit. The Limoneira lemon-shaped balloon was fantastic. There were many with colorful patterns. Another evening of awe, wine, good food and friendship! I hope we can attend again next year

(((EDIT))) - IT'S FREE TO GET ITN!…read more So a friend invited me out for this yesterday (7/27/13) and it sounded interesting enough so a small group of us drove out to Oxnard for their Salsa Festival, which celebrates Salsa tasting (contest) and Salsa music/dancing. ========= LOCATION ========= Located in Oxnard, Ca. about 35 minutes north of Los Angeles. It's on 5th street in a park type area that leads into an outdoor mall / street. http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=kLa12yvdm7h5jpoDLWm53g&userid=1pgT-Eeh-GIOlhOgHMMRZA ========== THOUGHTS ========== SALSA TASTING TENT - For $5.00 you get 10 "tasting" tickets and a bag of chips. There are roughly 20+ vendors / stands inside a giant SALSA TASTING TENT. These Vendors typically have 2-4 types of salsa for you to try. Each small cup costs one ticket. There are tables to stand / rest at to put your salsa and chips and try. There's probably 100-200 different types of salsa to try. Everything ranging from Strawberry Salsa, XXX super hot Ghost Pepper Salsa, to a Black Bean and Corn Salsa. http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=4D0xJJstNFXWnCBpfoIUyA&userid=1pgT-Eeh-GIOlhOgHMMRZA My favorites were: ~ STRAWBERRY SALSA - the one with the pieces of strawberry. Tasted like a dessert syrup, i recommend it to counteract the hot ones. ~ SAN LUIS SALSA CO. - their guacamole is an award winner (lots of plaques) and it was truly the BEST guacamole I've ever tasted. It was so smooth, nice lemony hint, just pure smooth deliciousness.. ~ "RED HOT FOODS" stand and their XXX salsa. It was FLAMING hot. The first 15 seconds it tastes kind've bitter, then it starts to burn. Next your stomach and throat start to burn and finally you're tongue is on fire for about 5 minutes. I was so impressed I spent $10.00 on a bottle of theirs. ---------------------------------------- ~ THE SALSA STAGE - We didn't go here but its big and there's dancers and musicians playing the entire time. Lots of seating for this area, loved listening to the music in the backdrop during my day. ----------------------------------------- ~ THE CHEF DEMONSTRATIONS - There were signs for this right past the church and the mosque. It was a little seperate of the festival. It was held at "THE KITCHEN" restaurant in their banquet hall. Basically a chef, with a hostess/TV moderator come out and prepare a meal an d show you how it's done, complete with video camera and TV, just like on the FOOD NETWORK. This is awesome cause it's indoor and air conditioned and a nice 15-45 minute reprieve from the sun. The chef we got was "SHEME SANTIAGO" and Asian chef from "THE CAVE" restaurant @ the Ventura Wine Co. He made a Almond Jalapeno GELATO that was amazing. A hint of spice and sweet goodness, made from Coconut Milk. It was delicious. ========= THE FOOD ========= There's a variety of food tents throughout, mostly taco and empenada stands. Vallarta has a tent with their burritos and tacos. I tried OAXACO TACO's cause YELPERS said it was good. They lied. It was mediocre @ best, I've had waaay better tacos for the $2.00 they were charging. I also tried $4.00 LOBSTER BALLS from an Asian Fish n Chips tent. They were decent, nothing special. http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=LSdTdsdkBoQaD1vTrIfbcg&userid=1pgT-Eeh-GIOlhOgHMMRZA ========== A FEW TIPS ========== ~ Bring water. It helps battle some of the hotter salsas. ~ Buy $1.00 sodas from the FISH n CHIPS tent. $1.00 cans beats the $2.50 bottles elsewhere. ~ Bring your own food. There's no check-in so you can bring in your own meals if you want to. ~ There's a HUGE police presence but it's not too overbearing. Enough police so if something happens they'll have it under control relatively quickly. ============ CONCLUSION ============ Go now! It was 98-degrees in Canoga Park at noon. It was 66-degrees in Oxnard an hour later, no joke. It's a good escape from the L.A. summer heat. It's free to go to, no admission so if you're balling on a budget, come listen to some music and see some fun stuff for free. The salsa tasting is ONLY $5.00 and totally worth it. Go now!!!

It STINKS ! I will never go back.... Unless you go back the the original format !…read more 2024 was HORRIBLE ! !

Love that we have a little gem like the Studio Channel Islands art center in old town Camarillo…read more I've walked by this building many a times and always was curious what it was like inside. I came for a gala event over the weekend where they rented this space and was excited to check it out. There is plenty of parking as they have their own lot and we also were fine with parking across the street in the free two hour parking spots. The art center is small but a great way to see local art and pottery. They do have single stalls bathrooms inside the studio which is appreciated. It also looked like in one room they had jewelry for sale but I didn't give it a proper look as I was more focused on the artwork and decor. The reason for the docked star is simply because we wandered in as a part of an event that had rented the space and thus there wasn't a whole lot of art on display. What appeared to be up is their around the year collectibles and some small art work pieces. It's definitely better to plan ahead to come here when they are actually running an art exhibit or have an event specific to the art center. At least we got to check it out and have an idea about the space now. Very cool to have a place like this in Camarillo and eager to check them out again in the future so I can leave an updated review.

wonderful exhibitions of art, dance and musi. Lots of activities for everyone. Easy parking off of…read moreElm and great local restaurants and the Camarillo Premium discount malls are just ten minutes away.

Such a cool place and really underrated. The gift shop was really cool but it has been removed…read more Would be cool to see more resources going to a place like this.

Adventuring around town and came across this museum! What a fun place for children to explore and…read morelearn. They have interactive environments with a mock shopping area, bumble bee nest, outdoor garden, tractors and so much more. The guy at the front working was also so nice and informative when I asked alt of questions. Great place to go and learn a little about the history of agriculture! Has some great little items in the shop as well. Highly recommend for a family outing! Overall, 5/5 stars!

I'm in Ventura all the time and for some reason I've never stopped by, until now! It was my…read moremother-in-laws birthday and she really enjoys George Stuart. The museum entry was free. They have the front lobby (staff was extremely friendly!) and to the left, they have a store with unique items made by locals; you can explore after you make your way through the museum. During our time there, they had the following exhibitions: Parallel Histories: Ventura County during the US Revolution, Patriotic Threads: Textiles, Tapestries, & T-Shirts, The Changing Faces of Abraham Lincoln, and In Focus: Mexican Indigenous Voices of Ventura County. You can get through the museum roughly in a 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Definitely worth stopping by!

We just happen to be driving to Ventura for the day and found parking right in front. While paying…read morefor parking the music they had playing drew my attention. It so happens the day we went it was free admission. We come to the area every now and then from the valley (near studio city ) but never really noticed this place. I enjoyed seeing different artists woks. They had some parts where you had to guess which image is Ai out of three pictures. It was fun trying to figure it out. I could see myself coming back again.

Best pumpkin patch in Ventura County, very friendly family owned farm…read more Great prices and service. My family goes every year and will continue year after year. A must visit pumpkin patch to visit.

This page is wrong! We drove 30 min to be here, showed up at 7:40 when they clearly advertised they…read moreare open til 9pm. It was pitch black and no one was here. What a disappointment and waste of gas.

2026 Camarillo Greek Festival!!! WOW!!! The food is Delicious and the Greek beer & variety of…read morePastries....OMG!!!!! The Absolute Best!!!!! The Music is so Wonderful but the PASTRIES WON IT FOR US!!! 100%

My DNA is 100%…read more.... Zero Percent Greek. Trust me, I checked my 23&Me three different times just to make sure I didn't overlook it. But if being Greek wasn't actually dependent on your actual DNA, but instead measured by your Love for a Country, the Love for its People & the absolute Love for its food.... Then put me down as a 100%, Purebred, Hellenic-Bloodline Greek. Yeah, Greece is a magical place and a must see if you've never been. And although I have absolutely zero Greek blood in me, after my visit there in 2017, the country, the people, the wine and the food, will forever remain in my heart until I return one day again. ------------------------------- This past weekend, we saw that Camarillo was hosting its annual Ventura County Greek Festival and we knew immediately that we would be attending. So we loaded up the kids, headed over the hill and off to Camarillo we went. Apparently there is an offsite parking area that has shuttles to take you over and drop you off right in front, but we saw that other vehicles were heading up the hill from the event and so we decided to follow. Fortunately, there was street parking in an adjacent neighborhood and it was only a 5 min walk to the front gates. As we entered and paid for admission (kids free, $6 for adults and free for Active Duty/Retired Military) we felt instantly transformed back to our trip to Greece. Sure, the Parthenon located in Athens wasn't there... And the white buildings with blue roofs overlooking the Aegean Sea couldn't be seen... But... Greek Flags... The aromas of delicious Greek food being prepared... Bottles of Greek Wine & Beer waiting to be served.... Greek music playing in the background... And the beautiful St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church front and center of the festival... It was as close to being back to Greece as we could get. The Festival was surrounded by freshly prepared authentic Greek Food, and let me tell you.... It was heavenly! Greek Wine, Greek Beer, Greek inspired cocktails and even Greek coffee were also available for purchase. In addition to the food and drinks, there was live Greek music and opportunities to both dance and watch Greek Dancers perform for all to watch. Various vendors were on site selling all things Greek as well as other handmade crafts for your home. The turnout was very impressive (we were there on Saturday) and we stayed for about 2 hours or so. Bounce houses, areas to run on the grass and ice cream and various treats were all available for the kids. They even had a dominos pizza tent set up for anyone who just wasn't down for Greek food. The 3 day annual event is definitely a must if you are a Ventura County resident or a lover of all things Greek. We will ABSOLUTELY return next year! As they say in Greece... Opa!!