Community members of all ages are invited to visit Ventura City Hall, located at 501 Poli Street, for a fun afternoon learning about local government during an Open House celebrating Ventura’s 150th anniversary of cityhood. The free event will be held Friday, March 11, from 1 to 4 pm.
Art and historic tours, music, refreshments, displays, open offices and a mock City Council meeting conducted by VUSD fifth grade school children are all highlights of the afternoon.
FOYER – Meet your guide Glenda Jackson at 1:15 and 3 pm in the first floor Foyer for a tour of the historic building with fascinating stories about its landmark architecture and role as the former county courthouse. At 2:30 pm Community Partnerships Manager Denise Sindelar will guide you through the building’s nationally prominent Municipal Art Collection – a permanent showcase of the county’s finest artists.
ATRIUM – Enjoy live music, refreshments and displays by the Ventura Water, Police and Community Development departments in the first floor Atrium from 1 to 4 pm.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS – Don’t miss the mock City Council Meeting conducted by Ventura Unified School District fifth grade school children at 2 pm in the majestic second floor Council Chambers, once the county’s superior court.
COMMUNITY MEETING ROOM – Explore a century of dramatic historic photos of city history in this former courtroom on the second floor from 1 to 4 pm.
SANTA CRUZ CONFERENCE ROOM – View a 20-minute film celebrating the first century of City Hall in the smallest former courtroom on the second floor 1 to 4 pm.
CITY MANAGER, CITY CLERK & HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICES – Meet city officials and explore the offices of government leaders during the open house from 1 to 4 pm.
CITY HALL EAST BACK PARKING LOT – Visit “touch a truck” displays behind the building from Ventura Police, Fire, Public Works and Ventura Water from 1 to 4 pm.
Experience 1840s California at free Olivas’ RANCHO DAYS on March 13
Find out what life was like on a California Rancho over 170 years ago during the “Rancho Days Celebration” on Sunday, March 13, from 11 am to 3 pm at the historic Olivas Adobe, 4200 Olivas Park Drive, near Ventura Harbor.
Step back in time to experience Ventura’s Western heritage-Chumash, Mexican and Cowboy-at California’s only remaining Monterey Style adobe built in the 1840s by a Mexican family on the 4,694-acre cattle-and-crop land grant Rancho San Miguel.
Enjoy great period entertainment and try your hand at a dozen engaging and educational activities for the whole family with Rancho-era workshops led by outreach staff, volunteer experts and heritage services organizations including the Ventura County Hand Weavers & Spinning Guild, Olivas Adobe Historical Interpreters and Channel Islands Woodcarvers.
Make adobe bricks. Grind corn and grill tortillas. Pan for gold. Rope a steer. Try beading, birding and animal tracking. Craft some Mexican paper flowers. Learn more about the Chumash natural and spiritual worlds, the adobe’s barrel organ, Gene West wooden toys, laundry days and Thaumatropes and old gadget guessing games plus watch antique gun demonstrations, tour the historic adobe with costumed docents abd visit the Mexican food truck onsite to purchase authentic refreshments.
ENTERTAINMENT LINEUP
11-12 Mariachi Aguilas de Oxnard
12:05-12:25 Ballet Folklorico de Bell Arts – repeats 1:05-1:20
12:30-1 Professor Tinker’s Magical Medicine Show – repeats 1:25-1:50
2:10-3 California State Old time Fiddlers – Range Riders
The Rancho Days Celebration is an all-free event in celebration of the City of Ventura’s150th anniversary of cityhood thanks to the sponsorship of Olivas family descendants Bill and Elise Kearney.
