Photos by Michael Gordon

Once again, the Ventura Family YMCA hosted the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson, an event that seeks to break the record for largest Swim Lesson Worldwide. The 2018 WLSL event included almost 45,000 participants from 26 countries.

Tens of thousands of kids and adults at aquatic facilities around the world united for the tenth year in a row to make noise that Swimming Lessons Save Lives.™ A global event.

A solitary Giant Lupine stands over the southern end of California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument. Photo by Dan Holmes

Sustainability Now News
by Maryann Ridini Spencer
(@MaryannRidiniSpencer)

Ventura Land Trust is inviting all amateur and professional photographers to submit original nature photographs for consideration in the 2019 Ventura Land Trust Nature Photography Contest and Exhibit. The contest, which began in May, will run through July 13, 2019.

“Ventura is home to spectacular seascapes, stunning wide-open spaces, and unique wildlife,” said Ventura Land Trust Development and Marketing Director, Adrienne Stephens. “We decided to hold a contest because we felt capturing nature’s beauty through the work of local photographers is a creative and fun way to highlight Ventura Land Trust’s mission to permanently protect the land, water, wildlife, and scenic beauty of the Ventura region for current and future generations.”

The contest, the first of its kind for the Land Trust, encourages individuals to explore Ventura’s natural beauty with their camera, whether it’s in their backyard or a public space. Entrants can submit up to three original nature photographs of wildlife, landscapes or scenic beauty by July 13. There is a $20 per person entry fee.

The esteemed panel of judges for the contest include Dan Holmes of Ventura, a professional freelance photographer, California Master photographer, and PPC Certified Image Competition Judge; George (Hutch) Hutchinson of Westlake Village, an accomplished amateur photographer and longstanding member of Photographic Society of America; Sherron Shepard of Ventura, an accomplished photographic artist, PPA Master Photographer, and PPC Certified Image Competition Judge; and Luisa Hyatt of Santa Barbara, art curator for Rincon Brewery.

Final judging for the contest will occur between July 14 and 16, and all finalists will be informed by email. Submissions will be judged on subject, composition, framing, lighting, and overall “wow” factor. All Finalist and Winner photos will then be publically announced at an Opening Reception on September 5 to be held at Rincon Brewery, 4100, Telegraph Road, where the images will be exhibited (and available for sale) from September 5 through November 30, 2019.

“Ever since my childhood, when I would pour over the beautiful photos in National Geographic, I’ve loved nature photography. I’m so excited that the walls of Rincon Brewery will soon be covered with the Land Trust’s contest winners. It will be a beautiful sight!” said Stephens.

For complete contest information, and to download the application, go to venturalandtrust.org and click on the Photography Contest tab. For more information, contact Adrienne Stephens, [email protected] or (805) 643-8044.

The festival draws thousands annually to Ojai.

Lavender magic returns for the 16th year as Ojai festoons herself in fragrant, purple glory to celebrate an especially bountiful and breathtakingly beautiful season of local lavender. While drought and fire affected last year’s crop, Mother Nature has been most tender with temps and generous with rain in 2019 to produce a banner year for the versatile herb.

Always held the last Saturday in June to coincide with Ojai’s peak lavender bloom Festival will be Saturday, June 29th, 10am-5pm at Libbey Park. The festival draws thousands annually to Ojai for a family-friendly day of art, music, food, games, speakers, prizes and over 100 vendors offering a wide array of lavender and lavender-inspired products, including oils, vinegars, honey, aromatherapy and beauty products, culinary items, candles and of course plenty of freshly cut, dried and potted lavender. Local shops, restaurants, wineries, breweries, java cafes and overnight accommodations love to participate in the lavender celebration, too, and many feature unique lavender items and sales specials.

The sober side to this exciting event is that 2019 will be the final festival, at least as of the moment of this writing. The Ojai Valley Lavender Festival (OVLF) committee – tiny but fierce – has produced this incredible event for 16 years. The all-volunteer team lead by Executive Director Neil Friedrichsen, President Cindy Mullins and Vice President Joy Brown, is ready to retire. Yes, it’s a lot of work but it brings so much joy to so many. Hopefully another group or organization will step up and assume the lavender mantel to carry the festival into the future. Interested? Please contact Cindy Mullins at www.ojaivalleylavenderfestival.org to learn more.

Start with a 10:00 am performance by musician Richard Kaller on Libbey Park’s front patio. The all-day music lineup at the gazebo will feature the Old Time Fiddlers, District 8 at 10:00 am; Hal Waite and the Gaddis Boys at 11:15 pm; Lynn Mullins and Coyote Creek at 12:30 pm; Smitty and Julija at 1:45 pm, Cindy Kalmenson and the Lucky Ducks at 2:45 pm; and Jon Gindick at 3:45 p.m.

The festival speakers’ tent will present Renee Roth at 12:00 pm with “Greywater Reclamation,” and Amanda Mullins at 2:00 pm with “Make Your Favorite Foods Nutritious and Delicious.”

Art, including entries in the 2019 Ojai Valley Lavender Festival Art Contest, will be on display and for sale in the festival’s art pavilion.

OVLF’s popular Passport Game will offer fun, adventure and plenty of chances to win great prizes donated by festival vendors.

Another favorite, local Frog Creek Lavender Farm will again join the festivities, offering farm visits with U-pick lavender at its Upper Ojai farm 10:00 am- 5:00 pm on festival day, June 29th, and 10:00 am-3:00 pm weekends through July. www.frogcreekfarmojai.com for directions and details.

As a nonprofit organization, the Ojai Valley Lavender Festival has long supported the community through scholarship awards and community grants. This year’s $2,500 OLVF David Mason Scholarship Award goes to Claire Hankins. Additional $2,000 OVLF Scholarship recipients are Karen Romero Sanchez, Angela Zirpolo, Aliyah Zweig and Giovanni Torres.

The free event offers free parking managed by Chief Peak 4-H, with complimentary parking shuttles run by HELP of Ojai. OVLF warmly thanks these organizations, as well as Ojai/Ventura Teen Challenge, Von’s, Ojai City Council, and OVLF’s many new and returning volunteers, vendors and festival guests, for helping to make the Ojai Valley Lavender Festival a joyful, memorable, and successful community event year after year. It’s been a really great romp through the lavender. Learn more at www.ojaivalleylavenderfestival.org

Local tattoo artist preps Nichole Franklin for a tattoo for the SNAFI fundraiser.

by Amy Brown

It’s 9:30am on a Sunday and there’s already a long line out the door at Roses and Rivets Gallery and Body Art studio in Santa Paula. Folks had been queued up for some time, waiting to be tattooed by Steph Sparrow at her second annual fundraising event for Still Not Asking For It (SNAFI), a tattoo flash fundraiser event for sexual assault and rape survivors. All proceeds go to organizations which aid in prevention, healing and justice of survivors. Ventura resident Sparrow was selected as the only tattoo artist in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties to participate in the national event, and she chose the Coalition for Family Harmony’s rape crisis center in Oxnard as the organization to receive the money raised from her efforts in the event.

Sparrow tattooed participants from morning into the night, and raised $2,200 for the Coalition, twice what she raised in the event last year. Flash events have pre-drawn tattoo designs relevant to the cause, and available at a reduced price.  Customers are tattooed on a first come, first served basis. “Word definitely gets around that I’m doing it, and it’s kind of intense, with hardly any time for bathroom breaks or to eat, it’s crazy!” said Sparrow.

She shared that she was expecting the crowds, but wasn’t expecting the number of people who also shared their own stories of rape or incest during the event. “The tattoo chair is always kind of a confessional, and I’ve had people tell me about their childhood abuse; it’s a really powerful thing,” said Sparrow. “Tattooing itself gives people the sacred space to own their own bodies; it’s such a powerful ritual. Tattooing did that for me. I’m honored that so many people came out to support the event, and to see so much money being donated to the Coalition.”

Nichole Franklin, a native of Ventura and currently residing in Santa Paula, was one of the first in line for the event. “Steph is a phenomenal artist, plus, she’s a pilot, has been a teacher and a musician—she’s basically my spirit animal,” said Franklin. “This is a great cause—all the events she does are great—but this one is a little more personal for me,” said Franklin, who chose a whimsical Stegosaurus tattoo design with the words “Don’t Touch” below it, in homage to the SNAFI cause.

“We’ve basically been waiting our whole lives for a woman-owned tattoo shop in this area,” said Morgan Williamson, as she waited patiently to get a cute baby porcupine design with “Don’t Touch” under it on her left forearm. When asked why she chose that design, she said “It’s an adorable way to get a little bit of closure, now I’ll be able to look down at something pretty.”

Sparrow who has been tattooing for 12 years, is essentially a modern Renaissance woman; with a PhD in Music Composition, she was also a former college professor, and currently holds a private pilot’s license, and is an avid long-distance runner on the Ventura trailheads. Opposing stereotypes comes with her territory and her brand. “Every single day is an exercise in combatting stereotypes,” she says of her shop, and being a woman-owned business, not to mention tattoos in general. “Tattooing is an outlet of self-ownership, and self-expression, and to be able to empower other people in that way in a safe space is a real honor.”

Every child was so excited and enthused about their experience.

n celebration of National Bicycle Month and Foster/Resource Family awareness month, two local nonprofits came together for a special day! Kids & Families Together and Bike Ventura.

Kids & Families Together is a local nonprofit who provides therapy and support services to kinship, adoption, foster, and birth families in Ventura County and Bike Ventura whose mission is to foster a safe, healthy community through bicycle-centered education, empowerment, and advocacy in Ventura County.

In partnership with Cross Pointe Church Ventura provided an amazing bike event for these kinship, adoption, and foster families. This event was created because a grandmother caring for a grandchild called Kids & Families Together, because of the age of her and her husband, there granddaughter, who was 8, didn’t know how to ride a bike and they didn’t feel comfortable teaching her.

Bike Ventura’s passion to educate the community on bike education and training was the perfect collaboration. With over 30 kids in attendance each child was given a free helmet, free bike repair, lessons on bike safety and how to ride, some or more seasoned riders were able to go on a bike ride around the neighborhood; practicing what they learned from the event.

Every child was so excited and enthused about their experience. Lunch was donated by Domino’s Pizza and Jersey Mikes. Cross Pointe provided many of the volunteers and blow up slides for the kids to have fun after the event. All in all, is was a great day where families could create fun memories and times together.

A couple of the favorite moments of the day was one girl who had her training wheels removed for the first time and was able to go on the bike ride around the neighborhood. Another was that one child was able to receive a free bike through Shelter Care Resources. By the end of the day each child had a huge smile on their face and was proud and confident in what they had learned and excited to keep learning how to ride.

“We rolled out our mats and settled into a meditation.”

by Chris Roberts

In its first community event since the Thomas fire, Jo Ann Wedding led a small group of yogis through the impressive new Ventura Botanical Garden gateway to the base of the trail.

The view was astonishing. The trail is fully restored between the trailhead and Summit Road, about half way to the top of the ridge. The rockwork takes me back to the hills in Greece or Portugal. Line upon line upon line of curved stone batter walls define he trail, the planters and those parts of the hillside that require additional stability reinforcement. The repetitive rhythm of the undulating walls is striking, and at a deeper level, my appreciation for the hours of handwork required to create this setting take me back to a time when manual labor, not machines, built structures. This is not like the stone walls that lined the edge of the trail before this fire. The stonework is so prevalent that it establishes an artwork array as far as the eye can see. The plants are in bloom, and the diversity of Mediterranean plants is breathtaking.

For those wanting a more vigorous ascent, curved stone steps, cross the low gradient switchbacks, offering a shorter, but more vigorous hillside ascent.

The group reached a patio overlook at the Summit Drive terminus. We rolled out our mats and settled into a meditation that include breathing in the fresh air, feasting on the ocean and mountains views, and the quiet natural setting. Attention to the breath, and a peaceful setting are prime yoga session components.

Master yogi LeeAnn McGuire led us through a series of relaxing but energetic poses and we all had gentle smiles as we rolled up the mats and made the refreshing decent back to the trailhead. Thanks to Yoga Jones and the Ventura Botanical Gardens for making this special event possible. Future gatherings are planned on June 13 and June 27.

The rebuilt trail and vastly improved gardens are gentle yet spectacular. I will return often.

Circus Vargas – the big one is back!

The Big One is Back with “The Greatest of Ease’ bringing acrobats, daredevils and flying trapeze! Join us in celebrating, Circus Vargas’ 50th anniversary extravaganza, an homage to the golden era of circus in America, in Camarillo at the Camarillo Premium Outlets June 13th through 17th, and continuing up the Central Coast to Santa Barbara at the Earl Warren Showgrounds June 20th through 24th, and San Luis Obispo at Madonna Inn June 27th through July 8th.

All aboard our spectacular circus steam engine as we ride the railways back in time, to relive the nostalgia of yesteryear! Marvel at the sights and sounds emanating from the big top, just as audiences did decades ago!

The hypnotic call of the calliope, the sawdust, the sequins, the spangles!

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! Witness the unusual, the astonishing, the unimaginable! Wonder at the daring and the beauty! Experience the phenomenal, the extraordinary!

Run away with the circus, for two unforgettable hours of nonstop action and adventure, as we transport you back through the ages of circus history and tradition! A magnificent, mega-hit production guaranteed to thrill and enchant children of all ages …only at Circus Vargas, where memories are made and cherished for a lifetime!

Always fun for the entire family, Circus Vargas’ incredible new 2019 production highlights an amazing cast of world-renowned performers! Death- Defying Acrobats, Daredevils, Aerialists, Jugglers, Contortionists, Clowns, Motorcycles and much, much, more!

Arrive 30 minutes early for an entertaining, interactive pre-show celebration, where kids can create their own magic under the big top, learning circus skills such as juggling, balancing and more! Meet and mingle with the entire cast after each performance. Capture the fun by posing for pics or selfies with your favorite cast members, all part of an unforgettable Circus Vargas experience!

For Circus Vargas performance dates, times and to purchase tickets, visit www.circusvargas.com, call 877-GOTFUN-1 (877-468-3861) or visit the box office at each location. Follow Circus Vargas on Facebook and Twitter for updates, discounts and behind the scenes video.

Performance Schedule

Thursday, June 13 through Monday, June 17 Camarillo, Camarillo Premium Outlets

740 E. Ventura Blvd., Camarillo, 93010

Thursday, June 20 through Monday, June 24 Earl Warren Show Grounds

3400 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, 93105