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Simi's greatest tradition returns
Gates will open at 11 a.m. tomorrow and Sunday for the 18th annual Cajun Creole Music Festival- Simi's own version of Mardi Gras- a local tradition that has grown in size and scope nearly every year since it was first thought up 20 years ago by a member of the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise. The club still puts on the fundraiser with the help of more than 300 volunteers. "We work all year long in preparation for these two days," said current Sunrise Rotary Club president Gary Stewart. "This is our biggest fundraiser hands down, and all the money we raise goes back into the community or into other Rotary service projects." According to this year's festival chair, Randy Greene, the twoday event, which relocated to Rancho Santa Susana Park in 2000, has expanded its borders to ensure there's still enough elbow room to go around. "The site is about 40 percent larger this year since we took over another softball field," Greene said. "We're trying to stay ahead of the crowds." The number of craft vendors has increased as well, Greene said, from 70 to more than 100, as has the size of the "Cajun Kids" area- making the festival, which is dubbed "the largest Cajun Creole event west of the Mississippi," as family friendly as ever. "It's really become a family affair, which is what Simi is all about," Greene said. New this year to the festival is the Gator Run 5K/10K run/walk put on by Rotary Club of Simi Sunset. Beginning at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the inaugural race will take runners east on Los Angeles Avenue on a loop that includes portions of Cochran, Tapo and Stearns streets. Proceeds from the event will go toward the Ventura County Fire Department's Fallen Firefighter Memorial Fund. Greene said interest in the Gator Run has been so great that event organizers are considering holding the race a week prior to the Cajun festival next year. "We've already had between 300 and 350 people preregister- and that doesn't include all of those who will sign up on the day of the race," Greene said. Stewart praised Greene for the work he's done not only organizing this year's festival, but promoting it as well. Organizers were faced with a new challenge this year after the city passed its anti-sign ordinance, Stewart said, making it illegal to put signs in the public right of way. To get around the law, Greene devised a plan to create hundreds of car magnets that Rotary members could attach to their cars, transforming them into moving billboards for the festival. "He's done a fantastic job," Stewart said of Greene. "He was able to make an adjustment and still get the word out that we're still here." Marshal Shrago, the volunteer facilities and operations manager for the Cajun festival for the past decade, said it's hard to imagine how far the festival has come since it began as a less-than-successful clam bake in 1989. "When you see that dance floor- it's something else- it's packed," Shrago said of the festival's patented 3,000squarefoot outdoor floor. "It just keeps getting bigger and bigger." Greene said the success of the event is no mistake: It is the result of hard work and plenty of planning. "Every year we put in some new fresh ideas, a little different spin . . . something to make it bigger or better," Greene said. "It's very rewarding to just go out and see the site. The anticipation for this weekend is incredible." Over the course of its history, the Cajun Creole Music Festival has enabled the Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise to distribute net proceeds in excess of $1.2 million to numerous charitable organizations and community groups in Simi Valley, Ventura County, and even internationally. What Annual Cajun Creole Music Festival Where Rancho Santa Susana Park, 5005 E. Los Angeles Ave. (at the intersection of L.A. and Stearns) When Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27 from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Why Hundreds of Cajun Creole bands, vendors and performers make it the biggest festival of its kind west of the Mississippi |
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