Ventura Aloha Festival and Car Show

By Robert Bernstein

We ventured to Ventura over Labor Day weekend for a double-header: The Aloha Festival and the Ventura Nationals Car Show.

Here are all my photos and videos!

First, we had to get to Ventura and it was a challenge with this truck rollover crash blocking Highway 101

We got very lucky because I had checked Mr. Google (Google Maps) before heading out and he said to exit onto Highway 1 at exit 78. That allowed us to bypass the worst of it. But our return travels in the afternoon were almost as bad and taking side routes did not help. Who else wants good rail service as civilized countries have? The Aloha Festival was held at Surfer’s Point/Promenade Park and we passed this mural on the way:

Even without the Aloha Festival the park, beach and surfers are all worth visiting, including some rock art:

The Ventura Bicycle Hub was running a bike valet parking service and explaining their other services. They are duplicating what Bici Centro/SBBIKE does in Santa Barbara: Offering kids a way to earn a bike by learning to fix bikes.

Our first stop was for food and there were many tropical choices

We did the Thai noodle combinations which were tasty, quick and affordable

Vincent Zaldivar was demonstrating his innovative Coco Taps and selling tapped coconuts for drinking coconut water. He was also playing ukulele and singing. He caught my attention when he sang about being a Mexican Jew!

Here my wife Merlie posed with him and we enjoyed one of the tapped coconuts. Delicious!

This mother and baby sat with us as her husband went off to get food for them

Nearby I ran into some familiar people Lloyd and Lisa Wyckoff who run Anacapa Ukulele in Ventura.

Here they were looking a bit different last October at the Carpinteria Day of the Dead festivities!

But the main attraction was yet to come on the main stage with Hawaiian and Tahitian dancing. As the crowd waited for the show to begin…

…children made bubbles and played on the lawn

And then came the main event for us: Dancers of the Aloha Hula Dance Studio, directed by Laua’e Pedersen. First up: The Lehua Class:

Next up were the children (keiki in Hawaiian)

These young ladies of the Hinano Class did some skillful dances, too!

Then came the Aparima Motu Uta Tahitian Dance in more modest outfits

These dancers were also in more modest garb

Next, the Tiare Class performed an impressively high energy Tahitian dance

These performers posed before starting their Aparima Tiare Opuhi e Tahitian Dance

And here was their dance!

The beautiful Closing Ote’a was performed by the Tiare and Lehua Class

We wandered the rest of the festival and beach area. You may recognize this from State Street!

I was happy to get some lightly used classic Aloha shirts from these people who were raising money for an innovative cat adoption center

This vendor was selling plumeria plants and flowers

There was some Tiki art for sale

We saw more surfers

And there were interesting people watching. Her top had an amusing question!

By coincidence, the Ventura Nationals Car Show was happening at the same time at the Ventura Fairgrounds. Just a ten minute walk across the vast parking lot. The parking lot had some intriguing vehicles and license plates, too!