Endless Summer : Beach Party ’96 Holds Autumn at Bay for at Least Another Day

VENTURA —  Trying to keep those good vibrations happening, city promoters offered up a summertime concoction of sand, surf and classic beach music.

“Nobody wants summer to end,” said Debbie Solomon, a spokeswoman for California Beach Party ’96.

About 34,000 people strolled the Ventura beachfront promenade Saturday and Sunday, snacking on ice cream and hot dogs, watching surf and volleyball competitions and sampling tunes from more than a dozen bands, including the king of surf guitar, Dick Dale & The Deltones.

The crowd was about 2,000 more than last year’s fete, an increase attributed to organizers moving the annual beach party from spring to fall, and promoting the event as far away as Bakersfield and the Antelope Valley.

For the past 10 years, the beach party was held the last week of April, when Ventura’s weather tends toward the cold and soggy. Last year’s event, marred by drizzle and chilly ocean breezes, could best be described as a wipeout.

“We moved it because of the weather and also to expand Ventura’s tourist season into September,” said Andrea Anderson, a marketing specialist for the city. “We’ve kind of catapulted Ventura’s tourist season another two or three weeks.”

The wisdom of the move was not lost on those watching and competing in the Sunday finals of the beach party’s longboarding championships. Surfers and spectators alike were stoked on both the waves and balmy temperatures, despite overcast skies that obscured the sun most of the day.

“The fact they changed it from April to September was a very good choice,” said 47-year-old James Siciliano of Ventura. “We’ve got surf and the weather’s been great,” he said. “All in all it’s been a pretty good contest.”

Siciliano, a surfer for the past 37 years, said the only irksome thing about the event was the huge number of vendors on the promenade selling everything from falafel sandwiches to custom skateboards.

“It’s a little commercialized, which a lot of people don’t care for,” he said.

Josh Hill, a 23-year-old longboarder from Ventura, accepted the vendors in a more positive way.

“It’s good for Ventura--lots of revenue,” Hill said. “I’m glad they do it one day out of the year instead of three or four, but it’s good. It’s good for longboarding.”

Hill said longboarding, which had been eclipsed for two decades following the advent of shorter boards, is now experiencing a renaissance.

“It’s taken off in the last three or four years,” he said. “I’d say it’s a lot more popular now for younger people. It’s a new era.”

Hill said the highlight of the surfing events was the competition for riders 60 and older.

“There’s a lot of history and heritage there,” he said.

Farther down the promenade, where the rocks of Surfer’s Point broaden out into a wide, sandy beach, 20-year-old Nicole Ruiz was watching her opponents warm up for the volleyball competition.

“We haven’t played in two years, so we’re not doing too well,” Ruiz said. “But we’re trying our hardest. This is our first tournament ever.”

Ruiz said she and her teammate weren’t particularly concerned about winning or losing in the competition. The main thing was to have a good time, now that summer has been officially extended.

“We’re the most unserious people here,” she said. “We don’t even have a volleyball with us.”