Seaside Park (Ventura)

Seaside Park (commonly known as the Ventura County Fairgrounds) is an event venue in Ventura, California, United States. The 62-acre site (25 ha) is the home of the Ventura County Fair.[1] Trade shows, concerts, and other events are held throughout the year at the fairgrounds. The beachfront site, near the mouth of the Ventura River, also includes Surfers' Point, known for its point break that produces distinctive waves.

Seaside Park
Ventura County Fairgrounds
Location10 West Harbor Boulevard
Ventura, California
Coordinates34°16′31″N 119°18′13″W
Area62 acres (25 ha)
Owned byState of California
Administered by31st District Agricultural Association
Public transit accessVentura Amtrak station
Websitewww.venturacountyfair.org

The original 65 acres (26 ha) were donated to the County of Ventura by Eugene Preston Foster and Orpha Foster, who envisioned the Seaside Park as a miniature Golden Gate Park. The Fosters wanted a beautiful gateway to Ventura, where families could walk and picnic, play tennis, and enjoy family outings. Most of the site is now owned by the State of California and is managed by the 31st District Agricultural Association, am independent state agency.

Events and activities

Fairgrounds
Ventura County Fair sign
Main article: Ventura County Fair

The 31st District Agricultural Association is a state special-purpose district in the Division of Fairs and Expositions of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The Fair Board's role is to set and approve policies for the organization. Members of the Board of Directors are appointed by the governor of California. They organize the annual Ventura County Fair and run the Derby Club, a live via satellite horse racing off-track wagering facility.[2][3]

Events are held throughout the year, including trade shows, conventions, concerts, and festivals.[2] The year-round facility has convention facilities, demonstration halls, equestrian facilities which include an 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) arena, and administrative offices. Although the original race track and grandstand are long gone,[4] the Ventura Raceway is hosted at the fairgrounds when the fair is not in season.

The Thousand Oaks shooting at the Borderline dance bar in November 2018 was a month before the last gun show of the year at the fairgrounds. While considering the 2019 season, the board fair only approved the first two guns shows of the new year with the desire to prepare a policy before approving the three additional gun shows requested by the company that puts on them on.[5][6]

Public recreation
Surf Check parking sign

The Omer Rains Bike Trail lies outside the fairgrounds fence running along the beach and river levee.[7] Connecting the San Buenaventura State Beach to the south and Emma Wood State Beach to the north, the path is on the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route and also serves as an access point for California Coastal Trail.[8] Surfing is popular here with its point break that produces distinctive waves.[9][10]

History

Eugene P. and Orpha Foster envisioned a miniature Golden Gate Park since John McLaren, the designer of that park, was a family friend. They donated the original 65 acres (26 ha) to the County of Ventura, adding another 14 acres (5.7 ha) later. They wanted a beautiful gateway to Ventura, where families could walk and picnic, play tennis, and enjoy family outings.[11]

Historical uses
John J. Coit's locomotive at the Seaside Park in California. John Coit and his conductor "Shorty" Chase are shown just in front of the locomotive.

Around 1901, John J. Coit installed and operated a miniature railway in Seaside Park, probably with the unusual gauge of 14 1⁄2 in (368 mm). The locomotive, which Coit had designed, was of the camelback type. After a short period of time, he relocated some of the equipment to the Long Beach and Asbury Park Railway.

For many years, Babe Ruth Field occupied the area of the main parking lot[12] and served as the home of the Ventura Braves, Ventura Yankees, and Ventura Oilers professional baseball teams.[13]

Modern projects

In 2011, the popular bike and pedestrian path was moved inland as part of a managed retreat project, a first of its kind in California.[9][14][15] Initially, fair officials wanted a buried sea wall to protect the bike path that had been damaged since it was built in 1989. Surfers fiercely objected, fearing that this would destroy the point break near the Ventura River that generates the distinctive waves at Surfers' Point at Seaside Park, the city park area.[16] Environmentalists projected reduced habitat and increased erosion rates on nearby beaches by the altered wave patterns.[17][18][19]

In 1922, a horse race was filmed here for The Pride of Palomar, a movie bankrolled by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures.[20]

In 1927, Racing Romeo, a saga about a young race car driver starring football great Red Grange, used the fairground track.[20]

See also

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ventura County Fairgrounds
  2. "Ventura County Fairgrounds".
  3. Mosk, Matthew (October 19, 1993). "Fairground Hopes Off-Track Betting Is More Addictive Than Smoking : Recreation: Gamblers at Watch and Wager halls may find cigarettes no longer welcome after a board vote today". Los Angeles Times.
  4. "History of Ventura County Fair & Seaside Park". The Fillmore Gazette. 5 August 2009.
  5. Karlamangla, Soumya (December 14, 2018). "After Thousand Oaks mass shooting, anti-gun activists target gun shows". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  6. Martinez, Arlene. "Ventura County Fair board to vote on the future of gun shows at fairgrounds". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  7. "Biking in California State Parks" (PDF). California Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  8. "California Coastal Trail Hiker's Guide: Ventura County Section 4 Map". Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  9. Martinez, Arlene (May 2, 2016). "As El Niño ebbs, plan to move Surfers Point bike path in Ventura moves forward". Ventura County Star. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  10. Plascencia, Anthony (August 9, 2018). "Your guide to Ventura County beaches". Ventura County Star. Archived from the original on 2019-07-18. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  11. Schofield, Mildred Ranger. "A BRIEF HISTORY OF EUGENE P. FOSTER" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 1, 2014.
  12. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Babe Ruth Field
  13. Pastore, Eric; Pastore, Wendy. "DigitalBallparks.com Ventura". Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  14. Xia, Rosanna (July 7, 2019). "The California coast is disappearing under the rising sea. Our choices are grim". Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  15. Martinez, Arlene (May 2, 2016). "As El Niño ebbs, plan to move Surfers Point bike path in Ventura moves forward". Ventura County Star. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  16. Barboza, Tony (January 16, 2011). "In Ventura, a retreat in the face of a rising sea". Ventura County Star.
  17. Martinez, Arlene (January 23, 2019). "Beach access at Surfers Point in Ventura soon to grow". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  18. Downing, Jim; Blumberg, Louis; Hallstein, Eric (2014). Written at California Program. "Reducing Climate Risks with Natural Infrastructure" (PDF). Case study 5: Surfers Point Managed Retreat. San Francisco: The Nature Conservancy. p. 16. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  19. Davis, Gail (September 12, 2000). "Rock Delivery Shores Up Surfers Point". Los Angeles Times.
  20. Hulse, Jane (January 2, 1997). "Ventura Ready for Its Close-Up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  21. Line, Arthur W. (April 23, 1908). "Model Railways – XIX. – Eastlake Park Scenic Railway, Los Angeles, California". The Model Engineer and Electrician. pp. 395, 396, 397, 398, 399. Missing or empty |url= (help)
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