OjaiNews.com

As the major annual fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Ojai West, empowering them to donate over $20,000 annually to our community and charities around our nation and world, the Ojai Wine Festival is quite an event. This year was the Festival's 21st year, featuring at least 38 wineries...ALL from California and MANY very local (there are microbreweries too!)

My wife and i first attended in 2005, to celebrate our near-to-the-date first wedding anniversary. We brought friends, cheese, and crackers...and made a tradition. This year was our first with our daughter, who will turn one in August. There weren't any 2007 wines out yet for us to buy and put away for her, but when they're ready the Wine Festival is where and when we'll select one. In the four years that i've attended, the weather has been gorgeous (i know, it's Ojai in June next to the lake, but still...), the event has been affordable and superbly staffed, the crowd has been huge and very alive, the vendors have been plentiful and varied, the pourers have been generous and delightfully friendly, and the live music has been grand.

My only gripe this year is that rather than having Tom Thumb and the Hitchikers play the entire event, a new act was added that left me less than thrilled: Sgt. Pepper, a four piece tribute band that does mostly Beatles tunes...and only sort-of well, in my opinion. Now, i know it takes a lot to perform musically, and certainly there were plenty of folks willing to let the wine lead them writhing to the dance floor, but i thought the vocal harmonies and the overall playing could have been a little tighter...i've seen live bands communicate nonverbally and just "click" much better. But hey...for great wine, a free trolley ride to and from, a free boat ride, Los Caporales, and Sea Fresh, i'm not gonna let a band with rough edges get me down.

And now, exclusive video of our FAVORITE Wine Fest dancer (in the red shirt and black pants) setting the dance floor ablaze to the tunes of Sgt. Pepper:

The County of Ventura Fire Department's Public Information Office tells me that the BRUSH FIRE at Barnett and Cameron in the City of Ventura is receiving a full brushfire response including bulldozers and air support, and that units from the City and County of Ventura are responding. No units from Ojai have been called into service yet.