Ventura County, California

Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 823,318. The county seat is Ventura.

Ventura County comprises the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area. It is also considered the southernmost county along the California Central Coast.

History

Pre-colonial period

Ventura County was historically inhabited by the Chumash people, who also settled much of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, with their presence dating back 10,000-12,000 years. The Chumash were hunter-gatherers, fishermen and also traders with the Mojave, Yokuts, and Tongva Indians. The Chumash are also known for their rock paintings and for their great basketry. Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks has several reconstructed Chumash houses (‘apa) and there are several Chumash pictographs in the county, including the Burro Flats Painted Cave in Simi Valley. The plank canoe, called a tomol in Chumash, was important to their way of life. Canoe launching points on the mainland for trade with the Chumash of the Channel Islands were located at the mouth of the Ventura River, Mugu Lagoon and Point Hueneme. This has led to speculations among archeologists of whether the Chumash could have had a pre-historic contact with Polynesians. According to diachronic linguistics, certain words such as tomolo’o (canoe) could be related to Polynesian languages. The dialect of the Chumash language that was spoken in Ventura County was Ventureño.

Ventura

The (sur)name Ventura (English pronunciation: /vɛnˈtʊrə/, Italian: [venˈtuːra], Portuguese: [vẽˈtuɾɐ], Spanish: [benˈtuɾa]) is Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "good fortune".

Ventura may refer to:

Places

People

County

A county, abbreviated Cnty. (US) or Co. (UK and Ireland), is a geographical region of a country used for administrative or other purposes, in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French conté or cunté denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (earl) or a viscount. The modern French is comté, and its equivalents in other languages are contea, contado, comtat, condado, Grafschaft, graafschap, Gau, etc. (cf. conte, comte, conde, Graf).

When the Normans conquered England, they brought the term with them. The Saxons had already established the districts that became the historic counties of England, calling them shires (many county names derive from the name of the county town with the word "shire" added on: for example, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire). The Vikings introduced the term earl (from Old Norse, jarl) to the British Isles. Thus, "earl" and "earldom" were taken as equivalent to the continental use of "count" and "county". So the later-imported term became a synonym for the native English word scir ([ʃiːr]) or, in Modern English, shire. Since a shire was an administrative division of the kingdom, the term "county" evolved to designate an administrative division of national government in most modern uses.

County Fair

"County Fair" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher for the American rock band The Beach Boys. It was originally released as the second track on their 1962 album Surfin' Safari. On November 26 of that year, it was released as the B-side to The Beach Boys' third single, "Ten Little Indians". The same single was released in the UK in January 1963.

The melody of "County Fair" was later recycled into the song "I Do".

Composition

"County Fair" was the second song Brian Wilson and Gary Usher wrote together. In the song, the singer takes his girlfriend to the county fair, where she leaves him for a stronger man; one who can ring the bell on a high striker game. The song culminates in the tag, as the girl leaves the singer, calling him a loser. The song is in verse-chorus form, though the choruses consist of spoken-word narration of the girlfriend and a carnival barker over an organ melody.

Recording

"County Fair" was recorded by The Beach Boys on September 6, 1962, during the last recording session for their first album, Surfin' Safari. Nik Venet produced the session at Capitol Studios.

Ventura County Fair

The Ventura County Fair is an annual event held each August in Ventura, California, United States, at Seaside Park, commonly called the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

History

The first Ventura County Fair took place in 1874 at the end of the local San Miguel Days harvest festival with attractions that included cockfighting, bullfighting and horse racing, as well as nightly balls. From 1877 it was held at Pierpont Bluffs, until 1891 when it was moved to Port Hueneme. The Seaside Park property that includes the Ventura County Fairgrounds was donated to the county in 1909 by E. P. Foster, and the fair began to be held there from 1914.

The fair was formerly held at the beginning of October, reflecting its focus on agriculture. In 1987 the event was moved to August in an effort to boost attendance by taking advantage of better weather.

The fair attracts more than 300,000 visitors each year.

Musical entertainment

Many notable artists and bands have played at the fair, including The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix and Smokey Robinson.