History comes alive on Mission Day at Gardens
By Sophia Fischer
sfischer@theacorn.com

History came alive last Saturday at the second annual California Mission Day, held at Gardens of the World Community Park, in Thousand Oaks. The event celebrated California history through entertainment, the Mervyn’s Moving Mission, and portrayals of Father Junipero Serra, the Spanish priest who founded nine of the state’s 21 missions.

"We love the missions and anything to do with them," said Ann Berry, of Thousand Oaks, who attended the event with her husband and daughter. "If you want to know about California history, studying the missions is the way to do it."

The Gardens contain a mission-like structure that includes a courtyard, fountain and colorful, hand-painted murals of state missions. Dressed in a period costume of a gray robe and hood, Father Serra, portrayed by Bruce Buonauro, told stories of mission life and why the structures were built where they were.

"I’ve been a big fan of California history since I was a fourth grader," said Buonauro, who grew up in Arcadia. "I try to bring to light how important the missions were in helping colonize the U.S."

Marie Mitchell, 10, of Newbury Park, waited in the mission courtyard with her mother Trisha and sister, Allison, 5, for Father Serra’s 45-minute presentation. Mitchell, a fourth-grader at Pinecrest Thousand Oaks, had turned in a mission project at school the day before.

"I liked learning about the missions. I went and visited the San Diego mission," Mitchell said.

Students in California study mission history in the fourth grade. Gardens of the World offers mission-related history assemblies to school groups twice a month from December to May, featuring Buonauro’s Father Serra. The assemblies also are open to the public.

"The whole idea behind the Gardens is to be of service to the community and bring the community closer to some of the cultures around the world," said Eileen Kemp, a Gardens docent. "We always look for different kinds of educational programs to try to complement what we’re trying to do here."

On the other side of the Gardens, visitors explored the Mervyn’s Moving Mission. The hands-on mobile exhibit, built inside a 72-foot-long, redesigned moving truck, includes mission artifacts, instructions on how to build a mission, poster-size photographs of missions, and tools and baskets used by California Native Americans.

"This is a great exhibit," said Clay Aldritch, of Oak Park, as his sons, Jack, 5 and Christopher, 2, rummaged through baskets of artifacts. "The interactive stuff is key for the kids or we’d be out of here in 30 seconds."

The Moving Mission is scheduled to close later this month and the Gardens event may have been the last opportunity for Aldritch and others to experience it.

A free service provided by Mervyn’s for the last three years, the mobile is closing due to Target’s sale of Mervyn’s and intense competition from Kohl’s stores, according to Justin McInteer, Moving Mission outreach teacher. McInteer estimates the unit reached between 8,000 to10,000 school children each year, in addition to festivals like Mission Day at the Gardens. The unit traveled from the Central Valley down to Orange and Riverside Counties and visited schools where students didn’t have the opportunity to see actual missions due to location or financial constraints.

"Schools bent over backwards to have us come to them," McInteer said. "Hopefully, something will be worked out so that it can continue."

Outside the Moving Mission, visitors strolled the Gardens and enjoyed the spring foliage in bloom. In the gazebo, the Yesteryear Dancers, in authentic Spanish dancer costume, performed an upbeat show.

"We were looking for something fun to do and we had never been here," Aldritch said. "This is the perfect day for this."