CVD organizers plan a bigger and better parade

Before George Clooney ever thought about wearing a stethoscope, there was a handsome doctor on TV played by the dashing Chad Everett. On May 3, Everett will be paying a house call to the CVD parade as its celebrity grand marshal.

Parade chair David Biedebach of the Kiwanis, the nonprofit club that organizes the parade each year, expects about 100 entries will be marching down a longer stretch of road this year. The parade will begin at Pierce Arrow Avenue, near the auto mall, and will end at The Lakes shopping center on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Additional festivities are scheduled at The Lakes after the parade.

Adding a halfmile to the parade will improve access for many as it will mean more places to park along the parade route, Biedebach said.

Free parking will again be offered at the Civic Arts Plaza parking lot during the parade.

Two locations this year will feature announcers and bleachers. One will be on the sidewalk near The Lakes and the other on Thousand Oaks Boulevard near the post office.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own folding chairs or to sit on the curb to view school bands, the military, equestrians, local VIPs and others.

Joining the parade and provided by Wells Fargo will be an original stagecoach that looks like those that once rolled up to the historic Stagecoach Inn museum in Newbury Park.

Cowboys, cowgirls, clowns, dogs and other entertainment will also be rolling, riding, walking, dancing or somersaulting by.

Last year about 15,000 residents came out to see the parade, and Biedebach hopes there will be even more this year.

A tradition in Thousand Oaks since before the city was founded in 1964, the CVD parade was attended by about 5,000 people in 2006. That low turnout was one of the reasons organizers gave last year for possibly canceling the parade.

But this year interest and excitement over the parade is strong, Biedebach said.

The city and Conejo Recreation and Park District each gave CVD organizers $15,000 in seed money to keep the CVD tradition.

Now it's up to the people of Thousand Oaks to come out and support it. The parade will be full of young people in Thousand Oaks showing off their talents, accomplishments and smiling faces. Just as important will be families sitting on the sidelines cheering them on.

CVD Chair Marty Campbell said she and her group have solicited and found lots of sponsors to make this year's 52nd annual CVD festival, scheduled from April 30 to May 4, "very wonderful."

The parade is free and open to the public. The carnival and other activities were created to make money for local charities.

For parade signup information, call the Kiwanis at (805) 376-0219 or the CVD office (805) 371-8730. The website is at www.conejovalleydays.org.