BOY, 12, DESIGNS WINNING MOORPARK COUNTRY DAYS LOGO.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

Mesa Verde Middle School student Michael Montoya was puzzled when his principal left a message recently on the answering machine at his home.

It's not every day - or ever - that the principal calls.

But the next day at school the 12-year-old was relieved, and shocked, when teacher Angela Sillari congratulated him for designing the winning logo and motto that will be used on posters, buttons and letterhead for Moorpark Country Days.

``I was surprised because my friend usually wins all the contests and things for art,'' said Michael, with a shy smile. ``We don't compete; I'm no match for him.''

Michael's school career has seen its highlights - he was the citywide science winner in first grade when his family lived in Alamogordo, N.M., for his project on how water drains through different soils.

Now his study of art is taking form.

``I got the ideas from a picture,'' he said. ``The trains would come to take away the apricots. And Moorpark really started out as a retirement home for parsons.''

The colorful logo will be used on posters, buttons and the letterhead for this weekend's festival, the city's biggest, which celebrates the origins and rural character of the city.

Michael's design features once-familiar sights in the city - a steam locomotive, an apricot, green fields and trees atop a round-backed hill, with the sun's rays peeking out and a white church with a steeple reminiscent of the old Methodist church downtown.

Above the rural scene is ``Moorpark's'' and underneath is a motto in a flowing banner proclaiming, ``Good Old Days 1999.''

The entry was judged the best of 200 entered in the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce competition, said Carolyn Schrimpf, a member of the Country Days Committee, which selected the winning entry.

``I think it's great. It is very representative of Moorpark, Moorpark's good old days,'' said Schrimpf. ``The church is on there and the apricot, which represents the Moorpark apricot, and of course the train goes through Moorpark.''

Among the rewards for winning the competition: Michael will ride in the 20th annual festival parade Sept. 25 that is expected to draw about 4,000 visitors.

Michael created his Moorpark logo after Sillari, who teaches history, encouraged her students to enter the competition organized by the committee overseeing Country Days.

Though history is not his prime interest, Michael loves drawing and has several books on the topic, said his mom, Virginia Montoya, who works for the city.

``He likes to get those books where they show you how to draw,'' she said. ``We're extremely proud of him. That seems to be what Michael enjoys doing most.''

Michael, the eldest of the family's three children, doesn't know whether he wants to pursue art or drawing as a career, but he definitely wants to further the religious interests he and his family enjoy as members of Shiloh Community Church in Moorpark.

``I would like to go to college and then go to Bible college and to some mission fields, and see what happens from that,'' he said.

As for his winning design, ``It looks better than when I drew it first,'' he said. ``It looks pretty good.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1) Michael Montoya, 12, designed the logo for Moorpark Country Days.

(2) Michael Montoya's winning logo.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer