COLLEGE, CRITTERS TO PARADE.Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff WriterThe Moorpark Country Days parade will start with a college president and end with a camel. The parade, down a mile-long, tree-lined stretch of High Street through the city's downtown, opens the 18th Annual Moorpark Country Days community festival Saturday. Festival organizers announced last week that Moorpark College Moorpark College is a California-state funded community college located on a 134 acre (542,000 m²) property reclining on a hill in Moorpark, a town in Ventura County, California. - as a whole - had been dubbed grand marshal Grand Marshal is a ceremonial, military, or political office of very high rank. The term has its origins with the word "Marshal" with the first usage of the term "Grand Marshal" as a ceremonial title for certain religious orders. of the parade. Representatives from the college, including its president, cheerleaders Notable cheerleaders
``Sept. 11 marked the 30th anniversary of the first day of classes on campus, and we thought this would be a nice way to help the college celebrate,'' said Jim Stueck, chairman of the Moorpark Country Days parade committee. ``They were also a good choice because they easily fit our theme of `Moorpark, a Community for All from A to Z.' The parade will start with the administrators (right after the cheerleaders) and end with animals from the teaching zoo.'' It's the first time critters from the college's Exotic Animal Training and Management Program and Teaching Zoo have marched in the community parade. Human representatives from Moorpark will lead the parade. The school's Raiders Cheerleaders will open the mile-long march with a banner reading ``Moorpark College Since 1967.'' College President Jim Walker Jim Walker (né James Donat Walker) (born 1955 in Edmonton) was the original drummer of Public Image Ltd. in 1978. In 1977 he played drums for Canadian punk band The Furies and moved to London in October 1977. and two of the school's original faculty members, Floyd Martin, now dean of the Math and Science Division, and Al Nordquist, now dean of the Athletics Department, will wave to the crowd from a pickup truck driving behind the cheerleaders. Both Martin and Nordquist started as junior faculty at the college 30 years ago. The parade opens a festival designed to bring the small community of 28,400 people together in a celebration of the area's rural roots. About 5,000 residents and visitors are expected to partake in Verb 1. partake in - be active in participate, take part - share in something 2. partake in - have, give, or receive a share of; "We shared the cake" partake, share events including a pancake breakfast, games, pony rides, an arts and crafts arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. fair, and live entertainment. This year, there are about 50 entries in the parade, ranging from Cub Scouts to City Council members. But most interesting are the entries from Moorpark College's Exotic Animals Training and Management Program. Exotic birds The Exotic Birds was a pop music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1983 by three Cleveland Institute of Music percussion students, Andy Kubiszewski, Tom Freer and Tim Adams. They wrote their own music and were described as synth pop, techno-pop and techno-dance. and mammals, including macaws and squirrel monkeys, will ride in the back of their own parade pick-up truck. And bringing up the rear will be a female dromedary dromedary: see camel. dromedary able to cover a hundred miles in one day. [Medieval Animal Symbolism: White, 80–81] See : Endurance , a one-humped Arabian camel named Mariah. She is one of three camels that reside at Moorpark College's Teaching Zoo. Mariah will be coaxed along the parade route by her trainer, Jennifer Blaxson. The 18th Annual Moorpark Country Days Parade starts a 9:30 a.m. and begins at the intersection of Poindexter and Sierra Avenues. It continues north on Moorpark Avenue and then east on High Street. The Country Festivities fes·tiv·i·ty n. pl. fes·tiv·i·ties 1. A joyous feast, holiday, or celebration; a festival. 2. The pleasure, joy, and gaiety of a festival or celebration. 3. , including food, rides, games and entertainment, begin immediately after the parade, at about 11:30 a.m. For more information about Moorpark Country Days, call (805) 529-0322. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (color) Amanda Kalbs, left, and Jennifer Blackson prepare Maria the camel for the Country Days Parade. Bob Halvorsen/Daily News |
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