HOLIDAY STREET FAIRS... come in as many shapes and sizes as a giant plastic box of ornaments, the kind of capacious storage vessel that can easily hold 200 different baubles and trinkets. Some fairs are solely about cute stuff for sale, from stocking stuffers to candies to earrings to handmade greeting cards. Others are about the food, and the wine, and the for-sale tins of cookies, and the platters of roasted nuts, and those jars of fancy olives, the kinds soaked in lemon rinds and garlic. And a whole slew of seasonal fairs are mainly about merry entertainment, from musical acts to ballets to the requisite appearance from Santa Claus. Once every so often, though, a Decembertime to-do comes along that contains a whole lot of a lot, one several levels, making it mondo and merry and a local seasonal staple. True, the focus of...
THE VENTURA WINE WALK... is indeed about wines of the area, but the stroll-and-sip is paired up with a full-on street festival that stretches along many blocks. It goes under a few billings, both "the largest wine walk in the world!" and "the most magical day of the year in Ventura!," and both wine walk and festival have had just over a half decade to build upon those reps. The 2015 party is on the first Saturday in December, as is tradition -- Dec. 5, is the actual, factual date -- and artisans and restaurants and a whole bevy of local businesses will be out, selling hamburgers and Christmas ornaments and wine charms and other items to help everyone jumpstart the shopping end of things.
SANTA'S VIP HOLIDAY LOUNGE... is new in 2015, and oriented to the grown-ups. As for the wine walk? Tickets are fifty five bucks, but if you just want to do the street fair, you can, and for free. Lighting, decorations, live tunes, and other details festoon the celebration, a celebration that'll go straight into the evening from a noon start time. As for the Ventura Wine Walk? Plan on booking that ticket ahead, as they do go, and plan on being there in the late afternoon (time's 4 o'clock to 7:15). Want to stay the night? You should and can and lo and behold, there are hotel packages related to all of the holiday hubbub.
