Celebrating More Than Culture : Camarillo: An annual Armenian picnic is made more joyous by the prospect of an independent homeland.

As they linked hands and began to form a circle, a boisterous group of Armenian-Americans joyously plunged into a traditional dance in celebration of their native country’s declaration of independence.

“There’s a lot of pride in the fact that they’re independent,” said Thousand Oaks resident J. Michael Hagopian, of his native countrymen’s decision to break free from more than 70 years of Soviet domination.

After 900 years of domination by Persians, Turks and Soviets, the concept of a free homeland swelled the pride and attendance of Armenian-Americans at their annual picnic held in Camarillo Grove County Park.

“People are more excited,” said Avi Balekian, chairman of the Armenian Culture Society of Ventura County, which sponsored the picnic.

About 400 people joined in the sixth annual picnic in Camarillo. Musicians played lively Armenian tunes on the oud , a type of lute, a dumbek , a hand-held drum, and a clarinet. Hundreds munched on shish kebabs and sweet treats as determined old men tossed dice to beat each other in a traditional Armenian game that Americans know as backgammon.

Several Armenian-Americans, including Hagopian, have been working to establish cultural and educational programs that will bring Thousand Oaks residents together with natives of Spitak, a community of about 30,000 located about 75 miles northwest of the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

Armenians are eager to learn about Americans. Last spring, it was Balekian’s wife, Lauren, who delivered official papers from Thousand Oaks to Spitak to form sister-city ties.

“They were really taken by the fact that an individual city, as opposed to the U.S. government, was taking an interest in their city,” she said.

A Thousand Oaks delegation is scheduled to go to Spitak this fall in the first official visit since the communities forged sister-city ties in July.

In addition to Thousand Oaks’ efforts, the county’s Armenian Culture Society is working to build a cultural center, Lauren Balekian said. About $10,000 has been raised so far.

Lauren Balekian has visited Spitak three times to deliver medical aid since the city was devastated by an earthquake on Dec. 7, 1988. She said Armenian-Americans in Ventura County have worked hard to keep their culture alive, holding language classes and folk-dancing lessons.

About 340 families, or about 1,200 people, from Ojai to Simi Valley claim to be of Armenian descent, at least a third of them immigrants, Avi Balekian said.

Immigrant Armen Hagopian, 30, of Burbank turned shish kebab on a grill as he listened to the music of his native country. He said he has been uplifted by the rapid change of events in Armenia since he left his native country three months ago.

With food shortages and long lines, Hagopian said life was horrible in his hometown of Yerevan. But now he is considering going home.

“The world doesn’t realize what we can do,” Hagopian said through a translator. “I guess there will be more opportunity.”

Ties to Armenian groups in Los Angeles County also lured people from out of town to the picnic in Camarillo. A group of people crowded around a table piled high with Armenian pastries assembled by a group from the San Fernando Valley. The treats ranged from baklava to a coffeecake called chorag to twisted, sesame-covered cookies called simit .

Many of the volunteers spent the previous evening baking the delicacies that make the annual picnic a gastronomic treat as well as a regional social event, said Azadehe Tanielian of Sepulveda.

And then there was 70-year-old Sam Jerian of Hancock Park, who relished in besting his backgammon partner in three rounds. To Jerian, the game of backgammon is the age-old hye tavloo --the rattle of dice and the skillful rotation of disks across the wooden board has been his passion since he was 12.

“You gotta love the game,” Jerian said. “Sometimes you get so involved you feel like yelling.”