Beach Party Was a Real Drag for Some

* You’ve got to hand it to the Ventura City Hall. These folks know how to party.

I refer, of course, to the California Beach Party held at Ventura’s public beachfront promenade the weekend of Sept. 21-22, an event arranged by the city and presented by chief sponsor Budweiser.

I was one of the few people on the planet who had not known about the event. No matter. It wouldn’t bother my two preschool-aged sons who had bugged me all morning to play on the jungle-gym equipment beside the pier.

But to get to where the playground equipment was I was told I would have to pay $5.50 for an adult admission to the event. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my purse with me. (Silly me, I didn’t think to bring cash to a public playground.)

Never in my years of living in Ventura would I have imagined I would one day find myself on the wrong side of a fence with two children looking longingly at a public playground and short the $5.50 admission, while self-congratulatory city officials were getting down and funky to live music.

So, here’s putting party central, otherwise known as the mayor’s office, on notice. The next time I’m told my kids have to pay to use a city playground, while my city officials--whose salaries I’m also paying--are dancing the Macarena to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at something called the Bud Pier Stage, I’m going to show up with a whole bunch of mothers and a bullhorn, ready to kick Bud and take names.

IRENE BAGOTT

Ventura