THOUSAND OAKS : Conejo Valley Festival Makes $20,000 Profit

Bolstered by strong concession sales, the annual Conejo Valley Day festival turned a $20,000 profit this year, financial officer John Kohlbrand announced Monday.

“I’m delighted,” Kohlbrand said. “More than 40,000 people came to Conejo Valley Days, and that shows good community support. It proves we still have some of the old hometown roots that we had when the event was conceived.”

Last year, the four-day extravaganza lost more than $22,000, and the Conejo Valley Days executive committee could not afford to pay all its bills. The city of Thousand Oaks agreed to loan the committee money to cover the cost of the sheriff’s deputies who policed the event at Conejo Creek Park and the public works employees who helped prepare the site.

This year’s profits allowed the committee to repay half of the city’s $22,000 loan and still maintain a sizable reserve to pay any late-arriving bills or to kick off next year’s event, Kohlbrand said. The committee will pay the remaining $11,000 it owes the city next year, he said.

Preparations are already under way for the 1994 Conejo Valley Days, which will be run by the newly elected general chairman, Pete Turpel.