Festival poster revealed

The California Strawberry Festival is celebrating its silver anniversary with a poster featuring a sparkling champagne glass with a floating strawberry amidst a tapestry of festival posters from throughout the years.

Created by graphic artist Kevin Parks of Ventura, the design is framed with a green border with a metallic finish that calls attention to the silver anniversary celebration themed "25 Years of the Berry Best."

The design will be featured on posters, Tshirts and merchandise at the festival, May 17 and 18 at Strawberry Meadows of College Park in Oxnard. The strawberry-filled fluted glass will also be a universal theme in festival advertisements and promotional materials.

Artist and creator Parks worked closely with the festival's all-volunteer board while creating the poster tapestry concept. In collaboration with photographer Christopher Zsarnay, who also created a festival poster design in 1991, Parks enhanced a photograph taken of a floating strawberry in a fluted glass to include reflections of posters that could not fit into the original tapestry, thus ensuring all 24 years of the festival were represented.

A longtime resident of Ventura County, Parks was an art major at California State University Northridge and continued his education at Otis Parsons. He served as art director and illustrator on projects for the Harlem Globetrotters, Fox Kids, the state of California 5A-Day Program, Integrity Music and others. He has worked for Scholastic Books, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures. He owns and operates his own studio in Ventura.

The Studio Gallery in Channel Islands Harbor, 2741 S. Victoria Ave., will be selling Parks' collector festival poster in advance of the California Strawberry Festival, as well as showcasing all the festival posters since the event premiered. For more information visit the CSF website, www.strawberry-fest.org.