Moorpark Country Days

On parade morning the lawn chairs go down along Historic High Street before ten o’clock. The organizers ask for them by name in their notices: “Grab your lawn chairs, bring your loudest cheers.” By six in the morning the street is closed to traffic, and it stays closed until five in the afternoon. Wicks Road, Casey Road and the side streets running to Moorpark Avenue are blocked from seven until noon. Visitors park along Charles Street and in the Moorpark Metrolink Station lot, then walk to the curb where, the Moorpark Acorn says, spectators traditionally gather. The parade organizers put it their own way: “One of the things that Moorpark in particular enjoys is a very large and loyal crowd of watchers.”

The parade down from Casey Road

The procession forms at Walnut Canyon Elementary School on Casey Road. From there it travels toward Moorpark Avenue and turns onto High Street. The Conejo Valley Guide places the viewing stretch between Moorpark Avenue and Spring Road. The route has moved before. In 2025 the Acorn called it new: east from Walnut Canyon Arts and Technology Magnet School at 280 Casey Road, south on Walnut Canyon Road and Moorpark Road, then east on High Street.

The entries are local schools, sports teams, dance companies and businesses, with floats and marching bands among them. Entrants register under categories that include equestrian, youth group, automobile, and march, dance and drill. Each unit is allowed 30 seconds to stop and perform before the grandstand, where a panel of judges scores the parade. Nothing is thrown or handed to the crowd. The rules call the practice unsafe and unsanitary, and a unit caught doing it can be pulled from the line and barred for a year. Allison Rosenblum and Dan Burchfield returned as the official announcers for 2026, calling out each entry by the name and pronunciation its organizers submitted.

Each year carries a theme. In 2024 it was “Homegrown Happines,” spelled that way in an Acorn photo caption showing Miss Moorpark Michelle Alvarado. The 2025 parade, held October 4, took “Celebrating Moorpark’s Hometown Pioneers.” The 2026 parade, on Saturday, October 3, took “Our Community, Our Legacy.”

Thirty years since Williamsport

The 2026 theme was built around its grand marshals. The organizers named the 1996 Moorpark Little League All-Star Team their Legacy Grand Marshals. That team won the Western Regional championship and went on to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on national television. The boys played the season for a teammate, Joel Burchfield, an 11-year-old Moorpark Little Leaguer who died in January 1996. The Acorn reported that they carried his memory through the postseason run. The organizers’ announcement called him “their inspiration.”

The 1996 players shared the honor with the 2026 Moorpark Little League 13U Intermediate 50/70 State Champions, who had brought home the Southern California State Title that summer. The organizers billed the team as going “from District Champions to State Champions.” The boys were to march down High Street before starting their 14U season.

The street fair on High Street

When the last unit passes, High Street becomes a fairground. The fair runs to 3 p.m., by the organizers’ published schedule, though accounts differ on its hours. The organizers list the whole day as 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Their vendor notice puts the fair’s opening at about 11:00 or 11:30. The Acorn gives 11:30. The Conejo Valley Guide gives about 11:30 or noon and a close at 4 p.m. No cars are allowed on the street at any point while the fair is open.

Booths of local businesses and craft vendors line the pavement, with food trucks among them. A kids’ fun zone offers games and live animals. Live entertainment plays from a stage the organizers call the Entertainment Stage, and for 2026 DJ Darius, Darius Lawrence, provided the sound and music. The Moorpark Historical Society, whose motto is “Preserving Moorpark’s past for future generations,” takes part in the fair. In the days before the 2026 edition, Moorpark Floral Design posted roses and sunflowers with a promise to be on High Street that Saturday. The organizers also urge visitors to eat at the High Street restaurants, which were expected to offer special menus for the day.

From Country Daze to the Perez family

According to the Acorn, the Moorpark Jaycees first presented the parade in 1979 under the name Country Daze. It has usually fallen in late September or early October. The hosts changed over the decades. The Moorpark Chamber of Commerce ran it, as did the Rotary Club of Moorpark Morning and others. Volunteers came back year after year. In 2013 the Chamber named Anne Dickson its Senior of the Year, noting that she was a regular volunteer at the Country Days parade and street festival. “Volunteering keeps me young and active,” Dickson said.

The Chamber hosted Country Days up until 2023. Starting in 2024 it began handing the event to another organization so its board could turn to the business community. On its own page the Chamber promised that the parade “will live on.” The Acorn reported that the parade faced possible cancellation. In 2025 the Rudy Perez Jr. Memorial Foundation stepped in to lead it, with the City of Moorpark as co-sponsor.

Rudy Perez Jr. was a Moorpark High alumnus and a co-founder of the Perez Family Funeral Home. He died in 2021. The foundation in his name supports local youth and the town’s history, and it works to help young athletes “to reach their potential in the sports that they love.” On April 26, 2026, it held a celebration for what would have been his 60th birthday at the Moorpark Boys & Girls Club on Casey Road, the same road where the parade forms.

The 2026 Country Days was largely organized by Rudy’s niece, Rayline Perez, who was 23. She was assisted by her father, Robert Perez, a Moorpark Unified School District board member and the owner of the funeral home. She credited the city, the Moorpark Police Department, the school district, local businesses and residents with keeping the tradition going. “It truly takes a village to continue the Moorpark Country Days legacy,” she said. Rudy’s mother, Rosy Perez, told the Acorn that her son loved Country Days and would be proud of his niece for keeping it alive.