Plantpalooza celebrates Year 5 with record new exhibitors and attendees
California Native Plant Society volunteer Veronica Rush chats with a Plantpalooza visitor.
Native Plantpalooza & Eco Fest returned for a fifh year on October 10 to Conejo Creek Park North in Thousand Oaks. Focused on sustainable living and gardening, the event drew around 1,000 attendees who enjoyed interacting with the 45+ exhibitors at the free educational festival.
New features this year included Pedals & Pints Brewing offering beer tastings and the Mr. Softee ice cream truck. Returning from last year was the ever-popular Rosendo’s Tacos.
Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer and host of iHeart Radio’s “Home,” was joined by his wife Tina Sharp to live-stream interviews with vendors.
One category that grew dramatically from 2025 was non-lethal wildlife management services. In addition to the returning wildlife advocates at Teranga Ranch, we added Green Rodent Restoration, Humane Pest Control Inc. and Ventura County Rattlesnake Relocation. We hope the information they provided will help reduce the use of rodenticide as well as the trapping and killing of “nuisance” animals. Poison Free Conejo Valley returned to help educate attendees about the dangers of rodenticides to pets and wildlife.
Other new exhibitors included:
- All for Love Animal Rescue
- Aventura Gardens
- Clean Power Alliance
- Daydream Arts
- Ojai Raptor Center
- Pathways by Engage
- REI Oxnard
- Sea Tide jewelry
We were delighted to welcome back dozens of previous years’ eco-related exhibitors. Returnees included:
- Athens Services (with their acclaimed free compost!)
- Byron’s Bees
- California American Water
- California Native Plant Society
- California Wildlife Center
- Dana Brynn Jewelry
- Food Forward
- National Wildlife Federation representing the Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
- Organic Garden Club of VC
- Paloma Native Plants
- Planet in Mind
- Theodore Payne Foundation
- Thousand Oaks Acorn Co.
- UCCE Master Gardeners Pollinator Team
- UC Master Gardners of Ventura County
- Wild Birds Unlimited
- Woods Forest School
We hope all who exhibited and attended had a great time and that we’ll see you again in October 2027! For those who missed it, we hope you’ll be there next time around.
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