Ventura Sister City Association
Ventura, California and Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Supporting Eco Tourism, Culture and the Arts
WHAT IS A SISTER CITY?
A sister city relationship is one formed between two cities in different countries. Sister city relationships are meant to be mutually beneficial.
Our purpose is to expand global interest and awareness in Ventura and Loreto by building lasting intercultural partnerships.
OUR OBJECTIVES
Culture and the Arts: Promote and facilitate exchange of art and collaborative projects between artists from the two communities.
Environmental Education: Facilitate opportunities for student exchange. Promote collaboration between and the conservation of Sister National Parks Bahia de Loreto in Loreto Bay, and Channel Islands National Park near Ventura. Promote Enivironmental Education in both cities.
History: Recognize the relationship between the Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó and the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura, and the development of El Camino Real.
We have established annual trips to Loreto coinciding with 1) Loreto’s anniversary celebration of its founding on October 25, 1697, and 2) Whale watching during February/March. Loreto’s founding is a weeklong celebration, highlighted by many activities in the town square, including traditional singing, dancing and ______, and also public recognition of students’ achievements. This celebration is full of much pomp by officials of Loreto and the state of Baja California. Whale watching is usually late February through early March, when many whales winter in the Gulf of California (aka Sea of Cortez) and Magdalena Bay. Please join us on one or both of these trips to our sister city.
Ventura, California, is a Sister City to Loreto in Baja California Sur, Mexico
We are a non-profit 501(C)(3) organization focused on promoting Sister City relations between San Buenaventura (Ventura) and Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Loreto & Ventura Annual and Future Events :
In Loreto:
🐋 Whale Watching Trip - end of Feb to beginning of March
Join us for our 2027 visit!
🎓 Ventura College (VC) Student Trip to Loreto - Spring Break
In 2026, 11 VC students and 2 teachers participated in the inaugural VC student trip to Loreto, to work with Eco Alianza and support Environmental Education in both Loreto and Ventura
🎉 Loreto Founding Day Fiesta Celebration - October 25
We have started planning our 2026 Founding Day trip (maybe Oct 22-Oct 27?). Details will be released as soon as they are available.
In Ventura:
🍕 Fundraiser at Tony’s Pizza - June 2
🎆 4th of July Booth - Ventura Street Fair
🎨 ArtWalk Booth - September 26 & 27
🌽 Farmers Market Booth, Downtown Ventura - First Saturday
Annual events and opportunities
VC - Eco Alianza PARTNERSHIP
We are working to establish connections between Ventura College and Eco Alianza in our Sister City. Ventura College biology students visited Loreto over Spring Break 2026.
The Course is titled COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY
The students worked with Eco Alianza and were involved in activities that allowed them to visit two of the Loreto National Park Islands, hike Tabor Canyon and participate in a beach clean up and bird walk. (by Oasis Hotel)
The students also worked with Conserva Loreto and Dr. Sula Vanderplank on a desert walk and lecture
For more information, contact
Kammy Algiers
Department Chair Life Sciences, Ventura College
ART IN VENTURA AND LORETO!
Collaboration between artists in both cities started with Mb Hanrahan (Ventura) and Lizette Inzunza (Loreto), designing and painting murals. (Lizette’s Bio)
MB traveled to Loreto in March of 2025 and finished a mural there, working with Lizette and students from Loreto.
It looks BEAUTIFUL!! Check out the photo below of MB and Lizette.
Here is a link to three photos showing our progress with the Ventura and Loreto Murals!
Click the button to become a member, renew membership, or to make a donation.
The Ventura Sister City Association has plans!
Watch for more updates soon about the June 2nd fundraiser and the October Loreto Trip
Mission Youth Choir visiting the islands
Ventura Youth Choir
Our Sister Islands are so close
View flying into Loreto
Our Chair - Carl Morehouse - introducing our board members at the celebration
On stage with the Mayor of Loreto, the Governor of Baja Sur and our Hermosa Beach Sister City friends
Jaming out
swimming
Our Choir performs at the 326 Anniversary
Beach Clean Up with Eco Alianza
View of the Islands from landfall
The Ventura and Hermosa Beach Sister City groups arrive in Loreto
Steve, our Choir director, enjoying morning coffee
Our students with Loreto students at beach clean up
Group of seven people on stage during an award or recognition ceremony, three men and four women, with one woman holding a framed certificate, and a woman in a light green dress holding a paper, standing in front of a large illuminated screen.
Mb Hanrahan representing the Ventura art community
Group of nine people taking a selfie outdoors with a body of water, mountains, and islands in the background on a sunny day.
Art Exhibit
Enjoying the local culture
The 2022 Ventura delegation visited Loreto October 20-27, 2022.
Visitors included:
VSCA Chair, Carl Morehouse and his wife, Janna Minsk
VSCA Secretary Cliff Rodrigues and his wife Karen (not pictured)
VSCA Treasurer Father Tom Elewaut and his sister Rosemary Pietrowski
Channel Islands National Park Service Superintendent Ethan McKinley
Mission Basilica San Buenaventura parishioners Chris and Barbara Post,
Steve and Celeste Weingardt
Steven Marquez
Local artist and art teacher Kay Zetlmaier
VSCA Immediate Past Chair (and now full time Loreto resident) Caryl Cantrell
Marilyn Beal
Nita Cahn
Rachel Cahn
2026 Board Officers
Carl Morehouse, Chair
Mark Urwick, Vice Chair
Cliff Rodrigues, Secretary
Father Tom Elewaut, Treasurer
Ventura is connected to Loreto with two notable anchors: the Mission Basilica of San Buenaventura and the Channel Islands National Park. Loreto’s Mission is tied to Mission from Fray Junipero Serra and the islands- Loreto: Bahia de Loreto National Park in the Sea of Cortez and Ventura: Channel Islands National Park in the Pacific Ocean.
Loreto is one of the oldest settlements on the Baja peninsula, a city with more than 300 years of history, rich in culture and beauty.
Loreto is nestled between the Sea of Cortez and the majestic backdrop of the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range. Studding the oceanic landscape are the islands of Coronado, Del Carmen, Danzante, Monserrat and Santa Catalina, which make up the Loreto Bay National Park.
With breathtaking cliffs, spectacular beaches and dramatic rock formations, these islands are a perfect landscape for the ecologically-minded or those who delight in a vast array of marine life. Loreto also offers sport fishing, golfing, diving, surfing, sailing, mountain biking or rappelling.
Immerse yourself in the Mexico of legends and colonial splendor as you wander the winding streets of this little gem, absorbing the atmosphere, and the sites and sounds of yesteryear.
It was in Loreto that Fray Junipero Serra began laying the groundwork for the evangelization of Alta and Baja California and it was from Loreto and their mission, that the El Camino Real corridor
going north along the ancient route to Sonoma, California was established.