COSTA MESA/NEWPORT/IRVINE : COSTA MESA : Fair Manager Leaves Legacy of Growth
The general manager of the county fair resigned Tuesday to take another job.
Norbert J. Bartosik, who worked for 10 years as the manager of the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center, said he is leaving in March to manage the California State Fair in Sacramento.
The 160-acre fairgrounds in Costa Mesa is the site for the fair, a swap meet and the Pacific Amphitheater. According to fairgrounds officials, Bartosik increased summer fair attendance from 330,000 to 685,000 during his tenure.
Mayor Sandra L. Genis said Bartosik and his staff were creative about developing uses for the fairgrounds. “They were not just cruising along,” she said. “They were really thinking of the future.”
Bartosik approached the City Council in December with a proposal to drive 250 head of cattle down Fairview Avenue to kick off the 1994 fair.
Genis said she hopes that Bartosik’s replacement will be willing to work with the community. A replacement for Bartosik has not been selected. The council had ordered Bartosik to meet with fairgrounds neighbors to plan the cattle drive.
Under Bartosik, the fairgrounds also moved to end years of complaints about noise from the Pacific Amphitheater, which it recently agreed to buy.
The fair’s board of directors will talk about how to fill Bartosik’s position at a meeting Thursday.
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