Say farewell, at least until next year

Alex Coolman

FAIRGROUNDS -- The Orange County Fair closed on a high note

Sunday, with officials saying attendance levels for the 17-day event were

likely to break previous records.

The former record of 785,944 was set in 1997, said Becky Bailey-Findley, general manager of the fair and exposition center.

As of 3 p.m. Sunday, officials had counted 776,000 attendees, she

said.

The numbers were encouraging to Bailey-Findley, who said fair

officials had been working to put together popular programs.

“We’ve really tried to position the fair as a fun, interesting family

event and one that the community can get involved in,” she said.

This year’s fair, in addition to attracting large crowds, also managed

to be very orderly.

“It’s been a very good year” with only minor enforcement issues, said

Lt. Dennis Demaio of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “We’ve seen

more of a family crowd than we’ve ever seen.”

Around the fairgrounds Sunday, people were getting their final dose of

things fair-related.

Betsy Martin, 10, Kathleen Hitt, 12, and Sarai Segura, 14, were part

of the last act from Wanda’s Dance Studio that performed on the Heritage

Stage.

The girls stood in their tap shoes outside the dressing room, waiting

for the moment when they would perform “Lord of the Dance,” the show

finale. Despite the tension of the moment, the girls said they had no

anxiety.

“We’ve probably done it too many times,” Betsy said.

A few steps away, Cypress resident Carol, who declined to give her

last name, was taking in the show with her daughter, Natalie.

This was her first trip to the fair, Carol said. “We thought we’d get

in at the very end.”

The pair was making up for lost time with an ambitious viewing

schedule. They had looked at gems, minerals, piglets and reptiles, and

they had only been at the fair for an hour.

Meanwhile, in the Ice Cream Shop, Emily Ruestmann was contemplating

the fact that the fair’s end meant she was going to have to go back to

waitressing.

She said she had enjoyed her time making ice cream cones and shakes

for fairgoers, but she wasn’t quite sure how many cones she had created

in the past 10 days.

“Many, many, many,” she said. “At least 10,000.”