Fair beginnings

Young Chang

From inside a Grande Wheel gondola at its highest point on Thursday,

the Orange County Fair looked the right festive color, the right shape

and the right amount of clutter.

Food vendors formed a boulevard of eats, and goats and their neighbors

grazed on hay piles in the Centennial Farm community.

The only thing missing? You.

“I just enjoy the energy that is created when the fair guests get

here,” said Becky Bailey-Findley, general manager of the 109th annual

fair. “That energy is part of my summer tradition of the fair being a lot

of fun and this reunion feeling for the county.”

Bailey-Findley, who’s been with the fair for 26 years, said she’s

watched families return every July with kids who have grown a bit taller

and whose risk-taking levels have boosted from the calmest pony rides to

the wildest roller coasters.

With the fair opening today, organizers expect crowds to line up by

8:30 a.m. and for more than 200 fairgoers to spill through the gates when

10 a.m. strikes. Performer Chubby Checker will twist and shout the

procession in with his repertoire of groove-able classics.

This year’s features include 59 carnival rides; countless food booths;

miniatures and collections exhibits; performances by such stars as Chubby

Checker, En Vogue and Billy Ray Cyrus; action at the Demolition Derby;

and a whole lot of citrus-themed exhibits and events.

While some characters have remained constants throughout past decades,

including Ori Tucker Pony Rides and Orange Julius, the fair has also

grown through the years.

In the early ‘70s, this county tradition ran for just 10 days. Today,

the fair is a 17-day event drawing in more than 800,000 people, with

attractions that are bigger and faster while the traditional mainstays

offer a taste of the old.

“But I think the one constant is that the fair is a fun adventure

every summer,” Bailey-Findley said.

In the collections exhibit, everyone has a story to tell, said Joan

Hamill, director of exhibits. From Elvis memorabilia, postcards of

presidents, English Victorian writing desks and, of course, salt and

pepper shakers, the plots run a gamut of times and places.

“It gives people in our generation a peek to the past,” said Ruby Lau,

director of public affairs for the fair.

As do the rides. There are the usual mirror houses and roller

coasters, but also European visitors, such as the Euro Slide and La

Grande Wheel, a replica of the Millennium Wheel in Paris.

The sweets run from traditional root beer floats to more innovative

cheesecakes on sticks. Foods include things that dribble (huge messy

portions of barbecue beef) to things that crunch (bags of Tasti Chips).

“Food is a very important part of the fair,” Lau laughed.

Especially for tradition’s sake.

“The fair gives a feeling that it’s summertime fun,” Bailey-Findley

said. “It’s like a backyard picnic with lemonade, and we have wonderful

stories of when the fairgrounds might have been a first date for others

who got married.”

FAIR TEASES

Chubby twists. Chubby shouts. He even has a few surprising things to

say. See Datebook, Page 2.

For more from the fair, including today’s schedule, see Pages 4 and 5.

Pilot news assistant Bryce Alderton offers a different version of the

fair. See Page 3.