No changes in store for Market Place

Lolita Harper

FAIRGROUNDS -- A large group of Market Place vendors arrived Thursday

ready to battle the fair board for better spots and more visibility for

their stalls.

They left with that and more.

As the Orange County Fair Board began working on revising its master

plan for the site -- bordered by the Costa Mesa Freeway, Fair Drive,

Fairview Road and Arlington Boulevard -- the possibility of change to the

Market Place raised a number of concerns among business owners there.

On Thursday, the board held a public meeting to collect more comment

on preliminary plans for the future of the site and to give consultant

Frank Haselton of LSA Associates further direction for the possible

redesign of 160-acre site.

Of the nearly 150 people who attended the four-hour meeting, more than

half were Market Place vendors who came to object to possible changes to

the site’s layout.

Their worry was put aside when the board voted unanimously to direct

Haselton -- hired to manage and develop the master plan process -- to

find a way to keep the Market Place it its current space and see if the

carnival-ride portion of the annual fair could be moved so vendors could

sell all year, instead of closing for three weeks in the summer.

Tom Askew, president of the Orange County Market Place Merchant’s

Assn., organized the group of about 75 colleagues to protest plans to

move the Market Place to the rear of the fair, greatly reducing

visibility.

Moving the Market Place -- also known as the swap meet -- would be

detrimental to business owners because they would lose much needed

exposure, Askew said before the meeting.

The Market Place is the source of a large amount of revenue for the

fairgrounds, second only to the annual fair.

During a portion of the meeting dedicated specifically to the Market

Place, consultant Frank Haselton cleared up misconceptions about moving

the shopping venue.

“I’ll take responsibility for that misunderstanding,” Haselton said,

commenting on the labeling of three proposed layouts that gave the

impression the swap meet would be pushed back to the Arlington Boulevard

area of the fairgrounds.

What was actually depicted to be at the rear portion of the site was

parking for the Market Place, not the actual swap meet, Haselton said.

And Board President Curt Pringle pointed out that the fair board does

not determine the positioning of the swap meet. Rather, it is the

decision of Tel Phil Enterprises, the company that manages the Market

Place.

“We simply sign an agreement for a certain amount of space and Tel

Phil does the rest,” Pringle said.

While the swap meet would not be required to move drastically, two of

the three preliminary plans called for new buildings to encroach upon 10%

to 14% of the current Market Place and the removal of the snack bar.

Vendors protested even those slight changes, saying customers only

know them based on their specific location.

“They know us for how many spaces they walk from their car, or by a

balloon that may hang near a booth. Moving us just 100 feet would be a

hardship and cause strain on our business,” said vendor Mike Ross.

Board members also decided to find out if there are ways of moving the

Orange County Fair’s carnival rides so vendors would not have to shut

down during fair time.

Member Deborah Cardona said she was very supportive of talking to Ray

Cammack Shows -- which operate the rides for the fair -- and asking if

they would be willing to move to the rear of the fairgrounds so the

Market Place could remain open.

Askew credited the strong showing of Market Place merchants for the

favorable decision by board members.

“We came and represented our association, as well as our businesses,

and it really made them put a face to those who would be impacted by

their decisions,” Askew said.