One Fair day

Young Chang

Within 30 minutes of being at the 110th Orange County Fair on opening

day, Kathy Ruddy had sat herself down at a shaded table with her battered

potatoes and plastic cup of beer.

The clock hadn’t struck 11 a.m. yet.

She hadn’t walked all of the grounds yet.

But this is what she’s done for more than 20 years (she guesses it’s

been that long) immediately upon entering the fair.

“And I don’t get a beer unless I get potatoes,” she said. “You kind of

have to do both.”

Other fairgoers headed straight to the magic booths and still others

went running to the rides. But most visitors to the fair’s opening on

Friday gathered at Heritage Stage for a Salute to Heroes.

About 120 uniformed Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Marine Corps,

fire and police officials led a procession through the entrance gates at

10 a.m., after three helicopters -- two from the Huntington Beach Police

Department and one from the Sherriff’s Department -- flew over the

fairgrounds with a quick, but dramatic, siren show.

They sat while General Manager Becky Bailey-Findley paid tribute to

them with a short speech and stood as performers from the Orange

County-based Wartime Radio group sang the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

“It’s the right thing for every year,” said the fair board’s

president, Curt Pringle, of paying tribute to those serving their

country. “But this year it’s more important.

Gunnery Sgt. Richard Jennings, who had been bused in from Camp

Pendleton with other Marine Corps officials that morning, said he was

honored to start his day with such a tribute at the fair.

“I’ve always felt that at the end of the day, it’s the American

people’s military and it’s the American people’s Marine Corps,” he said.

Many in the audience waved American flags and donned patriotic shirts.

Once the ceremony ended, dance groups from around the county took over

the stage in a varied show offering everything from hip-hop to ballet.

Fairgoers, meanwhile, started their usual, more whimsical sort of fun.

Yako Suenaga promptly bought a pair of $1 aquamarine-colored earrings.

Her friend Desi Singh bought a fake million-dollar bill. Both filmmakers

in Los Angeles, the pair also videotaped their way through the crowd and

said they planned to stay at the fair all day, until Huey Lewis and the

News’ performance.

“We should be pretty sunburnt by that time,” Singh said.

The first thing 9-year-old Kaitlin Schlepphorst did was get her face

painted. Her left cheek showed a unicorn with a spraying mane of hair.

Her right cheek boasted leaves and greenery, meant to accompany the

unicorn and its fairy-taleworld.

Her father, Mike Schlepphorst, said his daughters get their faces

painted every year.

“It’s ritual,” he said.

The Orange County Fair will end July 28.

* Young Chang writes features. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or

by e-mail at o7 young.chang@latimes.comf7 .