Fest declared a success

Jeff Benson

The morning after reaching the all-time record of 963,850 tickets

sold at the 112th Orange County Fair, things looked different behind

the gates.

Gone were the “Hydro Slide” shrieks, the petting zoo squeaks and

the hypnotist’s snores. Those sounds were replaced by the competing

and dissonant beeps of forklifts in reverse -- each carrying away a

lion’s share of stacked tables and portable toilets. On Monday,

hundreds of vendors and contractors parked their trucks, packed their

wares and picked up their trash.

Orange County Fair Chief Executive Becky Bailey-Findley said she

expects the grounds to be cleaned up in time for the reopening of the

Orange County Marketplace on Saturday.

Some, such as Ray Cammack Shows, which provided all the carnival

rides, have their work cut out for them. Most of the rides were taken

down Monday or will be deconstructed today. Then they will be shipped

to Santa Barbara and reconstructed in time for its Beachside

Carnival, which starts Wednesday, company spokesman Tony Fiori said.

The La Grande wheel and other large rides will take four to five days

to remove, he said.

And some people expected to be off the fairgrounds in less than a

day. Scott Strader, co-owner of Newport Beach-based Sandalman, helped

move the shop’s handcrafted leather wares from its tent in Crafters

Village and help clean the area. He said his shop fared well at this

year’s fair as a small beneficiary of a 9% spike in attendance and

admission revenue from last year.

“Business was up for everybody this year,” Strader said. “I think

everybody was pleased. I can guarantee when we went out to walk up

and down the aisles, there were times when we couldn’t get up and

down the aisles because of all the people. That’s a good thing for

us.”Food revenue rose 16%, parking profits climbed 15% and ride

income skyrocketed 22% over last year’s numbers, fair officials said.

Fair safety also improved, with a reported 21 arrests as opposed

to 66 arrests made last year, according to Orange County Sheriff’s

reports.

“The majority of arrests were narcotics and alcohol-related,” said

Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Visconti.

Fair security officials didn’t have many issues to deal with,

either. The security office did become a lost and found of sorts,

however, temporarily holding dozens of wallets, jewelry, sets of

keys, sunglasses and other lost personal belongings.

“Most of the wallets that have been left behind are kind of

insignificant in terms of what’s in there,” Safety and Security

Manager Richard Groscost said. “We’re trying our best to track down

the people that left them here. But it’s kind of interesting how we

ended up with four baby carriages.”

Not all remained lost, though. Groscost said fair security

reunited all lost children and lost parents without incident.

In total, fair officials believe the annual festival was

successful, and they remain optimistic for next year’s Orange County

Fair from July 8 to 31, 2005, with its slogan, “It’s Callin’ You Out

to Play.”

“I’m pleased to say that everything added up to a spectacular

fair,” Bailey-Findley said in a news release. “Through the hard work

and dedication of the total fair organization, we had a very

successful event, featuring wonderful exhibits, attractions and

entertainment.”

* JEFF BENSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.