Strong start for O.C.’s rocking New Year’s Eve

Fairgrounds event draws more than 12,000 with Sugar Ray, falling orange.New Year’s Eve is typically a raucous night, but around Newport-Mesa the only fireworks were those planned as part of the first major end-of-the-year celebration at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The event, billed as “Orange County New Year’s Eve,” surpassed its target of 12,000 partyers and may have drawn more than 15,000 people, said Diana Baylor, who worked on public relations for the event. Exact numbers should be available today, but overall the celebration went off without a hitch, Baylor said Sunday.

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the fairgrounds because of a couple of fights and then stayed to make sure everyone cleared out of the event safely, said Sheriff’s Lt. Ted Boyne.

“Nothing of significance occurred,” he said. “It all went fairly smoothly for as large of a crowd as it was.”

Elsewhere in town, police in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach reported no major incidents New Year’s Eve, though Newport police received more than 30 calls about disturbances caused by parties between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday.