All eyes are smilin’ at O.C. Fairgrounds

FAIRGROUNDS — Mission Viejo dad Troy Varenchik and his daughter Hailey, 2, had everything green Saturday in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. They started the day with green bagels, decorated Hailey’s sandy blond hair with a green bow and headed for the Orange County Market Place in search of leprechauns and fun.

“Look at those big ladies,” Hailey told her dad as she pointed to the two women dressed as Scarlet Sister’s Circus Celtic stilt walkers.

Hailey was sure to see the stilt walkers, wearing long black dresses adorned with Celtic decorations, before and after she and her dad stopped to watch young, award-winning Irish dancers of the Claddagh Dance Co. of Orange County.

When the Irish jams started to play and the dancers began dancing, with their spiraled curls and colorful costumes bouncing in unison to the music and their feet, Hailey danced too.

People were out in full force Saturday, many wearing green since the fairgrounds offered free admission to those who did. At noon Saturday, more than 800 people had entered for free.

And although many drank beer, the drink so often associated with the Irish holiday, the fairgrounds offered more family-friendly fun than many of the parties going on around Newport-Mesa.

Troy Varenchik and Hailey also made sure to buy some green mint ice cream.

“It’s everything green today,” dad said as he redid Hailey’s hair.

Although he hails from Limerick, Ireland, Fountain Valley resident Mike Chawke said he enjoys spending the holiday with his family in the United States.

“It’s wonderful,” he said as he watched his daughters, Cassie, 5, and Katie, 3, eagerly waiting for their balloon hats to be made. “I think [St. Patrick’s Day is] more Irish here than in Ireland.”

For the older kids, local Irish pubs were packed Saturday afternoon, with a line curling around the sidewalk outside Muldoon’s Dublin Pub in Newport Beach by 11 a.m.