Officials: Fair was a success

The Orange County Fair, which closed Sunday, was in an unprecedented state of flux this year in many regards.

It expanded from four weeks to five weeks — a move that was opposed by many fair vendors who thought it would diminish their daily business. A new chief executive, Steve Beazley, took the helm. The state offered to sell the fairgrounds to a private interest, and factions formed over who should buy it and what they should do with the Costa Mesa venue. And the fair itself began exploring shutting down its equestrian center to make room for more parking and exhibits, which drew heavy criticism from local residents and the equestrian community.

Yet despite all of the turmoil, fair officials are calling the 2009 fair a success. Attendance stayed more or less static — preliminary figures show that 1,072,018 people showed up this year, compared with 1,062,673 last year.

This, however, means that about 8% fewer people came each day, leading to smaller crowds and shorter lines, which was the plan from the outset, according to fair spokeswoman Robin Wachner.

During prior years’ expansions, most recently in 1992 and 2003, total attendance stayed static or decreased the year of the change and then grew back up again to its previous level.

“Now we expect to start growing that attendance again,” Beazley said.

About 250,000 people came to see the fair’s main attraction: a 10-minute, 3-D movie that the fair produced with musical comedian Weird Al Yankovic. The fair spent about $2.5 million on the exhibit, which it didn’t expect to recover this year in added attendance, but hoped to make up in the future by renting the movie out to other fairs around the country.

Officials from fairs in Texas and South Carolina came to see it while it was on display in Orange County, and several more plan to see it at its next stop in Washington, Beazley said.

So far, no others have made formal commitments, but usually those commitments aren’t made until budget time in the fall, Beazley said.

Because of the novelty of the exhibit and management’s desire to see it picked up by other fairs, the fair kept a close eye on how “Al’s Brain” was received. Audience members entering and leaving the auditorium were surveyed on how they liked the show, whether they learned anything, and whether they would have paid money to see it.

One statistic that Beazley puts some stake in: Of 133 people surveyed, more than 60% said the exhibit had some influence on their decision to go to the fair and pay the $10 entry fee.

By The Numbers

1,072,018

Total fair attendance this year over 23 days

1,062,673

Total fair attendance last year over 21 days

8%

Decrease in daily attendance

250,000

Number of people who saw Weird Al’s Brain exhibit