For many workers, OC Fair is one stop on a long road

Amid the gyrating rides and intoxicating scents of cinnamon rolls and turkey legs at the Orange County Fair are the stories of workers who make the fair go.

And some of them go too, traveling across California and the rest of the country to help entertain patrons of county fairs.

David Monge was a butcher in France but tired of doing the same thing over and over. He came to the United States in 1996, met his now-wife, Rebecca, at the Kern County Fair in Bakersfield while making cinnamon rolls and, a year later in 1997, landed a job with a cookware company that has a perennial spot at the OC Fair in Costa Mesa.

On Wednesday, Monge, who lives in San Diego, sliced carrots and shredded cabbages for a nine-vegetable salad using the Kitchen Kutter, a shiny steel device with a cylindrical attachment that functions as a grater.

“I teach people how to eat healthy. Since I was 15, I always worked in food,” said Monge, 46, who was a baker at one time.

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Throughout the fair — which runs Wednesdays through Sundays until Aug. 14 — Monge conducts cooking demonstrations in the Carnival of Products area.

He spends 240 days a year on the road traveling to five fairs in California, promoting products from Kitchen Craft as an independent contractor. He has four children, including triplets.

When the OC Fair is in session, Monge rents a room from a friend in Anaheim. Since San Diego is about an hour drive from Orange County, he can spend time at home on the fair’s off days.

There’s a strategy to wooing potential customers to his demonstrations, which include cooking chicken breasts in skillets that don’t require oil or water.

“Getting [viewers] to sit down is the hardest thing,” Monge said as he handed miniature spatulas to two women who have watched his demonstrations through the years. “I serve them a salad to get them to sit down.”

Monge said he enjoys seeing a variety of personalities at the fair.

“People are different,” Monge said. “Some people jump all over the place and some people look at you like this,” pausing to cross his arms and make a deadpan stare.

The fair has some new vendors this year as well, such as Nellie’s All-Natural, a company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that makes an alternative dryer sheet — a baseball-size sphere made of felt wool.

Donna Knight, center, talks about Nellie’s All-Natural Lamby Dryerballs, made from 100% felted New Zealand wool, at the Orange County Fair on Wednesday. Nellie’s All-Natural, based in Canada, is a new vendor at the fair this year.

(Kevin Chang / Daily Pilot)

Danielle Stiller, a sales representative, said the Lamby Dryerballs are more environmentally friendly than other sheets and can be used for up to 1,000 loads of laundry.

Stiller, 27, who lives in Antigua, Guatemala, said she will participate in four fairs this year, including the Minnesota State Fair in late August.

“I love being able to come in and share our knowledge of the dangerous chemicals we use in our households and help people replace those items,” said Stiller, who volunteers with Ahava Ministries in Guatemala. The organization seeks to help children escape poverty, Stiller said.

For Chris Lopez, vice president of Ray Cammack Shows Inc., an Arizona-based company that manages and oversees rides, games and food booths, fair life is a multi-generational affair.

Lopez, who lives in Phoenix, started working with the company 29 years ago in game booths.

“The family element draws me personally, that this fair is available to my family members who choose to be a part of it,” said Lopez, 44.

His wife, Jody, is the granddaughter of company namesake Ray Cammack. Three of Lopez’s children, along with a dozen nieces and nephews, are working at the fair in various capacities.

The OC Fair is one of nine stops RCS makes on its U.S. circuit each year. Others include the Houston Livestock Show and the Los Angeles County Fair.

RCS has been coming to Orange County’s fair for more than 20 years, hauling a Ferris wheel that requires 18 trailers — each 53 feet long — to transport its parts.

Nearly 280 of the 650 RCS workers at this year’s fair are doing their jobs with H-2B visas, Lopez said. The visa program allows employers who meet certain regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary nonagricultural jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Workers hail from Mexico, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Russia, according to RCS.

Lopez, an athletic-looking man, said he doesn’t work out but gets in a lot of walking while doing his job at the fair.

“I don’t eat corn dogs every day,” he said. “I can’t tell you the last time I had funnel cake.

“Going to the local restaurants are one of our favorite parts about coming to the fair.”

Avila’s El Ranchito is a particular favorite, Lopez said.

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Bryce Alderton, bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce