Lights, ‘Carnies,’ Action at Fair Grounds

Fume-belching tractors littered the grassy field while shirtless, tattooed men worked under the hot sun. They tightened enormous bolts with even more enormous wrenches and eased spaceships, boats and race cars into their holds.

By Wednesday evening, almost 50 trailer rigs had been transformed into a 35-ride midway at the Orange County Fair Grounds in Costa Mesa, and Tom Dean finished for the day.

“It takes four hours to set up,” Dean said of his ride, the Hurricane. But others, such as the Thunder bolt, take 12 to 14 hours to assemble, he said.

Dean is among the 300 “carnies,” as they call them selves, who are employees of B and B Amusements of Yuma, Ariz., the company hired by fair organizers to provide rides. The company assigned Dean to his own ride, which he sets up, operates, maintains and takes down himself.

“When you got your ride, you take care of your ride,” he said solemnly.

Dean has spent seven years working for B and B off and on, and recently joined the carnival full time. “It’s my life,” he said.

Besides the B and B employees, the fair hires 600 workers for its 10-day run. Together with 55 food concessionaires, total fair employment this year will top 1,000 workers to serve about 325,000 expected visitors, said spokeswoman Jill Lloyd.

Concessionaires Wolfgang and Trudy Wirthgen of Huntington Beach have prepared more than 3,000 pounds of German bratwurst for the bratwurst sandwiches and dinners they will have on sale. The couple hopes to sell about 8,000 sandwiches, he said.

Sharon and David Beck have run a corn dog and cotton candy stand for B and B Amusements for 20 years. David Beck said he could cook and sell about 1,200 hot dogs --two 75-pound crates --a day, depending on the day of the week and the stand’s location. He was not sure how much sugar he uses each day, but added it was “lots and lots and lots.”

“We’re constantly making cotton candy,” he said.

While concessionaires hosed down their stands and carnies created carrousels and roller coasters out of truckloads of metal and plastic, fair workers hurried around preparing for Friday’s opening.

Many of the carnival workers and concessionaires spend eight months a year on the road, traveling from one fair to another. The 300 B and B carnies came here from three different fairs in California. After July 21, most will go on to the Santa Barbara County Fair in Santa Maria or the Stanislaus County Fair in Turlock.

“Everybody in the carnival is family,” Dean said. “It’s a place to stay in without paying rent. I sleep in my tractor, and if my tractor isn’t here, I sleep under my ride.”

Two carnies in the troupe literally will become family today. John Knutson, 23, foreman for the Scrambler ride, and Julie Dickson, 20, who works on the rope ladder attraction, will marry on the Sea Dragon ride. They have known each other about four weeks, but “it was love at first sight,” Knutson said.

The pair have decided not to take a honeymoon, but to be “on the lot and ready to go for opening day of the fair,” Dickson said.

They chose the Sea Dragon for their nuptials, he said, because “it’s a neat ride.”