Valley Fair Beats Jinx With 51,000 Visitors and Projected Surplus

The San Fernando Valley Fair attracted 51,022 visitors during its four-day run, more than any Valley fair in recent memory.

To the delight of fair organizers, attendance grew more than 20% over last year’s 40,556. Saturday proved to be the biggest day, attracting 20,000 visitors. The fair ended Sunday.

“We’re thrilled and happy and we had a fantastic time,” said Dallas Boardman, the fair’s acting president.

Although final figures are not in, fair officials said initial counts indicate that receipts from admissions, concessions and the carnival will all be up considerably this year, bringing in roughly $190,000 in revenues. After expenses, this will leave the fair some funds to spend for publicity next year, said Mel Simas, the fair’s new manager.

Possible Extra Day

Andrew Stodel, a longtime member of the fair’s board of directors, said the success has prompted some of the fair directors to talk about expanding the fair next year to a fifth day.

In the past, the fair was plagued by a myriad of problems.

This year, Simas said, those who attended early became cheerleaders to lure those who came later.

“I think we got some momentum going the first couple of days,” Simas said. “We heard people were coming a second time and bringing friends.”

The fairgrounds also were more appealing this year. The normally dusty piece of property owned by California State University, Northridge, was decorated with banners, fresh flowers, fountains and more than 300 flags.

Fair officials also required game concessionaires to make it easier to win prizes. For every $1 spent at the game booths, the operators had to spend 30 cents on prizes.

More Expected in ’86

Simas expects the people who came this year to spread the word, attracting even more visitors in 1986.

“It was a class act show. It’s nice to have something like that back in the San Fernando Valley,” said Agnes McBroom, the president of Valley’s 4-H Leaders Council. “We’ve been to every fair since 1979 and this is the best one I’ve seen.”

Apparently, only some of the children and teen-agers who exhibited and then sold animals at the fair left unhappy. The lambs and swine commanded respectable prices at the auction, although the steers failed to attract big spenders. The grand champion steer, which traditionally draws bids of $4 to $8 a pound, sold for only $2.10 a pound, an all-time low for the fair, said Cheryl Greslie, a 4-H official.

Some of the exhibitors bought their steers back rather than sell them for 80 cents a pound. To break even, they needed to sell their animals for $1.25 to $1.50 a pound.

Speculating on the poor showing in bidding for steers, Greslie said of the potential buyers: “Maybe they think they have to take it home with them.”