Orange : Visitors to Street Fair Are Imbibing as Usual

The beer and wine almost didn’t flow this year at the 13th annual Orange International Street Fair. It wasn’t until Thursday--the day before the Labor Day weekend festival was scheduled to begin--that fair organizers were able to obtain liquor liability insurance for the event.

Bob Paul, president of the volunteer Orange International Street Fair Inc. that organizes the event, said he had been “diligently trying since March” to find insurance, which ultimately was written by a Florida firm.

Without the policy, the fair, expected to draw up to 350,000 people during its 3-day run, might have had to eliminate alcohol sales--a major draw to judge from the thousands of plastic beer cups that are tossed into the huge trash containers that discreetly line the side streets around Orange’s historic traffic circle.

The circle, which has been completely renovated in recent years and now features brick sidewalks and old-fashioned street lights to complement the 80- to 100-year-old commercial buildings that surround the small central plaza, is the hub of the street fair.

More than 175 booths, offering ethnic foods, drinks and handicrafts, fill the circle and fan out for two blocks on East and West Chapman Avenue and a block north and south of Glassell Street.

Also, organizers aren’t interested in making the event so large that it would be difficult to manage. This year a 10-cents-a-ride shuttle service was added for those who have to park a long distance from the fair. The orange and white Orange County Transit District shuttle buses will stop along Glassell and Lemon streets and Chapman, Almond, Maple and Collins avenues.

The annual fair, which opened Friday evening, will run from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. today and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.