Costa Mesa : July 16 Promises to Be Crowded Night at Fair

What do the surf bands Beach Boys and Jan and Dean have to do with traffic congestion?

Plenty, according to Orange County Fair Board officials who recently learned that both groups will be appearing on the fairgrounds the night of July 16.

“It poses parking and congestion problems because we are having the fair going on at the same time,” said Jill Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the annual 10-day event. Lloyd added that the fair board was unaware that its tenant, Pacific Amphitheatre, had signed the Beach Boys on the same night the fair board asked the popular ‘60s group, Jan and Dean, to perform at its 5,000-seat, open-air Arlington Theater.

“We were not aware of the Beach Boys concert until it was advertised in the newspapers,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd called the scheduling overlap another example of the “lack of communication” between the fair board and the Pacific Amphitheatre’s manager, Nederlander West Inc. She said the fair board thought that it had a verbal agreement with Nederlander that no concerts would be held at its larger, 18,500-seat amphitheater during the fair, which runs from July 11 through July 20.

But a spokesman for Nederlander said the Beach Boys booking is within the rights of its lease agreement and added that he was unaware there was a conflict when the Beach Boys concert was booked more than two months ago.

Tension between the fair board and Nederlander West is not new.

The fair board is currently suing Nederlander West for alleged breach of contract over excessive noise from blaring rock ‘n’ roll artists, the alleged serving of alcoholic beverages to minors during concerts and disagreement over the construction and maintenaance of certain physical structures on the grounds.