County Fair Opening Its Gates Today for 94th Run

Just a few steps from the entrance sits a T-38 Air Force training jet. Turn a corner and there’s champion Duroc hogs in the 4-H barns.

It’s a mix of the country with the contemporary, of horses and jets, cotton candy and laser beams, handstitched quilts and Teflon pans.

It’s a sample of the 94th annual Orange County Fair, which opens today at noon at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Organizers are expecting about 375,000 visitors during the 10-day event, 12,000 more than last year’s all-time attendance record of 362,907, according to fair spokeswoman Jill Lloyd.

‘Better and Bigger’

“We do have a better and bigger package of entertainment,” Lloyd said. “So the potential is there” to break that record.

At a sneak preview Thursday, a Lakewood belly-dancing team, acrobatic squads and a one-man band demonstrated their skills for the press, while crews continued to set up display areas for 355 sales exhibitors and 10,000 or so other exhibits.

“Fair-ah,” a half-ton Santa Inez Jersey cow who is this year’s fair mascot, also strutted for reporters with her 2-month-old bull calf. Both are part of the fair’s tribute to the dairy cattle industry.

The 1986 fair’s theme, “Jump on Over,” is a takeoff on the nursery rhyme that includes the line, “The cow jumped over the moon,” Lloyd said.

In a high-tech salute to the dairy industry, the band “Light Mooves” will present a laser show twice nightly Sunday through Thursday in the grandstand.

In a more low-tech salute, Duffy Lyon, a dairy farmer from Toledo, Iowa, will sculpt a life-sized cow from butter. Also scheduled are a cow-milking contest Saturday and a butter churning contest on July 17.

Eating Contests

Other contests are planned for the most consumption of milk, yogurt and ice cream.

But not all competition is dairy-related. On Saturday, home winemakers will vie against each other, as will the freckle-faced, celebrity look-alikes, pairs of twins, redheads, and men with “Super Legs” on different days of the fair.

Among the fair’s new exhibits is the “Rock Food Banquet,” courtesy of rock collectors Arless and Margeret Nixon of Phoenix, Ariz.

At first, it looks like a Thanksgiving dinner table, but on closer inspection all of the “food” is actually rocks simulating chicken, cheese, salami and other edibles, including simulated french fries from a petrified tree.

“My friend, this is all nature’s handy work,” said exhibitor Arless Nixon, stressing that none of the rock food is painted or shaped, except for a couple of stones sliced to resemble bread.

Meanwhile, 55 full-time and 500 part-time employees were finishing preparations for 160 acres of displays, while carnival workers assembled rides and game booths.

Got a Sunburn

“I wasn’t used to the weather, and I ended up getting a terrible sunburn,” said Karen Kueshensky), 24, as she helped set up a booth.

The fair will be open until July 20, from noon to midnight on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. The fair is located at 88 Fair Drive, just east of Fairview Road.

General admission is $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under 6 are admitted free.