Orange Ready for Fun With 400,000 Guests

Up to 400,000 visitors are expected to attend the 15th Orange International Street Fair, the City of Orange’s annual pre-Labor Day bash.

The three days of “food, fun and entertainment” begin Friday at 5 p.m. in the Old Town Plaza in the center of town, with the festivities extending two blocks up both Glassell Street and Chapman Avenue. Admission is free.

The plaza and streets will be lined with about 250 booths featuring arts and crafts and food representing 15 different ethnic groups. Proceeds will go to the Boy Scouts, the Little League, service clubs and the other nonprofit organizations manning the booths.

In addition to continuous music and dancing on the plaza main stage, street entertainment will include German and Greek bands, a Swiss yodeler and Mexican mariachis. There also will be a Children’s Village, with crafts and attractions for children.

Began 15 Years Ago

Street Fair hours are 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Fair chairman Gail Hewitt, owner of O’Hara’s Pub in Orange, said the annual International Street Fair began 15 years ago to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city’s founding.

But the idea for an international street fair representing the city’s diverse ethnic mix was proposed by Mayor Jess F. Perez. “He had seen pictures of a 1915 street fair in Orange County and wanted to re-create that,” Hewitt said.

That first year 30,000 to 40,000 people attended the fair, and Hewitt said it has grown bigger every year since.

Kay Donohue, a secretary at the city’s Chamber of Commerce office, said many residents schedule their vacations around the fair in order not to miss it.

“And people who used to live here in the past call us all year around to find out when the fair is going to be,” she said.

Query From Tokyo

This year, Hewitt said, there was even an inquiry from a travel publication in Tokyo that wanted information on the event.

“We get inquiries from all over the country,” she said. “It’s amazing.”

Police in Orange had threatened to boycott the street fair to publicize their ongoing contract dispute with the city. But Stan Gable, a city traffic investigator and spokesman for the Police Officers Assn., said officers decided Tuesday not to boycott the event.

“If the officers had stayed away, we felt the action would attract an undesirable element that would disrupt the street fair,” Gable said. “Our intent is not to see anyone get hurt out of this. Our beef is with the city, not the citizens of Orange.”

Gable said officers would continue to picket City Hall to try to win public support for their wage dispute.