Here’s the Beef : Dinosaurs, Barnyard Animals Mingle for 108th Opening of Del Mar Fair

The Del Mar Fair presents:

Ta Da!--”Beef at the Beach” . . . starring Biff and Boris.

The 108th opening of the fair, traditionally an event suitable for all family members, has not gone risque, organizers say reassuringly.

Biff and Boris are not muscle-bound beachboys, but are in fact two Chianina-Angus mixed-breed steers, said Del Mar Fair spokeswoman Diane Scholfield.

“We realized that the slogan had a double meaning and that people might do a double take over it,” she said. “But that wasn’t our real intention.”

A Tribute to the Cattle Industry

Scholfield said the slogan was chosen, along with Biff and Boris, to represent the theme of this year’s fair: a tribute to the cattle industry. The fair runs from June 16 through July 4.

Although many people go to the fair for its amusement rides, big-name entertainers and exhibits, Scholfield said a survey conducted last year revealed that visitors ranked the livestock show as their second-favorite exhibit, trailing only the flower and garden show.

“Every year they bring in more fancier rides, more big-name entertainers,” said Harold Hilliker, 45, a Lakeside farmer and the fair’s livestock superintendent. “But it makes you feel real good to know that ultimately the people come back for the livestock.”

Although the fair might be fun and games for many, Hilliker said he uses the event to remind visitors of the contributions made by the farmers and ranchers, whose ranks are dwindling nationwide.

Better Than a 7-Eleven

“People just go into the supermarket and think the food is just going to be there,” said Hilliker, who began working at the fair more than 30 years ago running such errands as carrying rabbits. “Kids come to the fair and see a cow being milked for the first time, and that’s when they realize that milk doesn’t come from the local 7-Eleven.”

But cattle produce more than milk and beef, said Billie Hart, a livestock consultant from Villa Park, Ca. His fair exhibit will also stress the importance of agricultural workers.

“The pigskin the San Diego Chargers kick about, contradictory to what most people believe, is not made from a pig,” Hart said. “It’s made from a young calf.” Hart’s exhibit will also explain how other cattle by-products are used to produce a variety of household goods, from razor blades to tires.

In addition to the cows, horses, goats and other domestic animals, this year’s fair will also feature dinosaurs.

“One of the first things I was asked when I started working was, ‘Do you like dinosaurs?’ ” said Carol Sally, 23, a sign painter for Evergreen Nursery. “The next thing I know I was helping paint a stegosaurus.”

“We’ve had an exhibit in the flower and garden show for the last four years,” said Roland Martinez, 34, operations manager for the Del Mar and Spring Valley-based nursery.

“We have a lot of lush plants that are similar to the ones found in the swampy environment of the dinosaurs, so this year we decided to go with the dinosaur theme.”

Towering Tyrannosaurus

The prehistoric creatures, made of a steel-rod skeleton, chicken wire and urethane coating, are 50%-scale models. And like the 30-foot-tall tyrannosaurus model, they tower by the exhibit’s entry.

Gem and mineral booths, photography exhibits, food counters and performers such as Club Nouveau and Johnny Cash are expected to help draw crowds as large as last year’s, when 891,240 passed through the gates, making it the 17th largest fair in the United States in attendance.

With such crowds, however, come traffic snarls, the only drawback to the fair, Scholfield said.

In hopes of alleviating such driving nightmares, organizers have expanded parking and established shuttle services to discourage people from driving to the fairgrounds.

On all weekends during the fair, visitors can park free at a 900-car lot at Torrey Pines High School. A 1,500-car lot at UC San Diego will be available only during the last two weekends, Scholfield said. Signs for the free, attended lots will be posted along Interstates 5 and 805, and shuttles will take visitors to the fair. Shuttle service will also be available from the Del Mar Amtrak station.