Scaled-Down Valley Fair Set for Hansen Dam

Encouraged by a warm welcome from Lake View Terrace homeowners, the San Fernando Valley Fair board voted Friday to move a much scaled-down version of the annual fair to Hansen Dam.

The location is less than ideal, board members said, because to win consent from nearby homeowners and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, they agreed to ban carnival rides, concerts and sale of alcoholic drinks. Those were the major moneymakers at past fairs.

Instead, the fair, scheduled July 14-16, will be restricted to such traditional country fair offerings as livestock exhibits, harvest celebrations, banjo contests, lumberjack competitions and crafts booths. It will close at 8 p.m. all three nights.

15,000 Expected

Organizers acknowledged that an old-fashioned fair is unlikely to draw crowds. They expect attendance to drop from a peak of 60,000 in 1987 to about 15,000 this year. A patron survey taken in 1986 showed that recreation and entertainment activities were the fair’s greatest attractions.

The homespun approach sat well with Lake View Terrace residents, many of whom raise or ride horses. At a meeting Monday night, they agreed to support the fair.

“We felt that the theme of the old-time country fair was not going to draw the disruptive element that a fair with a lot of rock group entertainment would draw,” said Lewis Snow, vice president of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn.

“Everybody I talk to is just delighted, young and old,” said Eileen Barry, recording secretary for the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn. “It’s something you can take your kids to. . . . It fits in with the agricultural flavor up here.”

Ted Nauman, fair marketing coordinator, described the reception from residents as “very refreshing” compared to the strong opposition from other communities considered as fair sites the past two years.

Ousted From CSUN

A year ago, the fair was ousted from Cal State Northridge after 13 years to make way for campus expansion. A tentative agreement to use a 30-acre cornfield at Pierce College this summer fell through after Woodland Hills homeowners and the Los Angeles Community College District objected, saying the fair did not fit the college’s master plan.

Another proposed site in the Sepulveda Basin also drew homeowners’ ire.

Because of the narrowing of the fair’s scope this year, Nauman said revenue will not meet costs, but the board has a financial reserve from several boom years.

“That’s all right,” he said. “The fair is not money. The fair is a tradition.”

On Friday, the fair board directed its staff to continue to look for a permanent location. However, board members said they would not rule out Hansen Dam as a permanent site, especially if the city and local residents would allow carnival rides and sale of alcoholic beverages.

“We’re going to make it a showcase this year, really show them what we can do,” said board President Sal Buccieri.

Richard Sessinghaus, a supervisor with the Valley region of the Recreation and Parks Department, said the city wanted “to keep it relatively simple for this initial engagement.” But, he said, “if things go well, if the community is pleased,” the department would consider approving an expanded event next year.

The city leases the Hansen Dam parkland from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which uses the area as part of a massive Valley drainage system. Sessinghaus said approval by nearby residents was one of the department’s primary conditions for allowing the fair to locate there.

Homeowners association representatives said they would be willing to consider changes if there are no problems this year.