‘One Big Wow’ : 97th Edition of County Fair Opens Its Gates

The combination of squealing children, squawking barn animals and the delectable fast food struck the Orange County Fairgrounds Wednesday as this year’s annual event opened.

The smells of corn dogs mixing with barn odors from the 97-year-old fair brought back fond memories for the older crowd and created lasting impressions for the youngsters.

“It’s one big wow,” declared DeLoris Murphy, a stylishly dressed 65-year-old who carried an extra pair of comfortable walking shoes for, well, just in case. “This is the first time I got in with senior citizen admission, and I intend to take full advantage,” she said.

Murphy, who was sporting a red, laced Stetson hat, predicted that she will cover every inch of the 160-acre fair.

“I’m like a child again when I come to the fair,” said Murphy, who raised sheep during her youth in Minnesota. “I know it might sound a little goofy, but you can be 65 years old here and still be a kid.”

Or you can be as young as 7-year-old John Hall and still be a fair veteran. John was found hopping along the Footsie Wootsies, coin-operated machines that claim to offer the best foot massage on the West Coast for 25 cents.

“I’ve been to about, say, five of these (fairs),” said John in the middle of a hop. “The worst time is when I got lost and Dad was going crazy.”

His father, Ed, operator of the Golden Eagle booth, said his son remembers all the fair details that he can’t because he is generally too busy keeping an eye on his son and selling pretzels and popcorn.

Fair attendance was moderate, which is normal for a Wednesday opening day, according to spokeswoman Jill A. Lloyd. The fair opened at noon and by 3, the tally was 5,734. The number is slightly higher than last year, when 5,667 people had walked through the turnstiles in the first three hours.

This year’s fair, which will last for 12 days, is called “Stop & Smell the Flowers,” and is dedicated to small animals and plants.

Although the fair contained hundreds of booths ranging from watercolor tattoos to barbecue-beef eateries, it was the animals that provided the special county fair ambiance.

Pepper the Friendly Rat

The American Fancy Rat and Mouse Assn. had its own booth to show off several breeds of rats and mice, including 11-month-old-Pepper, a friendly rat.

“Rats are very intelligent and much better than your average hamster,” Karen Hauser, the association’s founder, insisted. “When people think of rats, they think of sewers and things like that. That’s not true. They can be trained and even know their own names.”

But rats are too small to shear. Rachel Johnson, 16, prefers sheep. Rachel has been showing sheep for nine years at various fairs, including this one.

“Fairs are sometimes a little tiring,” Rachel said, as she fluffed and dried her 5-month-old Southdown with a hefty hair dryer. “But it’s worth the time and the effort.”

For newcomers to the fair, one of its draws was the size.

Heather Goudie, 19, who was visiting from Nebraska, was awed.

“We don’t have any huge carnival rides like they do here,” she said. “We only have livestock and animals”

Goudie came to the fair with her grandparents, who live in Garden Grove, and her parents. In fact, her father, Tom, used to show cattle when he was a student here at Rancho Alamitos High School.

“All I remember were a few old barns and maybe a show arena for the animals. Now, it’s huge,” said Goudie, who is now a hog farmer.

His mother, Evelyn, 67, remembered the family attending every fair to watch as Tom’s animals won ribbons.

Meanwhile, Kristen Seielstad, a cool 3-year-old with sunglasses, got to cuddle her first goat Wednesday--a kid, not much bigger than she.

Her grandparents, Audrey and Jerry Valenta, captured every moment of Kristen’s first encounter with their video camera. “I brought my three kids down here when they were little. Now, it’s our grandchildren’s turn,” Audrey Valenta said.