For Youngsters, All’s Fair if an Adult Will Let You Do It

People are continually stepping on you, and your mom makes you hold your brother’s hand--in public. Otherwise, though, the Orange County Fair has a lot of attractions for a kid.

“I like ramming into my dad and my brother,” said Jason Gumbert, 8, of Canyon Lake in Riverside County, who reported Saturday that his favorite ride is the bumper cars.

Chad Shoemaker, 5, discovered that his favorite attraction was an unlikely one: the foot-massaging machine. Chad was last seen riding the foot massager like a surfboard, smiling the entire time.

As of this weekend, fair officials estimated, more than 415,138 people had attended the fair, about 78,000 of whom were age 12 or younger. The fair ends at midnight tonight. Children were all over the fairgrounds Saturday, running through the petting zoo and climbing aboard every ride that would take them, some accompanied by stuffed animals twice their size.

‘For the Kids’

“I really get a rush when I see a kid win,” said Dixie Barr, 26, a vendor at the fair. “I was a kid and I have a kid, and I know what it’s like to be shorter than the counter.”

“People forget this is for the kids,” said Joseph Deluca, 43, another vendor. “The little dorky prizes--they love them.”

Being a kid there could have its drawbacks though, especially if you did not measure up for the rides that impose height requirements.

“I like the Zipper, but I’ve never been on it,” said Mikel Hartman, 8, of Costa Mesa, referring to the attraction in which riders sit in tumbling cages that are spun around. “I’m not tall enough.”

Kyle Gonzales, 4, was begging his father to let him climb Black Beard’s Ladder, but the fearsome pirate doesn’t take prisoners Kyle’s size.

“I just want to go on that,” said Kyle, who was visiting from Houston. “I just want to.”

Eight-year-old Nicole Copelin of Saugus was disappointed that her mother would not let her get the tattoos of snakes and hearts that she was admiring on some of the carnival workers.

“I can’t get a tattoo,” Nicole said with a frown.

About a dozen children have become lost since the fair opened July 12, but all were found within an hour, fair organizers said. About another 200 were treated for cuts, scrapes and other minor injuries.

But as 7-year-old Lance Dumais of Long Beach pointed out, being a kid has one definite advantage:

“I don’t have to pay to get in,” he said with a big smile for his father, who bought the tickets for them both.