Seven historical locomotives and a variety of...

Seven historical locomotives and a variety of train engines dating from 1868 to 1960 are among the featured attractions at the Los Angeles County Fair, which opens today in Pomona.

Fair-goers can also visit an 1880s farmhouse where a farmer tends his livestock and garden while his wife does her household chores. The farm includes a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, root cellar and pony rides.

Other sights include a simulated gold mine shaft, a milking parlor in which the milking process from the cow to the carton is shown and a Mexican Village featuring cultural entertainment.

The fair is the largest in California and sixth-largest in North America.

The first fair was held in 1922 as an offshoot of a merchant’s exposition held the previous year in downtown Pomona. The local Lions Club came up with the idea of a county fair and it was organized “primarily for the promotion of the agricultural, horticultural and animal husbandry interests of the great Southwest.” The fair was so successful that it has continued annually, except during World War II. Attendance first reached the 1 million mark in 1948.

Although agriculture predominates, the fair also abounds with art, sock-hops, a carnival, fireworks, clowns and magicians.

General admission is $7 to the 18-day event, which attracted 1,378,885 people last year. The gates open at 10 a.m. Mondays through Fridays and at 9 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and close at 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and at 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The fairgrounds are at 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona.

Other fair activities: Rapid Razorback Pig Races, daily at Stage Street; Lumberjack Show, daily at Picnic Hill Lagoon; Old Time American Circus, daily near Gate F; Supreme Grand Champion Market Swine Selection, Ring 3; noon Sunday, and Junior Livestock Auction--Swine, Rabbits, Lambs and Veal, Ring 3; noon Tuesday.