Fair Has Its Day in the Sun : Annual Extravaganza Opens, Serves Up Berries, Shortcake

Debi Hukriede of Cypress fought traffic and hot, humid weather Wednesday to spend a day at the Orange County Fair.

Arriving at the fairgrounds about 11:30 a.m., she earned the distinction of being the first official visitor to the 98th annual fair when the fair doors opened shortly after noon.

“It’s a thrill to be the first visitor,” Hukriede said just after five sky divers carrying red, white and blue streamers marked the fair’s opening with a spectacular aerial entrance. The sky divers, including one who carriedan American flag, drew loud applause from the crowd as they broke formation just before touchdown.

“I come every year with my mother,” said Hukriede, a 37-year-old homemaker, as hundreds of others waited impatiently in the hot sun to get their first glimpse of what this year’s 12-day extravaganza had to offer.

“We’ve been coming at least 10 years,” said Hukriede’s 58-year-old mother, Kathy Richardson of Costa Mesa.

Greeted warmly by Shortcake, the costumed pig serving as this year’s mascot, and fair officials passing out commemorative buttons, visitors were courted by the blaring speakers of radio stations, vendors hawking their wares and commercial and contest exhibitors all hoping to gain an audience with their money-bearing guests.

At 6 p.m., 12,500 people had entered the fairgrounds. Last year, an opening day attendance record was set as 17,608 people passed through the gates, fair officials said.

The theme of this year’s fair is “Very, Berry Extraordinary,” a salute to the pig and the county’s lucrative strawberry industry. A $440-million business statewide, more than $36 million worth of strawberries were produced last year in Orange County, according county agricultural statistics.

Items accentuating the theme are prominently displayed throughout the 160-acre grounds, including the fair’s nine exhibit halls and Centennial Farm, the fair’s replica of a working farm, which features strawberries and pigs as well as various other crops and animals aimed at educating the public about how a real farm operates.

In one corner of the tiny farm, visitors watched as David Bowles shoed one of four 2,000-pound Belgium draft horses brought to the fair to pull a five-ton yellow wagon that collects the fair’s trash daily. Bowles, 36, said each of the huge animals eats 20 pounds of alfalfa each morning.

“These horses are still used extensively in the forests because they’re a lot cheaper than tractors,” he said. “They just love to work.”

Although vendors selling ice cream and cold drinks seemed to be in hot demand, hundreds of people crowded around the exhibition area of “America’s Sports Mom” Gale Webb to watch bicyclists and skaters perform fantastic tricks.

“The name of the game is getting kids interested in life and having a good time doing it,” Webb told the crowd. “The best thing in the world is to have youngsters proud of themselves because so many of them hate the world.”

Surrounded by bright banners with slogans such as “Get Kids High on Sports Not Drugs,” the 46-year-old Webb prodded the crowd to yell louder by offering magazines, T-shirts and key chains to those who yelled the loudest.

Before the performance, Webb used the youngest of her performers, a 6-year-old skateboarder named Nick, to point out that safety is important in sports. The youngster wore a helmet, elbow and knee pads and high-top tennis shoes for ankle support.

“Whether you’re competing or just having fun, it’s important to wear the proper safety gear,” Webb warned.

Running through July 22, the fair features such headline attractions as The Charlie Daniels Band tonight, Melissa Manchester on Friday and a tribute to the 30th anniversary of rock ‘n’ roll on Saturday.

The fair is open noon to midnight Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. General admission is $5, $3 for seniors and $2 for children ages 6 to 12.