Top Hog Retiring to the Good Life : Fair: Grand champion donated to Centennial Farm after fetching nearly $2,000 at the livestock auction.

It was sizzling outside, with temperatures hot enough to send anyone to the beach, but Marissa Velasquez chose to spend her Saturday at the Orange County Fair--hobnobbing with pigs and showing off Target, her 200-pound champion market hog.

It wasn’t exactly what most people her age were doing on a perfect beach weekend, but Velasquez would be nowhere else.

As owner of the grand champion market hog at the 98th annual Orange County Fair, the 17-year-old was the first of more than 300 area 4-H Club and FFA members at Saturday’s livestock auction to bid farewell to the animals they have spent much of the past year raising.

Fetching a hefty $9.50 per pound, the La Puente Valley FFA member walked away with nearly $2,000 for the five months of work and $200 she invested in the animal.

“I’m going to put the money toward my college education,” said the recent graduate of Del Paso High School in Walnut, after posing for publicity photos with her prize-winning pig and its new owner.

But Velasquez was not alone in forgoing the beach to spend time at the fair. With 90-degree temperatures prevailing the entire week, this year’s fair is off to one off its best starts ever as record-breaking crowds streamed through the gates on two of the fair’s first three days.

“The weather doesn’t seem to be affecting our crowds,” said Diane Sorenson, a fair coordinator. “As of Friday night, our attendance was up 10,000 over last year.”

As of 6 p.m. Saturday, 54,623 had entered the fairgrounds, fair officials said.

But forecasters say cooler weather may soon prevail.

“Temperatures Sunday are going to range from the upper 60s and 70s along the coast to mostly 90s in the coastal valleys,” said Steve Burback, a meteorologist at WeatherData Inc., a firm that provides forecasts for the Times. “Skies will be sunny during the day with some low coastal clouds during the night and early morning. On Monday, it should be three to five degrees cooler.”

Among the precautions taken by fair officials was putting up extra shade and deciding to show pigs in the evening. Livestock supervisor Jim Bailey said swine, chickens and rabbits have the hardest time with the heat because they do not have sweat glands.

Many of the students who raised the animals as projects also monitored the animals closely to make sure their prized projects were in top shape.

Three-fourths of the animals auctioned off were not raised on conventional family farms, a county farm extension adviser said. Instead, they were raised on sites like the 4-H farm on the UC Irvine campus, school farms, or, in extreme cases, horse stables, according to county extension associate Beverly Hardaway.

“One of the nice things about being associated with the University of California system is we have the 4-H Farm,” Hardaway said, noting that the Irvine facility allows Orange County 4-Hers to rent spaces ranging in size from one square foot to 8 by 12 feet for some steer.

“It’s a totally different feeling from back yard farming,” she said. “Yet, the kids who raise their animals at the 4-H Farm are probably as close to their animals as those who do back yard farming.”

In Orange County, just over 10% of the county’s more than 500,000 total acres are devoted to agriculture.

A longtime supporter of agriculture in the area, Gary S. Findley paid more than $2,000 for Velasquez’ prize-winning hog and then donated the animal for breeding purposes to Centennial Farm, the fair’s replica of a working farm.

“I’ve bought a lot of grand champions in the last 15 years,” said the 35-year-old Brea attorney, who last year purchased the grand champion market beef winner for $4 per pound. “I just like to see them go for a good price.”

Proceeds from the auction go to the 4-H and FFA club members and is used to pay for educational programs, scholarships and to buy more animals for future projects.

Running through July 22, the fair is open from noon to midnight Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight Friday, Saturday and Sunday. General admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and $2 for children six to 12. Parking is $3 per vehicle, but free for buses and cars carrying four or more persons.