Old-Fashioned Is Fashionable at Valley Fair

The best hog callers, cracker whistlers and pie eaters in the Valley are perfecting their good old country skills for show at the San Fernando Valley Fair, which opens today at the Hansen Dam Sports Complex.

Organizers expect about 50,000 people to flock to the Lake View Terrace park during the five-day, 44th annual fair sponsored by the 51st District Agricultural Assn., the state agency that runs the event.

“This year the fair is much larger, the program is longer and a full carnival and midway have returned,” fair spokesman Ted Nauman said.

Fair additions include a national horseshoe pitching tournament and an exhibit of antique wagons and carriages.

A smaller, three-day fair was held last year at Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace after the event was forced to move from its longtime home at Devonshire Downs in Northridge. An estimated 30,000 people attended in 1989.

The move to the 25-acre Hansen Dam site has pleased organizers and visitors.

“Its a lovely park setting here,” Nauman said. “It’s much more rural looking and it’s much more open and grassy.”

Classic country fair contests and exhibits will be featured daily.

“We have the hog-calling and the husband-calling contests . . . and depending on the weather we may even have a little cow chip throwing.” Cow chip hurling in the rain might get a little messy, he said.

Other events include livestock shows, arts and crafts exhibits, covered wagon rides, raspberry pie-eating contests, three-legged races and the cracker-whistling contest, in which participants stuff their mouths with salty crackers see who can whistle first.

“This is a classic old-fashioned country fair,” Nauman said. “We’ll just have a humdinger of a good time.

“The agricultural district goes to great pains to introduce an old family farm setting to urban dwellers, who are now the majority in the San Fernando Valley,” Nauman said.

The number of entries in some exhibits has doubled, mainly because of participation from more than 300 youngsters in clubs such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America.

In addition to the red and blue ribbons, many competitors will also receive cash prizes ranging from $75 to $300.

The fair will also feature entertainment every night except Sunday.

The Parachute Express, a family variety show seen on the Disney Channel, will perform at 6:30 tonight.

Thursday night’s Sock Hop Reunion will feature a lineup of 1950s and 1960s artists including Tiny Tim, Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, Donny Brooks and Bobby Day. Country singer Johnny Lee will be featured Friday night, and Michael Wolff and the Possee from the Arsenio Hall Show will headline Saturday’s show.

All of the concerts are free with fair admission.

The fair will be open today through Friday from noon to 10:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for those 11 and older; children 10 and younger get in free. The fair has two special admission days. Today, people 55 and older will be admitted free until 6 p.m. On Thursday, visitors 14 and younger are free until 6 p.m.; admission is reduced to $4 all day.

No alcoholic beverages will be sold or allowed at the fair site. Parking is $2.