Time Again for the Fair : Antelope Valley: The 11 days of events begin today with a parade through Lancaster. The activities are expected to attract more than 300,000 people.

Pigs were being scrubbed, carnival rides erected and concert grounds readied Thursday in preparation for the 53rd annual Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival, an 11-day event that opens today in Lancaster and runs through Labor Day.

Organizers of the publicly sponsored event, the largest annual gathering in the Antelope Valley, are predicting more than 300,000 in attendance for the fair’s array of concerts, races, livestock competitions, rides, displays and Rural Olympics, which will feature a hay-loading contest.

Ralph Bozigian, president of the fair’s board of directors and a 37-year valley resident, said he doubts that the weak local economy will lower attendance.

“Entertainment and exhibit-wise we have a very strong lineup,” Bozigian said.

This year’s theme is “A Carousel of Haydays,” saluting horses and the valley’s dwindling hay industry.

The fair begins at 5:30 p.m. today with a parade through downtown Lancaster followed at 6 p.m. by the formal opening of the 80-acre fairgrounds at 155 E. Avenue I.

Earlier this week, Andy and Mike Swan, also known as clowns Zippy and Hi-Tops, were working in 100-degree weather to erect the tent that will house their two-man Swan Bros. Circus.

The brothers, from North Highlands near Sacramento, have been performers since 1975 and appeared at last year’s fair.

On Wednesday, 16-year-old Ryan Killian of Quartz Hill was grooming three of his family’s lambs, a small portion of the 28 animals--lambs, pigs, steers, chickens and rabbits--the family has entered in livestock competitions.

After months of feeding, cleaning and tending the animals, even chasing the lambs around his house twice a day to develop their muscles, Ryan said he is ready for the fair to begin.

“The fair is the fun part, displaying your animals and showing them off,” he said.

There also will be judging for dolls, alfalfa, fruits and vegetables, plants and flowers, baked goods, quilts and even scarecrows.

Other events include a women’s nail-driving contest and a llama competition.

There are nearly 14,000 entries in the fair’s competitions.

Concerts are scheduled Monday through Friday in the 9,979-seat Redman Grandstand.

Kenny Rogers, whose appearance was sold out last year, will be the featured performer next Friday.

C & C Music Factory and Tara Kemp will perform Tuesday.

K.T. Oslin and other country singers will appear the other three nights.

The same arena, with only 5,455 seats, will host stock car racing tonight, a show of monster trucks Saturday, and a motocross and demolition derby Sunday.

The Labor Day weekend will feature the Rural Olympics on Saturday, a rodeo Saturday and Sunday, and a lumberjack show Sunday and Monday.

Admission to the fair is $4 for adults, $2 for those over 64 and children 6 to 12, and free for younger children and military personnel in uniform.

Parking is $2 a day.

The carnival rides are extra, as are tickets for the concerts, $10 to $22, and arena events, $7 and $9.

For the first time, the fair was advertised this year in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Brochures were sent to 50,000 Santa Clarita Valley households, and FM radio stations KLOS and KZLA have been promoting the event, fair officials said.