COUNTYWIDE : Call to Disneyland Was a Capitol Idea

Crates and oranges. Up until a few years ago, that was the best Orange County could muster in the halls of the state Capitol as a display aimed at promoting the lures of Orange County.

The crates have since been replaced with a mock camera and photos of the county, but those are peeling and yellowing, critics point out. Besides, they add, next to the exhibits from the 57 other counties in the state, the display in Sacramento is just plain “tacky.”

Now Disneyland enters the picture.

Artists at the county’s biggest attraction were asked by the county to assemble an exhibit for display in Sacramento that would better represent the county. Before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, the result was unveiled.

“I was awed by the end product,” said Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who as chairman of the board last year worked with Disneyland on the project.

The new, three-dimensional display, designed to fit into a 3-by-5-foot case in a hallway off the Capitol rotunda, features wooden and cardboard cutouts of some of the county’s most familiar sites: the Big A insignia at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim Convention Center, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Balboa Pavilion, beaches and mountains, and the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.

The creators at the Magic Kingdom even acknowledged their chief local competitors with a model of Knott’s Berry Farm’s replica of Independence Hall.

The display was financed through private contributions and cost something less than $5,000, said Jack Lindquist, president of Disneyland.

“Orange County is a difficult place to try to capture,” Lindquist said, “but I think it tells a good story . . . and captures the dynamics and vibrancy of the county.”