County Fair Meeting Canceled at Los Alamitos

The Orange County Fair Board of Directors voted Thursday to cancel its 1992 horse racing meeting and end the fair’s 15-year involvement with racing at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress.

The 7-0 vote, with one abstention, comes less than a year after a lackluster meeting that saw an average attendance of 6,290 and an average handle of $1,138,470, a drop from the previous year and considerably less than the late 1970s and early ‘80s, when crowds in excess of 10,000 were more common.

Inaugurated in 1977, the fair held daytime racing the first few years, but moved to a night program in 1981. In the last few years, the fair competed with intertrack wagering fans who bet on Del Mar thoroughbred races from other Southland locations.

“(The Board) cited the revenue lost and the general economy. This is difficult because (the fair) was steeped in a lot of history,” said Norb Bartosik, the fair’s general manager. “It was a tough decision that the board had considered for some time.”

The 1992 Orange County Fair meeting was tentatively scheduled for July 27 to Aug. 15.