Count Basie Yes, Hula Hoops No : Fun: Senior citizens display the wisdom of age during their day at the Del Mar Fair.

Seventy-eight-year-old Annie Ross and 77-year-old Louise Kaufman sat side by side in the plant and flower pavilion of the Del Mar Fair on Thursday, sporting matching tennis hats and pondering their next move.

“I’m looking for a gadget,” Kaufman said. “To make vegetable curls,” Ross piped in. “But we can’t find it.”

No matter, the women said. They liked the flower exhibit, and they were waiting for the music to start.

The 20-day Del Mar Fair--the second most popular in California, after the Los Angeles County Fair--offers the traditional egg toss, sack race and tug of war contests, along with rides, the wares of 600 commercial vendors and more than 60,000 individual exhibits. On Thursdays, it also offers something special for the older set.

Thursday is senior day, and Ross and Kaufman were taking an outing with some of their friends--about 200 of them--from the Norman Park Senior Center in Chula Vista.

The special rates and special events drew thousands of San Diego County senior citizens to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Some of the contests scheduled for the day, however, took a bit of a push to get going.

Take the hula hoop competition: “Anyone out there going to volunteer, or do I have to choose you?” the events coordinator asked. “Like hell,” muttered a red-haired woman in the back row.

In the end, men with white hats were fingered to try their luck with the hoops, doing the pelvic swing to the Beatles’ “You Can’t Do That” while the audience clapped along.

“I’ve tried it once, way back when, but I never could do it,” said 77-year-old Gil Charters of Oceanside, who didn’t quite master the hip motion but got the pink hoop to twirl around his midriff anyway.

Then they tried some old-time “Name That Tune.”

“This is Count Basie’s ‘One O’Clock Jump,’ ” the compact disc-spinner said when the contestants gave up. “No, it’s not,” the audience grumbled.

But the crowd at the Community Stage was really waiting for the harmonic sounds of the Four Freshmen, a vocal and instrumental quartet that got started at an Indiana university in 1947. Their big-band swing rendition of “Opus 1” even got them a standing ovation from a few die-hard fans at their afternoon performance.

“We don’t do any rap music, and we don’t do any rock ‘n’ roll,” the band leader said. “Yeah,” said the audience.

“I used to listen to them back in Iowa,” said 72-year-old Alice Mitchell of Carlsbad. “My sisters and I had a trio. I’ve never heard another group who’s been able to duplicate their harmony.”

Harmonies aside, there was plenty to buy, everything from porch swings to the world’s easiest pruning tools, customized patio lighting and fancy food dehydrators. “How about a knife that’s so sharp that when you go to cut the chicken you cut right through the chicken bone?” one hawker offered.

Few leave without spending some cash, but just how much depends on fancy: 70-year-old Dorris Wright had her eye on the water-filled crystal globes, which magnify the objects inside them. Those go for about $25. On the other hand, the “Footsie Wootsie Ultimate Foot Massage” costs just 25 cents.

For others, ribs and hot dogs, cream puffs, pita sandwiches or giant gourmet olives satisfy the urge to spend.

George Ryan, 70, of Pacific Beach has come to every Del Mar fair for the past 13 years. Thursday, he had only one complaint, he said: a mushy cinnamon roll. “You could pour it.”

The elderly weren’t the only ones vying for prizes Thursday. Thirteen-year-old Amber Allison of Rancho Penasquitos won first place for neighing like a horse--the mascot animal of this year’s fair.

“I’ve been around horses a lot, so I just kind of picked it up,” the blonde told a string of reporters, settling into her five minutes of fame with ease.

Others tried to pass as donkeys, cats, dogs, ducks and seals. All ages welcome: 3-year-old Jay Blumberg did “a moo-cow,” jumping an octave in the middle, and 38-year-old Mike Benedict of Encinitas took second place for his seal bark.

Some chose a minimalist approach, sticking to a phonetic rendition of their animal sounds. “Tweet tweet. Tweet tweet,” 5-year-old Jennifer said into the microphone. “Quack,” said 7-year-old Amy.

The fair has been attracting more than 40,000 people a day since it opened June 16, about the same as last year, and Wednesday’s crowd topped 44,000. Last year the fair drew more than a million people. It runs through July 5.

Today’s events include the Twirl West Baton Academy, an herb-growing demonstration and a watermelon-eating contest.