A Crowd-Pleasing Opener : Fun-Seekers Rush to Take Advantage of 25-Cent Rides as Gates Open on 100th County Fair

The 100th Orange County Fair got off to a muggy but lively start Friday as hundreds of children tore around the fairgrounds to catch all the rides they could during the fair’s first 100 minutes, when thrills cost only 25 cents.

“We’re in a hurry,” 9-year-old Michael Palmer said breathlessly as he stepped off the giant roller coaster. “We’ve been on the bumper cars twice already and now we’re going to the bumper boats. We don’t have much time left.”

To launch the fair, children under the age of 12 were admitted free. Dancing mascots and clowns and the Orange County All-American Boys Chorus provided the entertainment for the opening ceremonies. But overcast skies forced cancellation of a sky-diving show.

The first few hours of the day were dominated by twisting, swooping and spinning carnival rides including the traditional Ferris wheel and faster options such as “Gravitron,” “Super Loops” and “Cyclone.”

“I’m dizzy!” Delores Ramirez cried after getting off of a spinning ride called “Force 10.”

“I had second thoughts the minute I sat down on that thing,” said Ramirez, who was visiting from Modesto. “My sister forced me to go on, she likes the wild rides.”

Long Beach resident Candy Marshall, 35, stood near the “Wipeout” ride waiting for her 4-year-old son to finish his turn.

“We are just rushing from ride to ride with these 25-cent tickets,” said an exasperated Marshall, who is nine months pregnant. “I just might have my baby today with all of this rushing around.”

Despite warm and muggy weather, most fair-goers didn’t appear to be bothered too much by the conditions. “We’re from Guam so we’re used to this kind of weather,” said Manuel Kohagura, who is vacationing in Southern California.

Opening day events included a salute to Louise Buck of Seal Beach, who turned 100 years old Friday.

Buck, wearing a pink sweater and corsage, was feted with a birthday cake and escorted around the grounds in her wheelchair. She jokingly said her secret to hitting the century mark was “not having any children.”

But Buck, who lives at Beverly Manor Convalescent Hospital and was attending her first Orange County Fair, wasn’t the oldest one there.

In attendance were three other centenarians from the hospital, Clara Syfers, 102, and Minnie Smith and Della Jaynes, both 100.

“I think the fair is wonderful,” said Jaynes, a former schoolteacher. “It’s just like the ones I went to in Des Moines.”

The festivities also included appearances by more than a dozen former fair queens dating back to 1931. The fair stopped crowning queens in 1983 and established a fair ambassador program in its place the following year.

Sue Bruderlin, the fair’s 1966 queen, attended opening day with her 14-year-old twin daughters, Brigitte and Tiffany.

“I come to the fair at least a few times each year,” said Bruderlin, 41. “It’s more commercial now, it used to be more country. But the rides are still wild and the entertainment is what really pulls me in.”

For many in attendance, the fair’s cuisine proved irresistible, and fair-goers enthusiastically feasted on corn dogs, fried chicken, nachos, cotton candy, pizza, and barbecue beef sandwiches.

“This is so good, just delicious,” Lorraine Phillips said shortly after biting into a fresh batch of deep-fried Australian Battered Potatoes bathed in nacho cheese sauce.

“I’ve never had anything quite like these but I know they’re fattening,” said the Stockton resident, who is in Orange County on vacation. “I’ll have to start my diet next Monday.”

Michelle Kenyon, 23, said she headed straight from the fairgrounds gate to a booth selling a fried pastry called “funnel cakes,” which were topped generously with strawberries and whipped cream.

“These are awesome,” Kenyon said as she shared the dessert with her daughter and her younger siblings.

Corona residents Ardus and Eric Endres sat comfortably in the shade as they ate their barbecued hamburgers and french fries which they described as “all high fat and cholesterol.”

“Yesterday, we had nothing but fruits and vegetables and look at us today,” Ardus Endres said. “I suppose tomorrow we’ll have to go back to fruits and vegetables after what we’ve done. But today, we’re just eating junk food. We knew we would.”

The fair runs through July 26.