A Time to Lighten Up : Summertime Brings Many Local Joys and Diversions

The Orange County Fair is 100. The Pacific Symphony is in good form outdoors. Three festivals grace Laguna Beach. Even Richard M. Nixon, caricatured during his long political life as a shadowy figure, is helping to lighten things up this summer season.

Mid-July in Orange County brings seasonal pleasures, a time to shift gears from the hustle of daily life and enjoy the offerings of this place in the sun. Warm summer days and rolling surf, made possible by a distant hurricane, brought to mind in recent days the surfing culture that is part of the California lore.

And of course, there is the fair, celebrating its centennial. What a different place the county is today from the first fair a century ago. But its current run through July 26 still brings the excitement it always has--whether it’s been horse racing in the early days at the old Santa Ana Race Track, the speed racing introduced after World War II, or the carnival rides that continue today. The fair still has a lot of the old magic: Sue Bruderlin, the fair queen from 1966, returned recently with two teen-age daughters to find the fair “more commercial now. It used to be more country. But the rides are still wild and the entertainment is what really pulls me in.”

In another one of early summer’s pleasurable moments in Orange County, guest conductor Jack Everly of the American Ballet Theatre led the Pacific Symphony at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre through a flawless procession of George Gershwin’s Hollywood melodies: “Back Bay Polka,” “A Foggy Day,” “Slap That Bass,” “Love Walked In,” “Love Is Here To Stay,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.” Nice work if you can get it, indeed. And so, by the way, is a visit to the three annual arts festivals setting up shop this summer in Laguna Beach: the Festival of Arts, the Sawdust Festival and Art-A-Fair.

But not all diversions this summer have turned out to be larks. The Angels emerged from the All-Star break with a hobbled manager (from the team’s unfortunate bus accident), and their worst record since 1976, making the summer days and nights at Anaheim gloomy.

But a wheelchair-bound Manager Buck Rodgers smiled with all the other baseball fans and players as guests this past week of one Orange County native who knows something about coming back from defeat. Former President Nixon provided a memorable summer moment when he and his son-in-law, David Eisenhower, picked all-star teams from several eras at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

But if all has been well in some of summer’s early moments, there have been troubled times. Newport Beach has found itself wrestling with ways of cutting down on escalating violence resulting from Fourth of July partying. A little common sense goes a long way. If revelers don’t regulate themselves, somebody else will. Indeed, state officials have had little choice but to ban alcohol at Huntington, Bolsa Chica and Crystal Cove state beaches in the wake of a weekend brawl several weeks ago that sent two Huntington Beach lifeguards to the hospital. It’s too bad that a few can spoil it. Beach closings had to be moved up and the alcohol ban instituted. That ruins it for responsible folks who want bring a cooler and act like grown-ups.

For those in search of a quiet oasis from the hectic whirl, The Times “Coast Highway Chronicles” feature recently spotlighted a place “where the air is filled with the fragrance of apple mint instead of auto exhaust.” It’s the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar, which for a quarter of a century has been a haven of fountains and yellow marigolds. These botanical gardens and the historical library remind us of the less frantic pace of earlier times.

That’s the way to do it. Lighten up, go slowly and have fun. But respect others in doing so. Summer is here with its many pleasures and wonderful things to relish and enjoy.