It’s Show Time : Entertainment: The 12-day Ventura County Fair is off and running, with rides, food and exhibits. Total attendance is expected to reach 300,000.

Geanne Martin was crossing her arms, bouncing on her toes and trying not to fidget too obviously. She was at the head of the line, clutching a ticket in her hand, and she was clearly impatient to get inside.

Gloria Phillips was keeping a wary eye on Martin and about 150 people behind her. Some were grumbling about the wait while others stood quietly.

The Ventura County Fair was minutes away from officially opening Wednesday. “They’re going to stampede,” joked Phillips, a fair worker assigned to collect the first tickets.

Although Martin, 36, has been coming to the fair for more than 20 years, she practically raced inside when the gates were thrown open.

“My husband says I’m just like a little kid,” the Oxnard resident said, as she grabbed her 15-year-old daughter and made a beeline to buy carnival ride tickets. “I always come on opening day.”

First-day attendance figures were not available, but fair officials are expecting about 300,000 people to attend the 12-day event. About 13,500 people attended opening day last year, fair spokeswoman Teresa Raley said.

“We don’t worry about attendance on opening day because it fluctuates dramatically depending on weather, or if we have an attendance promotion, like a discount or something,” Raley said.

The fair is at Harbor Boulevard and Figueroa Street in Ventura, and will open for public activities at 11 a.m. and close at midnight every day through Aug. 30.

More than 20,000 livestock, home arts, photography and floriculture exhibits are featured, as well as 40 rides and 60 game booths. About 300 vendors are selling handicraft and novelty items, and more than 60 food booths offer everything from traditional pink cotton candy to egg rolls on sticks.

“We just got here, and we came straight for the food,” said Dorinda Reed-Doerr, a Ventura woman whose family has been coming to the 118-year-old fair for three generations.

For her family, wolfing down sugared fried bread and teriyaki is one of their biggest fair traditions. Reed-Doerr, her husband, her two daughters and two grandchildren were eagerly munching at a picnic table and making their plans for the day.

The family hasn’t missed the fair in more than 25 years, Reed-Doerr said. Both her daughters, now grown, used to march in the Ventura County Fair Parade when they were in high school, and Reed-Doerr used to give spinning demonstrations at the fair.

“It’s getting bigger and more commercial,” said Lisle Loose, who was introducing her 1-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son to the family tradition.

Allen Carter, who works at a booth that sells imported beer, anticipated that business would be better this year than last because the weather is warmer. Twenty-eight barrels of beer were sold last year, and he ordered 35 this year. “It was drizzling on opening day last year,” Carter said.

“Opening day is a dud,” said Judy Graves, who works at a food booth that sells chicken wings. “Everyone’s on vacation, or working. More people also get paid on Thursday and Friday. It’ll pick up on the weekend.”

As far as police were concerned, opening day was a success because by Wednesday afternoon, no gang-related incidents had broken out and no one had been hurt at a dangerous railroad crossing near the fairgrounds.

Police will turn people away at the gate who are wearing gang attire, Ventura Police Lt. Steve Bowman said. “We’re going to ask them to leave it in their cars. We have a really good compliance rate.”

Officers will also monitor a railroad crossing at Garden Street because it is only marked by a stop sign and pavement stripes. Several thousand people and about 100 vehicles a day use the crossing during the fair, said Ventura Police Services Officer Julie Brandt.

Last year, a fair worker was killed when her pickup truck stopped on the tracks and was smashed by a train. A train last year also nearly hit a shuttle bus carrying about 50 people.

About 14 trains go through the area every day, and officials have tried to get a crossing arm installed, fair spokeswoman Raley said. “It was approved by the powers that be, but there have been a few snafus along the way,” she said, adding that the crossing arm should be ready by next year’s fair.

During the fair, “nobody crosses those railroad tracks unless directed by a police officer,” Bowman said. With at least one officer and one fair security guard at the crossing at all times, Bowman said he didn’t expect any problems, especially on opening day.