FAIR QUESTION: Attendance at the Ventura County...

FAIR QUESTION: Attendance at the Ventura County Fair inched back up in 1992, but officials have no forecast for this year’s event, which starts Aug. 18. “We never try to predict,” spokesman Devlin Raley said. Weather will be the main factor, he said. . . . Lest crime fears keep anyone home, the fair board is spending $150,000 on security (B1). . . . Headlining the entertainment lineup: Michael Murphy and the Charlie Daniels Band.

CITY KIDS: With the fair less than a month away, the county’s 28 4-H clubs are rushing to fatten calves, groom lambs and ripen vegetables. Two-thirds of the county’s 1,000 4-H members compete at the fair, and about 400 enter animals, said Larry Yee, a county farm adviser. . . . But 4-H has expanded beyond its agricultural roots. “The interests of young people today are much different,” Yee said. So the fair’s 4-H entries will include exhibits on rocketry and marine life.

WILD WEST: Only a few foundations remain at the Corriganville movie ranch, where countless Westerns were filmed. Simi Valley officials vote tonight on plans to build a theme park on the site (B5). Tom Corrigan, son of founder Ray (Crash) Corrigan, is happy his father’s legacy may be restored: “It’s hard to think it was ever forgotten.”. . . Tom Corrigan owns a Thousand Oaks restaurant full of Corriganville memorabilia. Just back from a film festival in Tennessee, he said: “They’re big fans of Westerns. I’m not sure there’s the interest in California yet.”

SMOG 101: Ventura County has some of the nation’s dirtiest air, and cars cause half the pollution. So young drivers are the target of a new anti-smog message. The Board of Supervisors voted to spend $71,400 to produce a video telling high school students how to reduce smog. . . . The program will present tips on auto maintenance and ride-sharing, interspersed with fun facts such as this: One spray of aerosol antiperspirant causes as much pollution as driving a car seven miles.

Fair Turnout

After declining since 1988, attendance at the Ventura County Fair went up last year.

Source: Ventura County Fair Bureau