SPOTLIGHT : GARDEN PARTY : A Rain Forest Is Among the Fair’s Green Attractions

Organizers of the 103rd Orange County Fair are throwing a garden party that, in keeping with the theme, also features some night-blooming jazzmen among the diverse roster of entertainers.

But the real star of the show could be a newcomer.

Officials will break new ground on the West Coast fair circuit with Thunder Lagoon, a 5,000-square-foot indoor landscape that, for five minutes at least, promises to transform your garden-variety fair experience into a journey deep inside a rain forest, complete with a driving tropical thunderstorm.

The lagoon, however, is just part of the fair’s tip o’ the hat to horticulture and the nursery industry. “Come to Our Garden Party” also features indoor and outdoor gardens, special exhibits and flower shows. The fair, which last year attracted 675,000 visitors, opens Friday and continues daily through July 23 at the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center in Costa Mesa.

Performers include Stephen Stills, Vikki Carr, the ever-ebullient Little Richard, comedian Richard Jeni and jazzmen Richard Elliot and Craig Chaquico at the Pacific Amphitheatre. And in a nod to World War II veterans, a special USO-style show with a big band and a trio of Andrews Sisters sound-alikes.

There are also rides (including the Ejector Seat, which at $30 to $50 a pop, lets mere mortals rocket 150 feet into the air at up to 60 m.p.h. with the help of a giant, high-tech slingshot, and the Rock, a six-ton, 24-foot-tall hunk of faux granite for rock climbing), livestock shows, rodeos, exhibits and contests that encourage visitors to scarf massive quantities of snack foods and engage in any number of bizarre behaviors.

And not to be forgotten in all this, the fair traditionally honors an animal, and this year it’s the goat. (I’ve always thought of them as sheep with an attitude.) As the fair’s official mascot, Rosebud, a dark Nubian doe with a fetching blanket of white spots, will greet visitors in a rosebud-decked pen. Events include a parade and milking contests.

Thunder Lagoon, the brainchild of Boston-based Available Light, simulates the sights, sounds and climate of a rain forest and enhances them with a liberal dose of theatricality.

Available Light co-founder Steven Rosen, a former Palos Verdes resident who now lives in Boston, said the lagoon--housed in the fairground’s Flower and Garden Building and costing more than $100,000--has been well-received at garden shows and special events on the East Coast, even though it’s not entirely accurate.

“We try to give the feeling of being in the rain forest, and we’re authentic in that we’re using all tropical plants, but we’re not re-creating one particular zone,” said Rosen, who had help from local members of the California Assn. of Nurserymen to track down plants for this show. “We’re not building a South American rain forest, or a Pacific Northwest rain forest. It’s more a conglomeration of all of them . . . to help people appreciate the beauty of that environment.”

Rain forests contain more than half of the world’s plant and animal species, Rosen said, and to uproot a lot of endangered plants would defeat the purpose.

Technically speaking, Thunder Lagoon is a static attraction. Visitors do not move from place to place, and there are no animated figures. The show, which will be repeated four times an hour daily, from opening until 11 p.m., combines a lush setting of more than 1,200 plants and trees with lighting and sound effects to give viewers a sense of what it feels like to be inside a rain forest in varying weather conditions.

A 12-foot-tall waterfall and a small lagoon, together using 4,000 gallons of recirculated water, dominate the scene. Rain forests receive as much as 400 inches of rain each year; Thunder Lagoon simulates the gradual arrival and departure of a thunderstorm through computer controlled audio and lighting effects. Overhead sprinklers provide the rain, increasing and decreasing as the storm moves through the area. No need to pack an umbrella, however. The heaviest rainfall is over the lagoon; sprinklers over the audience provide only a gentle mist. To keep the weather conditions from being too muggy, designers added electric fans to the exhibit.

Rosen, who has designed lighting and special effects for operas and museums, said he used theatrical license in Thunder Lagoon to give visitors a keener appreciation of the rain forest’s bounty.

“The life of a rain forest is really overhead in the canopy,” Rosen explained. “But we’ve brought a lot of that life down to the ground level. You wouldn’t find flowering shrubs at the base of those 100-foot-tall trees, but the point here is to entertain as well as enlighten people.”

The sounds of birds in the canopies are clearly heard; the calls are authentic recordings of tropical birds made 30 years ago in a South American rain forest by the mother of Rosen’s partner.

The attraction, like most fair activities except carnival rides, is free with paid admission.

Rosen is careful not to compare a touring installation such as Thunder Lagoon to a Disneyland attraction, although visitors may see some similarities between them.

“There’s a strong element of fantasy in the colors of the plants and the sunlight in the room,” Rosen said. “It’s definitely a theatrical event because even though you know you’re standing in this room in Costa Mesa, your mind is filling in the missing place [and] taking you somewhere that’s far more exotic and serene.

“The fact that it’s happening in this totally unexpected place makes it even more wonderful.”

* What: 1995 Orange County Fair.

* When: Friday through July 23. Fair hours are Monday through Wednesday, noon to midnight; Thursday though Sunday, 10 a.m. to midnight.

* Where: Orange County Fair and Exposition Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Whereabouts: From the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, exit at Del Mar Drive. Head west on Fair Drive.

* Wherewithal: $6 (ages 18-54); $5 (ages 13-17); $4 (ages 55 and up); $2 (ages 6-12); free to ages 5 and under). Fairgrounds parking is $3; car pools of four or more park free. Free parking and shuttle service from the Automobile Club of Southern California lot (Fairview Road and South Coast Street), call for days and hours.

* Where to call: (714) 708-3247.

KID STUFF

IN BREA: KITE-MAKING WORKSHOP

Brea Gallery’s (1 Civic Center Circle) summer exhibit, “Cowabunga! The Beach Hits Brea” will feature “Cobra” kite-making Sunday at noon in the Community room. The $3 fee includes a 2:30 p.m. stunt-kite demo at Arovista Park, Imperial Highway at Berry Street. (714) 990-7730.

IN HUNTINGTON BEACH: FISH TALE

Kids who have taken a shine to “The Rainbow Fish” can hear it and other tales brought to life by a professional storyteller Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Huntington Beach Public Library theater, 7111 Talbert Ave. $2. (714) 375-5107.

IN LA HABRA: BUBBLE UP

Square bubbles, bubbles within bubbles and bubbles big enough to stand in provide a view of subjects like water-surface tension and gravity in “Soap and Water Science,” a new exhibit at the Children’s Museum at La Habra, 301 S. Euclid St. $4; under 2 free. (310) 905-9793.