VENTURA COUNTY FAIR : All’s Fair Again : Opening Day Draws Estimated 12,000 to Homey Fun of Annual County Festival

With four small children in tow, Kirsten Thatcher went straight to the vendor selling warm, sugary churros after entering the Ventura County Fair on Wednesday.

“It’s cold right now,” the Simi Valley mother said, staring up at the morning fog layer over Seaside Park in Ventura. She handed the long pastries to her 22-month-old son, Garrett, and the three other children she was looking after for the day.

“But next it’s the animals--they’re the biggest thing, because you can go to a carnival anywhere,” said Thatcher, 31. “And the pie contest. All those things are so homey, they’re what makes a county fair.”

Thatcher was among an estimated 12,000 who turned out for the opening day of the fair. About 250,000 people are expected to visit before the 12-day festival ends Aug. 27.

Shortly after the 11 a.m. opening, crowds were already streaming into the exhibit halls to see who won blue ribbons.

Marian (Fifi) Locke of Ventura was thrilled to learn she had taken first place in the table-setting competition. For a “Celestial Evening” theme, Locke arranged royal blue wine goblets and dishes over a royal blue tablecloth and offset the color with tiny suns, moons and star figurines in gilded gold.

“Look, they said I have too many candles,” Locke said, reading from a small, handwritten critique displayed on each table. “They always find at least one bad thing to say.”

The 50 carnival rides on the midway opened at noon. Children ran excitedly from ride to ride, while parents pushing strollers strained to keep up. Lines soon began forming at the most popular attractions, including a 50-foot-high roller coaster and the Hurricane, a contraption that flings riders up and down on six octopus-like arms while simultaneously spinning around.

Tommy Popejoy, 13, of Thousand Oaks, spied the Hurricane and asked his buddy, 12-year-old John Helman, to join him. After slight hesitation, John agreed.

The boys screamed wildly and waved their arms during the two-minute spin. When it was over, they walked wobbly footed off the ride. Tommy clutched his stomach and made gagging sounds.

“You should call it the Hurl-a-cane,” Tommy yelled to the carny. “I almost threw up!”

The morning fog kept things cool until about 2 p.m., when the sun broke through. That’s also about the time that die-hard fans of Vegas headliner Tom Jones began lining up for a 7:30 p.m. show in the Grandstand Arena.

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Hilda Gauthier, 60, said she comes to the fair every year, but on Wednesday she came just to see Tom Jones. Her husband, Gene, 74, accompanied her.

“I like his music and his sex appeal,” said Hilda, a Ventura resident. “We’re happy because we didn’t have to pay for it.”

Entrance to entertainment in the Grandstand Arena is free with admission to the fair. Stock-car racing and a demolition derby will take place in the arena at 7 p.m. today.

In the livestock area, Della Frazier used six-inch hand shears to trim the white fleece of her 8-month-old Oxford sheep, Ozone. Ozone stood obediently still, muzzled and chained to a post, as a small crowd gathered to watch Frazier, of Apple Valley, work.

“If he wasn’t restrained, would he take off?” asked Thomas O’Neill, a Ventura resident visiting the fair with four grandchildren.

“Oh, yes,” Frazier said. “I do not have any of Mary’s Little Lambs.”

O’Neill, the head of the biology department at Ventura College, said he enjoys bringing his grandchildren to the fair. The animal exhibits are a special favorite, he said.

“These are the things the city dweller never sees,” he said. “I think it’s very educational for them.”

* GRAND TIME:

Tom Jones kicks off the arena’s entertainment lineup. B6

* FAIR SCHEDULE: B3