58 Years of Fun : Annual Antelope Valley Fair Kicks Off With Parade, Animal Show

Thundering bass drums, fire engines, Boy Scouts and a politician or two making a pitch were all part of the Antelope Valley Fair parade--marking the fair’s first full day of activities Saturday.

“It’s a good time to spend time with your kids,” said David Hendrix, 36, who came dressed as an American Indian with his son Darren, 8, to march in the parade with a YMCA father-son group that calls itself the Sioux Tribe.

The Antelope Valley Fair and Alfalfa Festival opened its 1996 program Friday evening, kicking off its 58th season.

The fair, organized by the state’s 50th District Agricultural Assn., will run through midnight Sept. 2, said Jim Greenleaf, the fair’s marketing director.

Saturday’s parade was led by grand marshals Dee Ulch and Foster Phebus, both past fair managers, and included high school cheerleaders, a youth martial arts club and even a mule-packing team.

Crowds began lining a 10-block stretch of Lancaster Boulevard about two hours before the 10 a.m. event.

“It’s good to see we have all this talent right here in town,” said Sherri Whorton, 40, a Palmdale hair stylist watching the show. “It gives us all a good sense of community.”

The parade presented an opportunity for the participants as well.

“It’s a chance to perform before the community,” said Christa Bengtson, 17, practicing her flag-twirling before joining her group--three teenagers known as the Spinning Spines and sponsored by a doctor.

The gates to the fairgrounds opened at noon after the parade ended, but the fair got off to a slow start, possibly because of the heat, according to some visitors and fair workers.

The mercury hit 101 soon after noon.

“People aren’t going to come when it’s hot,” said Bill Eaton, just opening the shop where he engraves names or slogans on wood plaques. “Business usually picks up around 5.”

But in other parts of the fairgrounds, the activity was already growing.

At the fair’s shaded livestock facilities, dozens of teenagers from local 4-H and Future Farmers of America clubs had already spent hours brushing, feeding and cleaning the pens of their animals, which numbered about 600, including steers, pigs, rabbits, sheep and chickens.

“You have to wash them every day and keep the area clean,” said Janelle Gookins, 18, a 4-H member from Quartz Hill, drawing a brush through her steer’s black coat to prepare it for the Saturday evening show.

Gookins said that by selling her steer at the auction Tuesday, she hopes to break even on the $4,000 it cost to raise the animal for nine months.

“It’s a big task,” said Cecille Morris, a 16-year-old from Littlerock, referring to the months-long efforts the teenagers make to get the animals to the proper weight, fat percentage and grooming required to be allowed to compete.

It’s nice to make a little profit from the sales, but “they do it mostly for the experience,” said Cyndie Borgia, the adult supervisor for the Lake Los Angeles 4-H club. But Saturday wasn’t all business at the fair.

“I can take anybody and make them look like an original,” announced Darryl Butts, a 39-year-old Lancaster carpenter who operates a Polaroid shop, where he dresses shorts-wearing folks in leather and bandannas for photos that give them the appearance of motorcycle-riding rebels.

“Even those little girls,” said Butts, pointing at two former customers. “They looked like little bikers.”

Although the sweltering afternoon may not have vibrated with the energy that comes with hundreds of evening visitors, for some it was the perfect family time.

“It’s easier to handle the kids when there’s fewer people,” said Sheri Chefalo of Agua Dulce, juggling three youngsters--Morgan, 3, Jannelle, 5, and Edrei, 7--after the trio got off a ride called the Dragon.

“I like it ‘cause it’s fast,” Edrei said.

Harlee Alexander, a 4-year-old with her parents on another part of the grounds, had a different favorite attraction on a scorching desert afternoon: “Ice cream.”