Finishing Touches : Workers Get Ventura County Fair Ready for Today’s Opening

Huffing and puffing, Bob Rinehart said he has no time to rest.

The sweat-drenched 57-year-old operator of two food stands at the Ventura County Fair spent the better part of Tuesday lugging 50-pound bags of popcorn kernels and fat sacks of corn dog batter into his aluminum “Sugar Babes” food booth.

“The day before it all starts is definitely the toughest,” he said, wiping his brow with a calloused hand. “It’s all about taking care of those little details.”

With only hours before hordes stream into Ventura’s Seaside Park, hundreds of grimy-faced workers busied themselves with tying up the loose ends for today’s 11 a.m. opening.

Shirtless crews armed with ratchets, wrenches and screwdrivers labored diligently throughout the day, fastening freshly greased wheels to the cars of the “Hi-Miler” roller coaster and adjusting levers for the swaying dragons on the Creep Show ride.

With the choreography of a ballet, teams of roustabouts in dirty baseball caps erected the brightly colored cupolas of the midway tents, while others hung thousands of stuffed animals and fuzzy felt caps to the ceilings of the game booths.

Troops of scrub bucket-toting carnies traveled from ride to ride making sure that each attraction sparkled like a polished gem.

Cooks fired up their hickory coals in preparation for the tons of seasoned tri-tip, succulent spareribs and quartered chickens that will be consumed by the anticipated 250,000 visitors over the next dozen days.

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“This is always the most hectic time of any carnival,” said Steve Charleston, manager of the carnival’s games and food concessions. “But it always seems to come together and then it just falls into its own routine.”

Even the brief work breaks had some useful purpose. Take, for instance, the 10 carnies who rode the roller coaster on its first test ride.

Even though the hard-scrabble fellows had ridden it perhaps a hundred times, their obvious glee bubbled over as they screamed during the long drops and raised their hands in daring gestures of bravado.

It seemed that every inch of the 62-acre fairgrounds was a bustle of hurried activity Tuesday, punctuated by a cacophony of clanking hammers, shouted instructions and the din of chugging diesel motors.

Ventura residents Ruben Luna and Larry Chavez, both 18, spent the day helping crews assemble the carousel. Their plans for the pocket cash? Spend it at the fair.

“That way we’ll have enough to ride things like this,” Luna said, unloading a fiberglass horse.

For some like Marion Koch of Camarillo, the fair had already begun. She had been busy since 7 a.m. logging entries in the fair’s annual baked goods competition.

“It’s a sickness,” she said of her 18 years volunteering at the fair. “I love it and I’m always impressed by the kinds of goodies we have here.”

Behind her, row upon row of tables were loaded with confections of every shape, size and flavor.

Next to an exquisite chocolate-covered hazelnut cake, there were two large upside-down cakes complete with pineapple wedges and crimson maraschino cherries. Behind the two tables loaded with frosted cupcakes was a marbled pistachio swirl cake and a golden apple pie dusted with cinnamon.

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In perfect symbiosis, the Santa Barbara and Ventura counties Dental Society was setting up shop across from the baked goods with pamphlets on everything from advanced periodontal disease to effective brushing techniques.

Despite all the last-minute scrubbing, assembling, fixing and decorating, fair publicist Teri Raley said there is no danger that it won’t be ready for the throngs of carnival connoisseurs and fair lovers who will begin filing through the gates today.

In a rare break between flurries of phone calls, Raley said that despite the pressure, the eve of the fair is special to her.

“Today is one of my favorite days,” she said, sifting through the dozen phone messages laid out on her desk. “There’s no hysteria because I know we’ll be ready, but everybody’s got this contagious level of energy that makes it all so exciting.”