Fair Strives to Be a Good Neighbor

For 17 days each year, Chet and Helen Cawthon have more than 20,000 people a day in their backyard. Well, almost.

As the Orange County Fair begins its 106th run Friday, people like the Cawthons, who live on Presidio Drive, two streets from the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, will find ways to cope with the traffic.

“We knew what was here when we moved in 10 years ago,” Chet Cawthon said. “The fair people are outstanding, though, about taking care of problems.”

In response to community concerns, Becky Bailey-Finley, general manager of the Orange County Fair, held a meeting Tuesday for residents who live near the fairgrounds.

“We try to lessen the impact on the community,” Bailey-Finley said. “The community has been patient and tolerant with us, and we do our best to be good neighbors.”

Organizers of the fair, which attracted a record 785,000 people last year, have made an effort to maintain some control by creating an orderly arrival system.

Signs on the San Diego Freeway will direct fair patrons to the Fair Drive exit of the Costa Mesa Freeway.

Mark Entner, director of fair parking, said the signs will help keep drivers from clogging streets near the fairgrounds.

“On weekends we will have as many as 80,000 people and 20,000 cars,” Entner said. “We want to expedite that traffic as much as possible.”

But no matter what fair officials do to minimize problems, a certain amount of inconvenience seems unavoidable.

“With the high volume the fair gets, there is a point where you have done all you can do,” said Traffic Officer Eric Reinholtz of the Costa Mesa Police Department, who will supervise as many as 30 officers around the fair.

The fairgrounds will charge $4 for parking, but there are alternatives. To encourage people to carpool and to keep them from parking in front of homes, fair organizers have offered incentives to park in nearby lots.

The fair will charge just $2 for vehicles with four or more people and have negotiated with Costa Mesa High School and Orange Coast College to allow people to park on their lots free of charge.

Fair visitors also will have free parking and shuttle service to and from the Automobile Club of Southern California lot at the southwest corner of Fairview Road and South Coast Drive.

“Some people veer off and park in residential areas, and we want to prevent that,” Entner said.

Bailey-Finley said a 24-hour number, (714) 708-1588, will forward residents’ questions or concerns to fair administrators.

Fair organizers have also made arrangements to pick up garbage left in and around the fairgrounds.

“We have sweepers that will take care of all of the [parking] lots,” Bailey-Finley said. “But if people wake up with trash on their lawn, we want them to call us.”