From Clocks to Clippers : Commercial Building at county fair offers cornucopia of goods, both exotic and mundane.

Did someone say there were rides at the Ventura County Fair? And food booths? And fireworks? Sorry, we hadn’t noticed. We were busy sprinting to the Commercial Building.

The Commercial Building is kind of a mall within the fair, a mix of low-priced trinkets and over-the-top big-purchase items. Let’s just say it’s a good thing automated teller machines are sprinkled around Seaside Park.

On opening night, we spent a couple of hours in the building. When we finally left, we hopped over to the Commercial Building’s arts and crafts annex. After that we wandered around looking for more stuff to buy at the booths lining the main thoroughfares.

Following is a rundown of some of the merchandise we came across. With this as a guide, shoppers may have more time to take in the other sights and sounds of the fair. (We hear there is a Ferris wheel somewhere too.)

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In the everyday retail world, there are few places you could go where you would find mustache scissors and nose hair clippers within sneezing distance of grandfather clocks, shower heads and crystal art. That is the beauty of the Commercial Building.

At the Gadgets & Neat Stuff booth, mustache scissors are selling for $6, left-hand scissors are priced at $4 and $6, and toenail clippers are going for $2. The booth offers a dizzying array of personal-care items as well as a host of magnifying glasses of various shapes, sizes and strengths. A Helping Hands magnifying glass with clips to hold objects in place is $9.

Over at the Ferguson’s booth, shoppers can choose from a selection of indoor and outdoor waterfalls ranging from tabletop size to 5 feet high, as well as oak swing sets and patio furniture. What isn’t on the display floor can be ordered from the home office in Aguanga, Calif.

The Sedona Waterfall with four spillways is at the high end, selling for $895. At the cheaper end, the Nevada Falls tabletop model is priced at $79.95. A child-size oak swing is $39.95, and a porch swing is priced at $295.95.

For a vision of contrasts, the Stampworks rubber stamp booth is on a side wall near the Transamerica Promotions grandfather clock display. Stampworks offers a fine variety of stamps including English and Hebrew alphabet letters, each set priced at $17.95.

A Winnie-the-Pooh party invitation stamp is $10.50, a miniature wreath is going for $3.50 and a rosebud is priced at $7.99.

The grandfather clock booth offered an equally nice selection, with prices starting at $700. Made by Ridgeway, the floor models were just a sampling of the nearly 100 models available to order.

John Gravitt, president of Carlsbad-based Transamerica Promotions, said his company visits about 20 shows a year throughout the western United States. As he stakes out the Ventura County Fair, another representative of the company is at the Santa Clara County Fair.

“A grandfather clock is something that people don’t actually seek out,” Gravitt said. “But once they see it, they realize they want it.”

Among the many other products available in the Commercial Building are cotton clothes, leather belts, beds, alarm systems, insulation and skylights. Solatube skylights, which come in a tube shape, are priced at $349.99 to $559.99. A sample is installed in the bathrooms behind the corn-on-the-cob stand outside the Commercial Building.

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As captivating as the Commercial Building is, our favorite booth at the fair is in the Crafts Pavilion, which is the annex of the Commercial Building.

It’s there that Patrice Bryant of Claremont sells her nut miniatures--themed nut characters made out of whole peanuts. The product line, broken down into professions, hobbies and a few other categories, includes the Lego Nut, the Pokemon Nut, the Pizza Nut, the Candy Nut, the Trucking Nut and yes, the Newspaper Nut.

Bryant has been coming to the Ventura County Fair for four years and has been in the nut-art business for about six years. She began the collection with a “We’re All Nuts” miniature featuring several generic nut characters. From there, she added specific themed nut designs.

“I figured if we’re all nuts I might as well make one for everyone,” she said. “I add about one every week. I’ve got 333 different styles.”

Along with her premade miniatures, Bryant takes special orders. She came to the fair equipped to fill most requests on the spot. The collectibles are $3 each or two for $5.

The Crafts Pavilion also has booths selling jewelry, dolls, T-shirts, mops and Tupperware. Corian cutting boards, constructed from material made by Dupont, are selling for $20 to $26. There also is a booth for solid oak crafts including an attractive magazine rack for $29.95 and switch plates from $4 to $9.

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If the fair hasn’t shut down by the time you leave the Commercial Building and annex there are also plenty of outside booths. Items being sold there include kitchen tile, barbecues, wagons, wooden signs, ponchos and, of course, balloons and other fair souvenirs. A Hughes satellite dish is selling for $79.