FAMILY : A Slice of Orange at Historic Annual Fair

The 500,000 people expected to visit the Orange International Street Fair this weekend would have no trouble recognizing the city in which it was first held 89 years ago.

Revived in 1973 for the city’s centennial and repeated each year since, the modern street fair--which this year features 145 booths selling crafts, food and drink from 15 cultures and nationalities plus 10 stages featuring free performances--was meant to be a reenactment of the original, one-time event of 1910.

Back then, downtown looked much the same as it does now, except for the unpaved streets, said Phil Brigandi, a native of Orange who is considered its foremost historian.

“In those days, there wasn’t an Orange County Fair, so a number of different communities would stage events. They kind of took turns.”

Parking was not a problem then, as it is today; downtown was surrounded by fields and orchards.

The problem was getting there. Automobiles were rare and were hindered by rough roads. Horse and buggy was the common conveyance, but driving one from only as far away as Santa Ana took perhaps an hour, Brigandi said.

Observed the Orange County Tribune at that time: “The road from Santa Ana to Orange was a ‘hot path,’ automobiles, bicycles, motorcycles and rigs making an almost continuous line.”

There was public transportation--a steam-powered streetcar or “dummy,” as street locomotives were then known. It ran from Santa Ana up Glassell Street to the plaza in Orange. Known locally as the “Orange Dummy” or the “peanut roaster,” it was overloaded and gasping on street fair days, the Tribune reported.

“Some went over on the car, but the service was far from satisfactory, the loads being too much for the ‘dummy’ on the other end, and passengers were forced at times to get off and push the car.”

Once there, visitors found free lemonade and coffee; sandwiches and ice cream were for sale. Children were looked after at the “baby corral” while parents strolled.

There were speeches by politicians, band concerts, an exhibition of prize chickens, an automobile race and a baseball game in which Orange defeated Echo Park, 4-0.

A tethered gas balloon took riders 2,275 feet up, according to the Tribune. (It was closer to 1,000 feet, according to the Anaheim Gazette.) You could have your photograph taken in the balloon’s basket after the ride--or you could be photographed in the basket and forgo the hair-raising ride.

Al Eisenbraun was 10 in 1910 and remembers the carnival sideshows and their barkers as the hit of the fair. He recounted his memories to an oral historian:

“There was the sideshow with a fellow out in front holding a dagger through his hand and bleeding. ‘Lawdy, but it hurts. Lawdy, but it hurts.’ It was fake, of course. . . . And then there was ‘The Crazy House, the Bug House, the Looney House, the Billigan House.’ . . . There was ‘Ring the Duck.’ ‘The duck you ring, the duck you own, the duck you carry home.’ . . . ‘The Dancing Girls are here! La Bella Eshaw--when she dances she moves every muscle in her body’. . . .

“As a kid it leaves quite an impression. I got my ears full and never forgot. In those days, for a town the size of Orange [about 3,000 people], it was a big affair.”

The 1910 fair cost city government around $2,000. When it was revived, City Hall continued to pay the bills until 1989, said Judy Sollee, the fair’s president. Since then, city police, fire and public works departments have continued to work on the fair, but they bill the fair committee for their services--about $80,000.

Staging the fair costs about $220,000 a year nowadays. The fair committee breaks even, but the nonprofit groups reap considerable rewards for their activities, Sollee said.

So do local residents, who rent parking spaces in their driveways and stage yard sales for passersby.

Organizers credit former Mayor Jess Perez, an architect, with reviving the fair. Perez, the son of Mexican immigrants, had grown up in Orange and was impressed by the area’s “rich cultural diversity and history, but very little was being done about it, even though there was a city historical society.”

Elected to his first term as mayor in 1972, Perez assigned a staffer to research the city’s history. Among the documents compiled was an old photograph, apparently taken from an upper floor of a downtown building, showing canvas-covered booths surrounding the old plaza. It was the 1910 street fair, and it sparked Perez’s enthusiasm.

“I thought, ‘What a great idea if we could bring some of that history back, bring different groups together to celebrate the founding of the city.’ ”

Perez injected the idea of making the fair “international.” He boosted his plan to Danish, German, Irish, Japanese and Mexican organizations in the area. The City Council approved, footing the modest bill. “The council was humoring me,” Perez said. “ ‘If you want to try it, fine.’ One councilman called it ‘Perez’s Folly.’ ”

BE THERE

Orange International Street Fair, Old Towne Orange. Friday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Free. Information: (714) 532-6260; https://www.orangestreetfair.com.