Fair in the Air

The Zipper ride’s cages flip passengers around in ecstasy, or fright, depending on the traveler. Andy Vega, who operates the 60-foot-high ride at the San Fernando Valley Fair, checks it every morning to make sure the pins are secure.

For fair-goers, today marks the start of the event’s four-day run at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center; for Vega it’s another stop on the circuit.

“They say it’s in your blood, I guess,” said Vega, who has worked for G & S Shows for 18 years.

The 54th annual fair and rodeo organized by the 51st District Agricultural Assn. is expected to draw more than 50,000 visitors. The event was held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank for the past eight years, but fair officials agreed last year to return the event to its previous site.

Visitors will be able to watch professional rodeo riders, Mexican charro demonstrations, live bands, fireworks and livestock auctions. Not to mention the carnival rides. About 15 amusement rides, including the Kamikaze, Skydiver, and Gravitron, were set up by Garden Grove-based G & S Shows. It takes five workers about eight hours to assemble each ride, said Chris Guadagno, an owner of the family-operated business.

The company travels through the Southwest from February to November. During fair season, Vega works 12-hour days and up to 20 on Sundays when workers dismantle the rides.

“You have to tear it down that night,” said Vega, who earns about $200 a week. “Everyone starts slacking off, [but] when the sun comes up, you get your second breath.”

Nicks and bruises from assembling and taking apart rides are part of the job for Vega, who travels with his wife and their 10-month-old baby. Next week, the company is headed to a film set requiring rides in Newhall and to a carnival in Culver City.

Besides rides, there will be hundreds of livestock entries, from poultry to sheep to cattle. Fifteen-year-old Andrew Mason of Torrance checked on his calves and pig this week to make sure they had sufficient feed and water.

Andrew, a student at Stephen M. White Middle School in Carson, said he would get up at 5 a.m. every day to bottle-feed milk to his calf. He said he was not looking forward to Sunday, when students sell their animals, many of which head to the slaughterhouse.

“If you snap your fingers [the calves] will come to you,” said Andrew, who has competed at the fair for three years. “You get real attached to the veal calves and steers. I’ll cry that day. It’s part of the business.”

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Schedule of Events

The 54th annual San Fernando Valley Fair opens at 4 p.m. today at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, 11127 Orcas Ave., Lake View Terrace. Admission is $6 for those 12 and older, $3 for children 6 to 11, free for children 5 and younger. For information, call (818) 557-1600.

* Today: 4-10:30 p.m. Visitors 62 and older are admitted free. Live entertainment throughout the day. Rodeo at 7 p.m. Fireworks show at 10 p.m.

* Friday: 10 a.m.-midnight. Visitors 16 and younger are admitted free until 6 p.m. Live entertainment throughout the day. Rodeo at 7 p.m.

* Saturday: 10 a.m.-midnight. Junior livestock auction at 10 a.m. and rodeo at 7 p.m. Live entertainment throughout the day.

* Sunday: 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Rodeo at 1 p.m. Live entertainment throughout the day.