Fairgoers to Take Trips Into Past

Think about the Los Angeles County Fair, and 18 days of animal contests, weird gadget demonstrations, zippy rides and diet-busting junk food come to mind.

Prehistoric tropical jungles don’t. But, tucked away in the sprawling 487-acre Pomona fairgrounds is “Exhibition Earth.”

There’s a well-marked path winding through simulated prehistoric tropical rain forests, then through treeless Arctic plains, then desert and grasslands and finally to the depths of a mystic sea.

And it’s this year’s big draw at the fair, which opens today.

The exhibit has transformed 43,000 square feet of Fairplex Building 7A into six prehistoric environments and habitats, surrounded by lush vegetation, 300 live animals and 24 life-size, robotic creatures, including a giant squid, a woolly mammoth family and water-squirting termites.

But the fair isn’t all about the past. Visitors are invited to leap into the present at the sprawling skateboard park or in a ride called the “Ejection Seat” that will sling its riders 150 feet in the air in two seconds.

Then there are the traditional draws: pig races, hog calling, sheep shearing, shoe kicking and Spam recipe contests, in addition to the less than glamorous spaghetti-, pie- and watermelon-eating contests.

If only it weren’t so brow-mopping hot.

Keep cool by ducking into the Home Arts Competition building and checking out this year’s champs, who relish their achievements in pickling, quilt-making, flower arranging and cake decorating.

As the thermometer hovered in the high 90s and low 100s Wednesday, the milking cows refused to budge from their hay-covered slots in front of portable fans in the livestock barn.

There’s just enough of an agriculture presence left to perfume the Fairplex with an authentic whiff of the region’s agricultural past.

Kelley Bishop, 14, is among the hordes of 4-H members who know how to raise animals. A member of the Mt. Signal 4-H Club in Imperial Valley, Bishop arrived with five T-shirted show goats, including 1-year-old Maranda. Across the barn, Mike Enos from Corona was busy unloading Shania Twain, his Holstein dairy cow.

Fair workers were scrambling on Wednesday to get things ready for Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s visit today on his presidential campaign swing through Southern California. Bush is expected to officially open the fair themed, “A Journey to Our Destiny,” with a 30-minute speech at a rally, said fair spokeswoman Wendy Talarico.

While Bush does a little down-home campaigning, bidders will react as livestock is auctioned off.

Officials estimate about 1.2 million visitors will walk through the gates before the fair closes Oct. 1.

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County Fair Highlights

The 78th annual Los Angeles County Fair, “A Journey to Our Destiny,” begins today and will run through Oct. 1 at the Fairplex, two blocks north of the San Bernardino Freeway in Pomona. Horse races are run daily, with the first post time at noon. A sample of nighttime entertainment:

Concerts--Grandstand Stage

* Cheap Trick--today

* War--Friday

* Paul Rodgers of Bad Company and Eddie Money--Saturday

* Jethro Tull--Sunday

* Creedence Clearwater Revisited--Sept. 22

* Tower of Power--Sept. 23

* KC and the Sunshine Band--Sept. 29

* Styx--Sept. 30

General admission to most shows at grandstand concerts is free with regular fair admission. Reserved grandstand, box and stage-area seats can be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations, at the Fairplex box office and online at https://www.fairplex.com and https://www.ticketmaster.com, or can be charged by phone at (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000 or (805) 583-8700. All concerts begin at 8 p.m.

Highlights

* Today: Dairy butter-churning contest, Ring 2, 11:30 a.m.; miniature horse show, Horse Show Arena, 1 p.m.; sugar cookie contest, America’s Kids, 7:15 p.m.; Chinese acrobats, Fairplex 4 Community Stage in Shopping Place, throughout the day; fireworks, 10 p.m.

* Friday: Livestock events, livestock area, all day; dog team show, Park Square, 1:30 p.m. and throughout the day; pig races, Pepper Street at Shopping Place, throughout the day; fireworks, 10 p.m.

Fair Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: $2 opening day; $5 Monday-Thursday after 5 p.m.

* General adult (13 and older), $5 on weekdays and $10 on weekends.

* 6- to 12-year-olds, $5 on weekends and free on weekdays when accompanied by a paying adult.

* Children 5 and under free every day.

* Over 60, $7 every day except Tuesday, when admission is $3.50;

* Carnival wristband: Wednesday-Friday, 10 rides for $15, unlimited-use wristband Monday and Tuesday for $15. No wristbands are sold on weekends.

Parking: General, $5; preferred, $8; premium preferred (hotel lot only) $10; valet, $15.

For information on other events, call (909) 623-3111.