Teens Earn Summer Cash the Fair Way

To hear Orange County teens tell it, spending two weeks slaving over a grill, picking up trash or directing traffic at the county fair is like any other adolescent rite of passage: It’s just what you do every summer.

About 30% of fair employees are teenagers, said Becky Bailey-Findley, CEO and general manager of the fair.

“This becomes a good place to make some quick money,” she said.

Some teens take the gig to help pay off their first car or save for their college education. Others, such as Diana Haines, 18, of Santa Ana, use their earnings to pay for the typical teen trappings like CDs and movie tickets.

Haines works in the Kids Park, singing songs and making crafts with the fair’s younger visitors. This is her fourth year working the fair. She says she likes it better than her other job, as a parking lot attendant at Edison International Field.

“Here it’s more interactive. At Edison, it’s: ‘Give me $8.’ I say the same thing every day,” she said.

Ashkan Mermarian, 16, of Santa Ana is among those saving his modest earnings for more expensive goals. Mermarian also works at Kids Park--doing everything from building sandcastles to dancing the macarena.

Of the $400 he expects to earn, he says he’ll put $300 toward paying for car insurance. The remaining $100 will go toward recording a demo tape with the band he plays drums for.

The fair job is Mermarian’s first. He hopes it will help him land another job this summer. “Now that I have something under my belt, it’ll be easier,” he said.

Stooping over a Kids Park kiddie pool filled with dish soap, Priscilla Scaff, 15, blew giant bubbles for the children surrounding her. The Costa Mesa teen plans to use her earnings to help pay for her church trip to Pope John Paul II’s World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002.

Although she’d love to buy some new clothes instead, Scaff said, “My mom and I thought it would be a good idea to put [the earnings] into a bank account.”

Ryan Dooley, 21, works as the personal assistant to “I Love Lucy” impersonator Suzanne LaRusch. He’s what fair employees affectionately call a “fair brat.”

He’s essentially been at the fair since before he was born: His mother worked the switchboard while pregnant. He’s been a part of the fair ever since.

“It’s in my blood,” he said.