A Modernizing O.C. Fair Board Has a High-Wire Act of Its Own

With 160 prime acres in the heart of suburbia, the 110-year-old Orange County Fair has become a legitimate player in the Southland’s ultra-competitive field of weekend attractions.

But success has brought the fairgrounds to a crossroads: How can management improve the facility and remain true to its agricultural heritage?

Goat pens and the eclectic collection of old buildings, some dating back to the 1940s, don’t have much appeal to today’s high-tech generation--which is more accustomed to Game Boys and hair-raising thrill rides.

The fair is searching for a way to modernize so it won’t lose its appeal yet remain loyal to its county fair roots--a balancing act that will ultimately be decided by the fair board’s proposed 10-year development plan.

The board, which is still accepting public comment, is expected to vote on the plan Nov. 15.

Some residents want the fairgrounds to shed some of the agricultural image. They favor reshaping the concourse into more of a cultural arts center, complete with Shakespeare festivals and a 700-seat indoor theater that can host the dozens of local musical and theatrical groups clamoring for performance venues.

More than 1,000 vendors who sell their wares at the fairgrounds’ popular weekend marketplace want the facility to remain unchanged, fearing a total make-over might disrupt the steady stream of 25,000 customers and the $4.7 million a year in revenue they generate.

Horse owners wanted to see improved riding facilities but have found themselves on the defensive. They successfully beat back plans to eliminate the equestrian center, but last week the fair board voted to downsize the number of horse stalls from 250 to 180.

Becky Bailey-Findley, who as general manager of the fair oversees 100 employees and a $14-million budget, envisions a facility that combines all of those ideas.

Still, the overall mission of the fairgrounds must not change, Bailey-Findley said. The facility is neither an amusement park nor a shopping center. It’s a public exhibition place that must remain open and accessible to all, whether it’s for a sugar plum festival or as a performance site for a young dance troupe.

“We’re not trying to be the Orange County Performing Arts Center,” she said. “I see the fair as a combination of not only having facilities and programming but having a total identity of becoming a place that is important to the community.”

A region as large and diverse as Orange County needs a “comfortable place” for recreation, she said.

“Some express that through horses like at the equestrian center. Some through quilt shows, while others do it as vendors at the weekend marketplace,” she said.

Plus, making money was never the primary mission of the fairgrounds, said Curt Pringle, the fair board’s chairman and former Assembly speaker.

Pringle said the board embraces a break-even mentality. The board even voted to return the $45,000 it receives annually in state horse-racing taxes--money it wants the state to use to support the many rural fairs that “don’t have as much economic opportunities as we have.”

“The swap meet and other events earn us a tremendous amount of money each year and we use that to plant those dollars back into the fairgrounds,” Pringle said.

The profits are funneled to venues like Centennial Farms, a 4-acre working farm visited by thousands of schoolchildren. The farm cannot support itself but is provided as a service. The challenge, Pringle said, is to “make enough revenue to build facilities and what projects you can afford and take it in steps.”

Recently, the fair’s management was criticized by the marketplace vendors and others who attended a hearing on its 10-year master plan. For weeks, rumors circulated about plans to relocate the weekend swap meet and eliminate the equestrian center.

After hearing testimony from concerned vendors, the fair board decided to leave the marketplace alone--but voted to cut the size of the equestrian center nearly in half.

Horse rider Sharon Gerstenzang of Fountain Valley told the board she believes there’s a “huge disconnect,” between fair clients and fair management. “There’s a huge demand for horse stables and horse shows yet these plans called for a downsizing of horse facilities,” she said.

For her part, Bailey-Findley said she has tried to listen to the concerns, and communicate the board’s intent as best she can. “There is no conspiracy,” she said.

But no one wants any change, said Pringle, who added that the fair board has pressure from a variety of groups using the fair and others who want it to change.

One positive result is the board’s desire to eliminate 10,000 seats at the Pacific Amphitheater, which has been closed since summer 1995.

The venue has been the subject of a long-running legal dispute with neighbors over noise.

The amphitheater could still be used but the board expressed a sensitivity about creating noise that could renew complaints from the fair’s neighbors. Bailey-Findley said the next step is to evaluate how to take advantage of the facility after determining whether it needs a sound wall or roof to limit noise.