Fair Assessment: More Profits in the Longer Run

By Ashley Powers

July 11, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The lemonade’s no problem, and Candy Crutchfield knows her corn dogs. She just has to figure out how, after hawking them at the Orange County Fair, she’ll whisk her trailer to Iowa in just three days.

The lengthening of the O.C. fair from 17 to 21 days -- its first extension in 11 years- -- threw her tight schedule out of kilter. She can’t see the grandkids in Texas before she heads to Des Moines for a state fair.

And from experience, she doubts that more days will mean more sales. “Sometimes a fair loses momentum when it gets too long,” said Crutchfield, 54. “People don’t get as excited, like ‘Oh, the fair’s here!’ ”

There are a lot of fingers crossed as the fair opens today in Costa Mesa. Officials hope that closing the fair Mondays and stretching the schedule to Aug. 3 will spread and boost attendance. Vendors hope the four extra days mean plumper profits -- enough to compensate for the shuffling of plans.

Fair officials don’t consider the longer run a risk. But other fairs have had problems after extending their runs, including the Los Angeles County Fair, which shrank from 24 days to 18 in 1997 and to 17 four years later.

Orange County isn’t alone in its gamble. Fairs nationwide have been adding days, said Jim Tucker, president and chief executive of the International Assn. of Fairs and Expositions. Most figure it’s a way to catch a bigger crowd and stave off the chance of a whole fair being clouded by bad weather. Only the State Fair of Texas and the San Diego County Fair run longer than Orange County’s.

Becky Bailey-Findley, chief executive and general manager of the Orange County Fair, said board members had talked of expansion for years. Last year’s fair drew a record 898,197 visitors, making it the fourth-largest fair in the state and the 23rd largest in the nation, according to the trade publication Amusement Business.

Lines snake everywhere, at the lemonade stands, the bumper cars, the bathrooms.

The fair began in 1890 as a three-day event, spotlighting the county’s livestock and agriculture. It grew gradually and hasn’t expanded since 1992, when it was increased to 17 days from 12.

Fair officials knew in October that its growth spurt might put the Ventura County Fair, which runs from July 30 to Aug. 10, in a bind, since they shared the same ride operator and some of the same vendors.

Teri Raley, Ventura County Fair spokeswoman, said that there’s no bitterness and that Orange County is just mirroring what Ventura did in 1986, when it increased its run. She said Ventura lost only 15 to 20 vendors out of 300 to Orange County, although it had to hire a new ride operators.

Ken Skurski, for example, had to pull his instant-photo booths from Ventura because he needs all 23 in Orange County. Like other vendors, Skurski hopes the extra days in Costa Mesa will make up for the money he’d lose in Ventura. Maybe the fair’s new offerings will draw a crowd -- Food Network chefs, a karaoke contest under the fair’s tomato theme of “Red, Ripe and Rockin,’ ” and a thrill ride called Tango that soars 80 feet.

Then, of course, there are the deep-fried Oreos and Twinkies.

Also this year, the Pacific Amphitheatre, silenced for nearly eight years by noise lawsuits, reopens with a concert a day.

The fair expansion will cost an additional $3.9 million, for a total of $9.9 million, Bailey-Findley said. Fair officials hope to bring in $13.2 million.

But even the best-planned expansions don’t always work out. The Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona jumped to 24 days in 1990. Weekday attendance for the September fair fell far short of projections.

When the fair was 18 days, it drew nearly 1.3 million people, said spokeswoman Wendy Talarico. With six extra days, only about 200,000 more people came, not enough to justify the added expenses.

Candy Crutchfield spent all winter moving her fair schedule around like a puzzle. The Paris, Texas, native knew she wouldn’t miss the Orange County Fair, where’s she’s squeezed lemonade and battered corn dogs for more than 30 years.

But she remembers when it was increased to 17 days: More time. Same payoff.

A day before the fair’s opening, she was prepping her three food trailers and planning her sprint to Iowa, where setup will be squeezed into a day or two. Her friend, Jeanie Taylor, 56, tried to comfort her.

“I just think a certain number of people come to the fair,” Taylor said. “Maybe ... well, maybe they’ll come twice.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Today’s Highlights at the O.C. Fair

Hours: 10 a.m. to midnight. Location: 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

Opening day.

Information: www.ocfair.com or (714) 708-3247

10 a.m.: Opening ceremonies

10 a.m.: Sock hop

Noon: Polymer clay demo

1 p.m.: Rockin’ Roundup Contest

1 p.m.: Ceramics demonstration

2 p.m.: Backyard gardening