O.C. Fair's Ritual: Racing to the Gate

O.C. Fair’s Ritual: Racing to the Gate

By Ashley Powers

July 12, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

9:58 a.m., Orange County Fairgrounds: It’s opening day, and the groupies are coming home.

They talk of the fair as a reunion, like seeing a relative at a wedding or hanging out with an old friend. Fair groupies find endearing the neon lights blinking in the daylight and kids starting sentences with “I wanna go!”

They know the layout of the grounds, if the candy apple stand has shifted locations. Their directions start with, “See the Ferris wheel? Turn right there.”

It’s a ritual -- for some, the start of summer. So the hour before the fair opened Friday was tinged with anticipation, as if the hundreds of people there were waiting for a long-lost love.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Beverley Ary, 64, a homemaker from Stanton. “I had my rooster alarm set for 6, but I knew I’d get up before it.”

She was 10th in a line that started at 4:30 by the main gate on Fair Drive; her friend Dawn Dyson had rushed to the Costa Mesa fairgrounds at 5:30.

“It was a big nightmare out here,” said Dyson, an engineer from Anaheim Hills. The parking lots weren’t yet open and Dyson wasn’t sure where to park. “I had all the guys calling on their walkie-talkies,” she said. “I was running around to all the gates like, ‘Let me in!’ ”

Dyson settled for ticket No. 6. She got her red sponge fair visor -- red, as in “Year of the Tomato” red -- and free entry for being one of the first 111 adults to walk through the gates. The fair, no coincidence, turns 111 this year.

They all stood behind George Veszpremy, who for the second year in a row was entrant No. 1. The bouncer from Fullerton showed up at 4:30.

Chad Fear, 26, of Fountain Valley had to wait for a ride, or “I would have been here way early.” As if 5:15 wasn’t early. Fear, who was No. 2, said the faces of Nos. 3 and 4 fell when they saw him and Veszpremy already sprawled near the gate.

Farther back, No. 70, Elizabeth Garcia, 43, of Anaheim, leaned against the fence with her teenage daughters (Nos. 72 and 74). The line of early birds was herded to one side at 9:32. The crowd buzzed. Then, more waiting. For the barbecued corn. For the wispy cotton candy.

Garcia, a fourth-grade teacher, could almost smell them.

“If they move a food booth or a food kiosk,” she said to No. 59, Ken Matson of Huntington Beach, “aren’t you like, ‘Hey, wait!’ ”

“They never move the cinnamon rolls,” said Matson, 37.

“That’s comforting,” Garcia said.

Others anticipated the fair’s 60 midway attractions, including the new Sky Ride, suspended chairs that transport riders 1,500 feet across the fair, like a ski lift. The groupies planned to poke around the 16,500 contest entries: Whose painting won the blue ribbon? Who brewed the best beer? Cathy Carlson, 59, a homemaker from Westminster said: “If you don’t go to the fair, it’s like, ‘My god, I missed something!’ ”

George Flannery, 74, and his wife rescheduled a trip to Lake Tahoe because it collided with opening day. “We’re groupies of fun,” said Flannery, who was among the several hundred waiting outside the gate.

“This is the start of summer.”

So they all stood in cramped rows, waiting behind 10 roller-skating performers in neon-pink poofed skirts shaking maracas, to stream to Heritage Stage and sway to live doo-wop.

Nearby, a big-nosed clown cheered on co-workers, clapping as the clock ticked down.

The crowd chanted: “Nine, eight, seven, six ....”

Two minutes to 10, Veszpremy sauntered through the gates, leading the throng of bobbing red sponge visors toward Heritage Stage.

The announcement came at 10:15: “The fair is now officially open. Please enjoy the fair!”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Today’s Highlights at the O.C. Fair

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

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

11 a.m.: Chinese lion dancers

12 p.m.: Silk-flower arranging

1 p.m.: California All-Star Cloggers

2 p.m.: ABCs of wine-tasting ($20)