O.C. Fair’s Thrills Going, Gone

For three weeks each summer, the Orange County Fairgrounds are transformed into a cornucopia of food, music, arcades and thrill rides. On Monday, the hard work of turning it all back into a huge parking lot was well underway.

Barely a dozen hours after the fair in Costa Mesa closed Sunday, the sounds of children were replaced by the noises of power tools and trucks. The normally neat midway was strewn with paper cups and water bottles -- the flotsam of hurried work crews.

The crowds were gone, and workers could drive a truck through the place, which they did.

“Just the pure logistics of the coming and the going, it’s amazing,” said Walter Albers, 70. The Costa Mesa man pedaled his bicycle through the grounds Monday, curious to see what it took to break down a fair. “It’s like a military operation.”

Wayne Winski and his workers labored to dismantle the Ferris wheel.

Each of the wheel’s spokes weighs 6,000 pounds, and Winski expected it would take four more 14-hour days before the attraction was ready to go.

“We just got to take it one piece at a time,” said Winski, 43, from the driver’s seat of a large yellow crane. “We have to be real careful we don’t hurt or kill anybody.”

Taking rides down is easier than putting them up, mainly because “you know you’re finished,” said Andy Creason, 23, as he took a break from disassembling 32 bumper cars.

“When you put them up, you know you still have a month of work,” he said.

And though the fair was good business -- a record 1 million people attended, organizers said, an increase of almost 10% over last year -- carnival workers and vendors said they were glad it was over.

“I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed,” Bruce Myers said as he took down a sign for his barbecued-chicken stand. Myers, 53, of Big Bear Lake, said the fair’s 21 days were hard work and “pretty long.”

And profitable. Midway operator Ray Cammack Shows grossed $5.2 million, 16% more than its 2004 figure, fair officials said.

Food sales totaled more than $8.2 million, up 17% from last year, with corn dogs, lemonade and funnel cakes topping the list of bestsellers.

Scott Martins and Andy Childers, both of Indio, drank Pepsis in the shade before taking apart their hot-dog stand. “We’re so tired of hot dogs we don’t eat them anymore,” said Martins, 41. “We eat pizza instead.”

The two are looking forward to a break before setting up at the Los Angeles County Fair, which starts Sept. 9.

“Like all fairs, you can never wait for it to start, but you also can’t wait for it to be over,” said Childers, 58.

By afternoon, most of the fair’s animals had been hauled away. One group of speckled chickens remained, apparently forgotten by the owners. The red-and-white tent housing the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs was bare.

At the elephant ride, Kari and Gary Johnson and their crew were taking down the last few tent poles. Two of their eight elephants were in a truck, buckled up for the ride back to the couple’s ranch in Perris, where they have a baby elephant to care for and another on its way.

Carnival ride operator Eric Bishop, 24, wished he were going home, too. Instead, when he finishes breaking down the Tango ride’s three twisting arms, his next stop will be the California State Fair in Sacramento, where it was 99 degrees Monday.

“We’re a little tired,” he said. “And I’m not too, too excited about the heat.”