Ventura County Fair Draws Vacation-Minded Visitors

For Cade and Riley Ramirez, there was no better way to enjoy a warm summer afternoon than to spend it with their grandmother strolling the midway at the Ventura County Fair.

Cade, 6, and Riley, 3, had already splashed around on the bumper boats, and Cade determined it enough fun to try again.

It didn’t take much pleading for Rosa Ramirez to agree to another turn on the miniature vessels equipped with steering wheels.

“Grandma spoils them,” said the 54-year-old administrative assistant with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. After another ride or two, “cotton candy is next,” she said.

The 12-day event, which runs through Aug. 13, is held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds at Seaside Park, adjacent to one of the area’s best surfing beaches some 65 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. This year’s concerts, included in fair admission, feature the Charlie Daniels Band, Wynonna Judd, Foreigner, All American Rejects, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, who are from Ventura.

Former Oxnard residents Bob and Susan Fowler and their three children made a vacation of it, driving from Kern County to camp at a nearby recreational vehicle park. While Bob accompanied Justin, 7, on one ride, Susan braved a scary mechanical dervish that spun riders from giant arms.

“That thing is cool!” said Brandon, 12, while sister Jessica, 9, smiled in agreement.

Exhibitor Sheila Parsons of Tulare County said her family had the same idea. She, husband Bob and their youngest son, Kurt, 14, arrived two days before the fair opened with 18 of their sheep ready for presentation.

“This is one of the better shows around,” said Sheila Parsons, a 12-year-veteran of the fair. She attended the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa last week and showed at livestock events in San Francisco and Del Mar earlier this year.

“This is the one we consider our annual vacation,” Parsons said. Why? “It’s at the beach, for Pete’s sake! We live in Ducor,” north of Bakersfield.

Taking full advantage of the location, Parsons, 52, said she and a few other exhibitors hit the ocean the other morning for what she called “an old lady boogie board contest.” And in the sheep-judging competitions, the Parsons’ flock earned more than $600 in prize money, including one ram that took second place.

But the members of the Parsons family are rookies compared with Leo and Rita Vanoni, who have been participating in the county fair for 51 years.

“Me and Leo wouldn’t miss it,” said Rita Vanoni, 86, who was aided by 10 children, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. “Now it’s mostly the kids running it. We’re just here as fixtures.”

The Vanonis operate “Uncle Leo’s Barn,” a red-and-white building filled with cages housing rabbits, ducks, geese, goats, sheep and a Sicilian donkey. But perhaps the favorite animal was “Momma Piggy,” a sow that gave birth to her first litter about a week ago. The Vanoni family is staging a name-the-pig contest for one of the piglets, with the winner to be selected on the last day of the fair.

Although the sly moniker “Willy B. Bacon” won a few years back, for Max Baruch, 3, of Agoura Hills the entry was simple: Fred.

“He loves everything about pigs,” said mother Bonnie Baruch. “He had a stuffed one in the crib when he was born and has had pigs every day since. And one of his favorites is named Fred.”

*

Information

Where: Fairgrounds are at Seaside Park, 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekends and Thursday. Fair ends Aug. 13.

Admission: $8 for adults, and $5 for children 12 and younger and seniors 62 and older. Free admission Tuesday for seniors and those with disabilities. Admission is $1 on Wednesday until 3 p.m.

For further information, visit www.venturacountyfair.org or call the fairgrounds at (805) 648-3376.