In the Pipeline: Huntington Beach once hosted the OC Fair

The OC Fair kicks off Friday, and it’s a big one this year, the 125th anniversary of what has become, in many ways, the county square.

The county itself turned 125 last year, and so both entities have been all but intertwined since Day One.

The fair, before being anchored at the old Army base in Costa Mesa in 1949, actually traveled the county.

It gets better. From 1917 to 1920, the fair was held in Huntington Beach.

Also known as the Harvest Home Festival and the Community Fall Festival, the then-autumnal event was originally staged in tents near the present-day City Hall and then grew all the way down Main Street, near the pier.

There were turkey shoots, pumpkin contests, rare fruit displays, jellies, needlework, band concerts, motorcycle races and more.

The 1918 fair featured more than 300 poultry coops, floral products, rabbits, a library exhibit, tractors and other farm equipment. An impressive replica of the harbor was displayed in a parade.

I’ve been researching all of this for my new book, “The Orange County Fair — A History of Celebration,” which is being released this week by The History Press.

Fair history is fascinating, but obviously I was interested in what took place in Huntington Beach.

Our fine city historian, Jerry Person, wrote a series of articles a number of years ago for this newspaper that captured much of the color and fanfare.

“One of the chief attractions at the fair was the agricultural exhibit held inside the main tent,” he recalled. “A.J. Young had an exhibit of a liberty ship filled with the finest potatoes one could imagine that were grown on his ranch just north of town.

“Donald Dodge from the town of Harper on the Newport Mesa had a giant display of various varieties of apples that were better than any outside the Garden of Eden. He had brought from his ranch boxes of Delicious, Winter Banana, Winter Pearmain and Yellow Bellflower apples from his four year old trees.”

Down at the beach was an airplane exhibition of flying skill, and the crowd was able to inspect the plane after it landed. The last day was Red Cross Day and homecoming with state picnics on the beach, a bathing suit parade, a street carnival and dancing.

Local companies had displays, including the Beach Broom, La Bolsa Tile and the Pacific Oilcloth & Linoleum Cos. Arrow Garage showed off an automobile, and the E.L. Pearce Cannery displayed packed tomatoes.

Santa Ana newspaper columnist Jeanne Crawford visited in 1920 and had her own observations.

“The dairymen were the center of attraction the first day of the fair and it wasn’t hard to see why,” she wrote. Talk about pep! And how they can orate! A gorgeously handsome man made a long speech, about something concerning cows — oh, yes, it was on what to do for a sick calf and the latest and most up-to-date methods of caring for cows. Anyway, everybody hung on his words and the latest cow news was the important topic of interest.”

She also referenced the Canary Cottage and noted, “Polly Parrot and her family are there and, I regret to state, although Polly’s owner had given firm instructions regarding profanity before leaving home, Polly was not pleased with her musical neighbors yesterday and completely lost her dignity. These ‘musical neighbors’ are principally the vacuum cleaner man.”

Undignified parrots notwithstanding, it certainly sounds like an interesting fair. There also were vaudeville acts, concerts, prizes awarded to the oldest couple and other novelties.

When you visit the fair this summer and notice the building marked “Huntington Beach,” you’ll understand why. Several buildings are adorned with the names of previous host cities.

On Friday, I’ll be talking about my new book and then signing copies at 5 p.m. on the Promenade stage. I will also be out there a number of other times this summer to discuss and sign the book (while also finding time to eat a lot of food and visit all of the exhibition halls, among other things). I hope to see you there.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books. You can follow him on Twitter @chrisepting or at facebook.com/hbindependent.