For nearly all of my 45 years going to the fair meant the Los Angeles County Fair, every Sept.
I lived in Pomona afterall.
For the last 3 years I had not gone, and I missed it.
But all was not lost!
The Orange County Fair, inCosta Mesa, stakes out July and so that was where I spent one fun day beginning at around 230pm.
Here is the much delayed report of that expedition:
I decided to get the Fun Zone out of the way first since I didn't want to play, or ride, but just observe.
The rides are the usual: ferris wheels, bumper carts, roller coasters, spinners, and various walk-thru thrills, scares, and mirrors.
The names, and the painted designs on the rides, change from year to year, but rarely do the rides.
The same goes for the games where you toss coins, or balls, in the hope of winning a stuffed animal.
Almost...
Some games are amusing due to their choice of what you toss, and what you toss it into.
1. Toss rolls of toilet paper into hanging toilet seats!: I was assured that the rolls WERE 2-ply, but it was obvious they were NOT squeezably soft.
2. Make your Cat happy! Bring home a gold fish, or 3, by tossing ping pong balls into small bowls of water:
One happy young lady squealed in glee when she won, but took a 2nd look at her fishy when I told her it was a Pirahna. ;-D
When she won a 2nd time, and held up the bowl to look at her fast moving prizes she said, "Look! They're on Crack!"
Now comes the hard part. The owners of these critters need to make sure that Little Nemo lives at least until they get home. ;-D
After leaving the Fun Zone I went and admired the worlds largest United States "Lego" Flag.
Built by Fair visitors, between July 15 and 17, it has 127,624 Lego Elements. Each of the stripes has 16 rows of 572 bricks, and the flag is over 6 ft. high, and 12 ft. long, matching dimensions set out in the US Flag Code.
The legos are not glued, but they are re-inforced with steel pipes.
Very, very cool!
I next visited the Fair Play Toy Bldg.:
What toys did you play with? What toys did you beg your parents to buy? Our favorite toys remind us of our childhood, and who we used to be.
Slinkies, trains, cars, yo yo's, Lincoln Logs, marbles, and other old toys, from dolls to early video games, abound in this building.
I marveled at original copies of these games, among many others:
Lincoln Logs - Created in 1916 by John Lloyd Wright ( son of Frank ).
Tinker Toys.
Slinky ( 1945 ).
Scrabble Sentence Game ( 1945 ).
Candyland - Creatred in 1949 by a polio survivor.
Playdoh ( 1955 ).
Yahtzee ( 1956 ).
Ant Farm ( 1956 ).
Easy-bake Oven ( 1964 ).
Spirograph ( 1967 ).
Lite Brite ( 1967 ).
Hot Wheels (1968 ).
Nintendo ( 1985 ).
Gameboy ( 1989 ).
The selection of Matchbox Cars, lunch pails, and celebrity dolls, is quite impressive.
Would YOU admit to once owning, AND PLAYING WITH: Boy George, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Laverne and Shirley, Donnie and Marie, Capt. and Tenille, Sonny and Cher, Jesse "The Govenor" Ventura: Man of Action, or Illya Kuryalkin: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ( With TV action apparel sold seperately!! )??
My Mother would have loved the Outdoor Garden Exhibit in the Centennial Farm Area:
From flowers to fruit, to veggies, it's all here.
Just "Do not pick the Crops!" ( sign actually stuck among the Cotton, of all choices to do so ) ;-D
There was even the biggest damn Brussel Sprout I ever saw!
Pinky the Swine, in all her 350 lb. glory, gave birth to her 1st litter on July 9th, and she lay in her pen as we all admired her piglets, without a care in the world.
I asked the attendant where the proud Papa was, and why he wasn't here to share the glory?
He said that he didn't know but, hey, with a bunch of kids around would you say, "Oh, you can find HIM at Albertson's down the street!"? ( heh, heh ).
All of a sudden 8 hungry toddlers ran to Mom for dinner!!
All except 2, that is... they lay in the shade asleep, their tales wagging happily as they dreamed of something special.
The Gem and Rock Exhibit: Nothing much here, folks, other than a giant Trilobite, a Petrified wood stump, and adozen magnificent Bowling Ball wannabees.
Oh, and the 25 million year old TURD!
Somehow it's disturbing to imagine taking a dump today, and thinking of my descendant, 25 million years removed, walking into an exhibit at some future fair, and taking a look at it. ;-D
As I left the farm area I passed a fenced herd of ancient, well preserved, John Deere Tractors being drooled over by a bunch of grown men with stupid grins on their faces.
I next visited the Crafter's Village:
My first stop was a booth called Out of Our Gourd. Here I saw gourds, of various sizes, and shapes, carved, and painted, to look like Elephants, Lions, Tigers, bears, zebras, Indians, clowns, and more.
Work on each item took anywhere from an hour to 3 hours to complete, and the owner of the booth told me that he's been doing this for 15 years.
There were booths selling tiles, ceramics, Bonsai plants, Glass, and pottery.
Oh, and Shoes! Imelda Marcos would have had an orgasm in this place! ;-D
I next went to the Collectors Corner Exhibit, and some of what i marveled at included:
1. Rooster and Chicken collection: From plates, and vases, to figurines, it's a colorful collection. My favorite is the Rooster statue painted in the American Flag.
2. Beer Stein collection: Including one like an Owl.
3. A Bald Eagle collection of figurines including a could perched on American Flags.
4. A Hammer collection, including some over 100 years old.
5. A colelction of WW 2 era cookbooks, and some War Ration Books:
A. The Wartime Cookbook: "Nothing counts but victory!!" 500 recipes, victory substitutes, and economical suggestions for nutritious wartime meals.
B. Victory Recipes: featuring better recipes for wartime cooking, and baking with wartime ingredients.
6. Greeting Cards, among which were 2 I particularly liked:
Most any poor fish can float,
and drift along, and dream;
But it takes a regular live one
to swim against the stream.
Never say "Die",
say "Damn!" - It isn't
classic, it may be profane,
but we mortals have need of
it time and again,
and you'll find you'll
recover from fates hardest
slam,
If you never say "Die",
Say "Damn!"
7. A transistor Radio collection.
8. Santa Figurines.
9. Black Nurses Figurines.
10. An Elvis Presley collection.
11. Disneyana.
I next checked out the Parade of Products Building:
Large, and small paintings, figurines, clothes, and gadgets for the home, and kitchen, mattresses, Irish CD's, wine, and pet stuff galore.
Guard your wallet!!
I came across a window sign for sale: UncleSam is sternly pointing, and saying...
"I want YOU! Out of the gene pool!" ;-D
I next checked out the Carnival of Products Building:
I said... "Guard your wallet!!"
Wigs, mops, lint removers, Grandfather clocks, coins, belt buckles, signs, toys, larger products for the home, and kitchen, and more bags of pistachios than you will ever see in your lifetime.
Same goes for the garlic! ;-D
Get a free Spinal exam! In front of God, and EVERYBODY!
Televac Personality Analysis for $2! Just sign yer name!
Nylon American Flags w/wo flag poles.
I finally leave the Merchandise Madness.
I would have bought "The last glue you will ever need!"
But I didn't want to stick around. ;-D
At this point let me say that if you are hungry then the Fair has more varieties of food, healthy, and non, than you will ever be able to try even if you came to the fair every day, and spent your savings.
The Floral Pavillion was just lovely! Come in, and sniff to your hearts content!
The Southern Ca. Lego Train Club Exhibit was next on my stroll:
Here I found a spectacular train, with a track layout with cities, cars, people, condos, bridges, forests, shipyard, and airport.
How many bricks? Too many to count!
A tall building has 14,000, and there are at leat 200,000 in the whole layout, and took days, and months to build.
I ended my visit to the Fair by paying my respects to 2 magnificent specimens of the Animal Kingdom:
1. White Mountain, the Giant Steer!
10,000 Jumbo Jacks on the hoof!
This critter weighs 3,400 lbs., and is 6ft.- 8in. tall, 11 1/2 ft. tall, and with a gith of 11 ft.
Oh, and a small band aid on its right hip. ;-D
2. Hercules, the Giant Horse!
1 1/2 rons of Brute Strength alive!!
A Brown Belgian Draft Horse that weighs a staggering 3, 045 lbs, and stands at 6ft.- 6in. tall.
After that, what else was there left worth seeing? ;-D
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