Signs of the OC Fair get swept away; fewer visitors, but they spent more
The Costa Mesa skyline is no longer lit up by the bright lights from the rides at the Orange County Fair, but that doesn’t mean the fair is over — at least not for a crew tasked with cleaning up after the 24-day event.
About 100 workers are taking part in the four-day cleanup process, which starts even before the final guest exits the fair, said Jerry Eldridge, facilities director.
“When everyone leaves, the trash stays,” he said. “By Monday this place is a wreck.”
Disassembled rides and garbage littered the 163-acre lot Tuesday afternoon, replacing the smiling faces of fairgoers, who had their last bite of deep-fried, bacon-wrapped fare when the annual event ended on Sunday.
Also, the typically green grass is dead. Eldridge’s team hasn’t been able to water it for about 30 days.
“We spend about two months bringing it all back to life,” he said.
Eldridge’s crew will do everything from power-washing sidewalks to repairing broken sprinklers over the next few weeks in preparation for upcoming events at the fairgrounds.
Food vendors and rides will probably be completely cleared off the lot by the end of the week, with the most time-consuming tear-downs being the Ferris wheel and the Sky Rider.
Other rides are packed neatly away and shipped to the next stop on the county fair circuit. Several have already left for the Antelope Valley Fair, which opens in Lancaster on Friday.
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Attendance dips from past years
Fewer people visited the Orange County Fair this year than last, but those who did venture to the land of live performances and fried concoctions probably spent more money, fair officials said Monday.
About 37,466 fewer fairgoers walked through the gates this year than last. The annual fair ended Sunday.
In all an estimated 1,337,167 people visited, the lowest attendance since 2010. In 2013, the fair admitted 1,374,633 visitors.
The highest attendance was in 2011, with 1,400,280 fairgoers taking part in the theme “Let’s Eat.” There was confusion that year about the fate of the fairgrounds, which officials had proposed selling.
This year’s theme was “Summer Starts Here,” and hot weather may in fact have cooled attendance.
“We had a few weeks of very warm weather, and that definitely can contribute to lower numbers,” OC Fair spokeswoman Robin Wachner said.
Wachner added that revenue appeared to be up overall this year.
The nearby San Diego County Fair, which runs from June 7 to July 6 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, ended with its second-highest attendance ever.
That event, which is usually slightly larger than the OC Fair, welcomed 1,457,130 visitors, according to its website.
The next events at the Orange County fairgrounds are the Crossroads of the West Gun Show, on Saturday and Sunday, and the Costa Mesa speedway, which runs from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday.