Squeezing every last drop of fun out of the Orange County Fair

A good chunk of Rob’s family lives within fireworks distance of Disneyland. For years, I have seen photos and heard stories about their county fair.  I have seen photos of one sister-in-law eating her way through her fair much like I inhale my way through mine. I have seen photos of new nieces and new grandparents keeping the family tradition of "A Day At The Fair" alive.  I have heard stories about epic demolition derbies and a very special oxen named Patches.

Not surprisingly, I have long wanted to check out the Orange County Fair for myself. But the timing was always tricky, it being so close to my beloved county Fair. In 2020, we had confirmation numbers and quite an itinerary to ingeniously combine a family wedding with the OC Fair.  But well, we spent that July desperately far away from airplanes, hotels, and family gatherings.

This year, resigned to the ever-presence of a ridiculously crafty mutant virus, we decided to live on the edge and finally go see what all the OC Fair excitement is about.  We very recently spent two 6-mile-plus days walking the asphalt of the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds, eating, smelling, gawking, riding, wandering, cheering, and burping. Finally out of my food coma, I am here to tell you…the Orange County Fair rocks!

With a map and a leisurely stroll to get our bearings, the OC Fair is about twice as big as my beloved Clark County Fair but still felt cozy. There were easy landmarks like a stage venue called The Hanger, a huge Ferris Wheel with air-conditioned gondolas, a sign begging to appear on social media, and a ginormous inflatable ear of corn. It didn’t take us long to get a feel for the fairgrounds and walk around with local confidence. Even though we were first-time visitors, we quickly felt at home.

Yes, this appeared on social media.

More than once we uttered the words,
"Go to the corn and hang a left."

As we began our wanderings, I was dumbfounded that so many people were wearing flip flops and sandals. Never ever ever would it occur to me to wear any foot-exposing shoes to my Fair, what with all the animals and their barns and their leave-behinds. My Fair also has areas with dirt and dirt-infused grass and hay. I don’t need my bare feet interacting with that nature regardless how grounding it might be.  

At the OC Fair, much like the greater Los Angeles metro in general, pretty much all of the walking surfaces were asphalt.  There were some beautifully grassy areas that were picture-perfect in their cleanliness and greenliness. I smirked with “of course!” satisfaction when I discovered it was all AstroTurf. Fake is so pretty, though!

The turf had plastic sprigs of different colors...in a
very consistent pattern.

I was utterly impressed by the Fine Arts exhibits – the competition for artwork, photography, and woodworking.  We walked into the exhibit hall and it looked like a real, bona fide art gallery.  The walls were solid, sturdy, and freshly painted, the description tags were neatly typed, the exhibits were displayed with spacing to allow each piece some breathing room, and the lighting was bright and focal.

The only thing missing was a server passing
around glasses of Pinot Gris.

The first part of the exhibit I looked at were paintings by young artists. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. The paintings were both exquisite and heartbreaking. The artwork was professional quality and the subject matter was dark and emotional and troubling. I found a docent who confirmed that the artists truly were teenagers and she shared my amazement at their talent.  She also told me that simply being in the exhibit – whether teen or adult – was an accomplishment and honor, as the OC Fair only displays about 50% of the entries. Seriously, I felt like my Fair ticket came with complimentary admission to an art gallery. So impressed.

A friend on social media commented, "Jeez. I hope
someone's keeping an eye on these kids." Indeed.

Ummm...this is sort of ridiculously extraordinary.

This is made of wood. Hundreds of pieces of shaped 
and painted wood. Amazing.

I was sort of disappointed by the sparse array of animals and total lack of 4-H kids at the Orange County Fair.  But the OC is not really an ag county these days and therefore I imagine it’s hard to convince Vans-sporting kids (not to mention their parents) to explore the wonders of raising pigs or cows or sheep in the backyard of their cul-de-sac abode.

We did see a livestock barn populated with about 30 goats. And another couple barns with some chickens and some more goats. I did find one real live llama though! It was just outside the fairgrounds with a donkey and a few goats who were “mowing” a steep hill. Although I was sad to only see one llama (and a donkey buddy!), it was pretty cool that the one llama was actually working and doing what domesticated llamas do best – guarding smaller animals from coyotes.

Llama keenly guarding the munching goat.

One of my favorite spots in the OC Fairgrounds was an area called The Centennial Farm. It is a working farm and is open year-round for field trips and school groups and such. It was tucked in a corner and featured all sorts of crops that happily grow in Southern California. Things like avocados and bananas and macadamia nuts and sweet potatoes and grapefruit and soooo many varieties of peppers and tomatoes. We visited a barn featuring the flower competition where I stuck my nose in many plumerias and gardenias. Oh, the magic of pervasive sunshine!

Lemons, oranges, grapefruit, limes...
reminded me how much I miss our
Mandarin orange tree in the backyard
of our house in California

Plumerias!! 
Out of camera range: hibiscus and gardenia
I overheard a fairgoer trying to figure out which 
variety of plumeria she has in her yard. So jealous!

The Centennial Farm also featured some animals – a sow with week-old piglets, some fluffy rabbits, a baby Angora goat, a few dairy cows, and coop full of chickens. The area was the most old-timey county fairish spot in the fairgrounds, which is probably why I liked it so much.  I also loved finally seeing where my dear friend Dave has spent so much of the last 16 years.

Dave and his wife Carolyn are friends that are so special, I consider them family. We have traveled with them, which for joined-at-the-hip introverts like me and Rob is saying something pretty extraordinary. For years, we have eagerly listened to stories about Dave’s work with an oxen named Patches. Dave grew up on a farm and knows his way around bovine. After he retired from a corporate career, Dave started volunteering at the Centennial Farm and developed a very special relationship with Patches.  Sort of on the scale of my llove for Rojo the Llama but even more so.

One of the things we were most looking forward to with our visit to the OC Fair was finally meeting Patches. Devastatingly, Patches died just a few days before our arrival.  Fortunately, the fairgrounds were closed at the time. But as we chatted with Phillip – the head of the oxen crew – it was clear the heartbreak was deep for everyone who knew Patches. Most especially Dave. Our hearts ache.

Phillip introduced us to Hoss and Howie – two other oxen who have been around for a few years. He delicately mentioned his hope to use Patches’ skull and jawbone for educational purposes.  I smiled broadly as I told him about Rojo and how his taxidermied self continues his legacy of education at a school for the blind. While to the general public, a conversation like this might sound morbid, to me it was a moment of true empathy and shared perspective. I started falling in love with the OC Fair because it was a true moment of human connection, something I seek in my fairing.

Hoss lounging in the front,
Howie snoozing in the back

The key reason we chose the weekend we did to scope out the Orange County Fair was to attend the Demolition Derby – two nights in a row! They were indeed pretty awesome derbies!  The cars were real derby cars – old Chevys and Fords from when I was in grade school – instead of Geo Metros and Toyota Corollas. The drivers were serious – they wore fireproof jumpsuits instead of Wranglers and t-shirts. The fire department was present, wearing helmets and manning fire extinguishers instead of simply placing dousing equipment within fast trotting distance of flames leaping from an engine.

Both nights began with a Figure 8 race which held much promise but sadly no crashes. But it was super fun to finally see a Figure 8 in person!

The second derby was very unique because it was all women drivers billed as the Damsels of Destruction. It was fantastic! Even better than the mostly male derby the night before. The cars were sooo much better and brightly painted – so much pink! 

The aftermath. Stunned the inflatable pink flamingo
survived the whole derby! 

Although the Damsels derby started with some tentativeness, it was only a few minutes before the women were bashing their cars into each other with force and determination. One car – Number 13 – was especially fun to watch. Her day job is as a stuntwoman (ah, Hollywood) and it showed! She drove her car backwards most of the time and zipped around the dirt track with confidence. She banged and bashed just about every car in the competition.  She was super aggressive and was the one gal who had competed with the boys the night before. I was certain she was going to win the Damsel Derby. When her car unceremoniously conked out, leaving her with 3^rd Place, the crowd groaned with disappointment. The derbies were SO FUN and lived up to the stories.

The winning damsel.

I was also entirely impressed by how clean the fairgrounds were. There were employees everywhere keeping things swept and wiped and properly recycled. Although we have similar at my beloved Fair, I was surprised that the OC cleaners were mostly adults instead of teens with a summer gig. However, never at our Fair have I seen this:

This woman walked up and down the grandstands
with a garbage bag collecting trash that people
passed down the rows. It was very effective. 
Very little trash remained as we left the arena.

So what about the food?!?  I know that’s what you’ve been screaming at your screen.  Verdict: pretty dang tasty!  

Although at first stroll it felt like there was a lot of duplication, when I dug a little deeper into the menus I found there were some pretty unique food offerings at the OC Fair.  And every single thing I ate was very tasty except for the waffle fries with cheese sauce and brisket (the brisket was good; the fries were shockingly bland). 

I was excited to try some new stuff like deep fried pineapple, and was pleased with the deliciousness of staples like roasted corn on the cob which was actually worth the $7. Overall, the food fare was tons better than what the LA County Fair had to offer in May. My GI tract had a small rebellion from all the grease, but overall I think it held up well as a warm-up to our Fair starting later this week.

Two major standouts: sourdough bread with avocado spread topped with onions and tomatoes; and deep fried green beans. I figured avocado toast was a MUST when fairing in SoCal. As for the green beans, I have had deep fried versions before but the OC Fair's take was the best I've ever had.

Clockwise from top left:
Puffy Taco with carne asada
Grilled jalapeno pepper
Roasted corn with Bob's Corn Seasoning
(SO good but distressingly not found online!)
Frozen chocolate-covered banana
Deep fried green beans
Classic corn dog
Boring waffle fries with pretty good brisket
and cheese sauce
Middle is deep fried pineapple covered in chocolate
and sprinkled with coconut flakes -- very good and rather sticky!

Clockwise from top left:
Chicken kabob that was even better with BBQ sauce
Wine tasting
Fresh potato chips smothered in garlic and parmesan cheese 
(should have packed breath mints)
Green apple slices swimming in caramel sauce
Avocado sourdough toast
Lime cucumber aqua fresca with chamoy rim paste
 (basically lots of Mexican spices in a fruity drink)
Center is a freshly made deep fried Oreo dipped in chocolate

Overall, the Orange County Fair was absolutely worth the wait. I had a blast! It was a big fair with a small fair feeling. It felt communal and homey and had personality. It also had the very best people-watching of any fair I’ve ever been to. SO grateful for sunglasses to allow for stealthy staring.  Botox, Boots, Beer, and Boobs – everywhere! I never forgot I was fairing close to Hollywood!

I also loved being able to spend the second day with family – family who loves their Fair like I love mine. We chatted together, we ate together, we cheered together, we rode the Ferris Wheel together, we faired together.  It was awesome.

Thank you for sharing your Fair with us, 
Beth and Rick!