Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Fairing in LA LA Land

The Summer of 2020 was going to be one heck of a Fairing Season!  After thoroughly enjoying ourselves at our local County Fair, Rob and I had plans to hop a plane and go to two of the biggest state fairs in the whole U. S. of A: Minnesota and Texas.  We had the dates and general plans in mind but hadn’t accumulated any confirmation numbers yet when mid-March rolled around and Covid stopped the world.

Although I have been anxious to get back to Fairing, I have been even more anxious about being in large, undistanced crowds. I also saw a number of fairs do a not-quite-the-same-but-we’re-trying version of their annual fun last year.  If I’m making the effort to skip multiple time zones to experience an Epic Fair, I do not want it to be a year with an asterisk indicating it was almost normal. So I will wait.

Summer 2022 is looking like it might be the closest approximation yet to the good old days of the 20-teens. But I’m still not ready to commit to jet lag and proximate crowds.  So, Rob and I decided that our 2022 Fairing season will be more of the county fair variety.  A smaller step back into my favorite summer activity. Our County Fair is slated to start its 10-day run on August 5. In the meantime, Rob and I decided 2022 is the year to check out some Big Time County Fairs on the West Coast.  First up:  Los Angeles County Fair!

Typically held in September, the LA County Fair folks decided they wanted to be the first out of the gate for the 2022 Southern California Fair Season. So they changed their Fair month to May and confused the heck out of every Southern Californian I mentioned it to. Rob and I trekked down to Pomona, CA a couple weeks ago kick off our re-entry into Covid-Schmovid Fairing. WHOO HOO!! 

We faired for two days – a Thursday and a Friday – and left both days just as the sun was setting. It worked out perfectly, as there were not many fellow fairgoers mid-day on weekdays. The crowd definitely grew after about 5:00pm, which was just about the time we were getting our last meal and deciding to give our feet and backs a rest at the hotel.


Planning online at Woodhaven, I was frustrated that I couldn’t find info about 4-H animals or arena shows like monster trucks or bull riding. There was a long list of up-and-coming indie bands that were slated to play as part of a fair-long music festival. And there was mention of a lowrider car exhibit. Otherwise, the typical county fair offerings seemed pretty sparse.

And they were. Except for the shopping.  Wow, so much shopping. Of the same stuff (lotions, candles, jewelry, mops). Over and over and over.

There were a couple of barns tucked in the back that had chickens and rabbits.  Never did see cows or pigs or sheep or goats. We never actually even saw a 4-H kid or the iconic green 4-leaf clover in the two days we toured the fairgrounds. It was weird and sad.

We did happen upon a pair of llamas in pens that were off-limits to the public.  And then later we watched a llama conformation competition (how high-grade the llama is in body shape, fur, weight, etc.). But that was it. There was a large, covered barn that was a petting zoo.  It looked like it had some standard fair animals. And an entrance fee. And waaaay too many people smushed in the hay-strewn aisles. So perhaps I could have gotten my Fair Animal fix if I had been willing to shell out some cash and cozy up to a bunch of highly distracted strangers. But I was not. So my animal-petting was severely limited.


Off-llimits llamas


The only llamas I got to pet

Oh, we did see the Budweiser Clydesdales clomp by!  That was pretty cool.


Although Security was just out of
camera range, I was still shocked
by how close we could get to the horses

As for arena shows, there were none.  There wasn’t even an arena big enough to offer them, aside from a large stadium that was dedicated to concerts at night. We elected not to stay for the concert featuring Rose Royce.  Because you know it was going to be 10:45pm before they finally played “Car Wash.”

I quite enjoyed the Lowrider exhibit.  About 30 tricked out cars and trucks were parked in an alcove between two commercial buildings. They were all decorated and gleaming and, sadly, static.  I was really hoping to see the cars bounce around on hydraulics.  Maybe they saved that for the night folks? But it was very cool to get pretty close to the art-on-wheels and admire how painstakingly each car was restored and loved.


Even more impressive was the exhibit of similarly accessorized bicycles.  I can’t imagine any of them are actually used for transportation.  But they seemed like an ingenious gateway vehicle to get younger folks hooked on the lowrider way of life.


The bikes were very blingy

The home-economics area (what is it called in this century? Home Arts? Still Exhibits? You know – quilts and canning and macrame) was small but intriguing. There were not many quilts or canned veggies, though; the weather in SoCal is far too glorious to waste time inside sewing tiny stitches or artfully arranging green beans in hot jars. I thoroughly enjoyed the photography exhibit – it was cool to see what people in Los Angeles like to take photos of.  Answer: Hawaii.

I also really enjoyed the themed table settings. Some folks went all out – maybe a little too far – on their themes, making their tables largely unusable for a meal. My favorite display was this one. The exhibitor embraced the times and provided a perfect pseudo-diorama of the last two years.



One of my most favorite parts of the LA County Fair (aside from reminiscing about Woodsy the Owl) was their Wine Garden.  Cheers to that!  SO much better than the wine competition at our county fair.

In LA County, the folks who enter their wine for judgement aren’t hobbyists who are learning as they go and/or creatively fermenting any plant life they can get their hands on (the peach/bell pepper blend from our Fair a decade ago remains the gold standard for such ingenuity/desperation). Nope, in LA, professionals enter their wine for assessment and feedback.  Professional winemakers with harvest schedules and production lines and marketing departments.  It’s a pretty big deal to be awarded a medal in the LA County Fair Wine Competition.  Just ask Barefoot.  So lots of big and want-to-be-big vintners enter their wines in the Fair’s competition to be judged by people who are equally as professional. As opposed to our Fair whose volunteer judges are really just patio sippers angling for free passes to a day at the Fair. But hey, I work hard for those passes! Did I mention the peach/bell pepper blend?

SO many choices!  We shared a flight of 6.

Seeing all the wine entries was pretty exciting, but not nearly as exciting as having the opportunity to sample them! At our Fair, the only way you get to taste any of the wine is to be a judge.  At the LA County Fair, most of a commercial building was set up as a wine tasting room, with two bars pouring the same selection of over 150 wines. Entries came from all over the world, so we were excited to try some stuff from Florida and Turkey.  Our tastebuds were not really excited by either, but our hearts were super excited to try them!


The Sharpie numbers on the plastic
cups was a pretty smart way to 
keep track of what we had selected.
The LA wine folks are clever!

Which brings us to food.  Because you know I am ALL ABOUT FAIR FOOD!

Some pre-Fair research got me pretty excited about trying some weird stuff.  Flaming Hot Cheetos featured prominently in the advertised food offerings. The first meal we had involved a large corn dog dipped in nacho cheese sauce and then smothered in crushed Flaming Hot Cheetos.  I was ready for a taste sensation and a stomachache.  Sadly, I got neither. The corn dog was so boring, I didn’t finish it. Which was heartbreaking because it was astronomically priced.



I later tried a Dole Whip Watermelon Taco with Tajin seasoning. Also much more exotic in words than in mouth. The Tajin honestly made it worthwhile.  Otherwise, it was just Dole Whip and watermelon, which don’t really do much to enhance each other.

Tajin is a Mexican spice made from chili peppers,
lime, and salt. It's really good on citrusy stuff.

The Kool-Aid Chicken sandwich was pretty good, although super sticky. The Kool-Aid was Cherry flavored. At first I thought the sandwich tasted like sweet-and-sour chicken. But then the Kool-Aid flavor became much more prominent. It tasted pretty good, but not remarkable enough to search out at another fair.


That pickle was very squirty and very
tasty!

Not the most appetizing photo but
at least you can see the Kool-Aid
marinade


The roasted corn on the cob was delicious – especially with a rainbow of seasonings (I can’t remember everything I sprinkled on the cob, but I know parmesan cheese and chili powder were included). The Elote (Mexican Street Corn) in a cup was also pretty tasty, even though I asked for it without the mayonnaise because I was too hot and the idea of mayonnaise-covered corn made my stomach curdle.





The chicken parmesan fry bread was utterly forgettable (thank goodness for photos). The most notable thing about it was we were likely the stand’s last customers before a water main broke right in front of the stand, causing the asphalt to rise up and ooze like a zit. Work crews and security hovered in the cordoned-off area the rest of the day.


It tasted as bland as it looks.


The marine layer never cleared. We got 
some drizzle during the day which also
kept the crowd small. Score!
Although really bummed to be in 
California on a grey day.

So overall, the fair food was just sort of meh at the LA County Fair.  I expected so much more! There was one discovery, though, that totally redeemed the food scene. It was so amazing, we went back a second time. And then pleaded with the crew to inform the owners that they MUST open a store in Portland. Because while we have foofy-pants ice cream here in Portland, we do not have the Milky Bun.

Offered by an ice cream chain called Afters, the Milky Bun is basically an ice cream sandwich where the bun is a raised donut.  A delicious raised donut with just enough sweetness to complement the ice cream without making your teeth ache.  We tried a few flavors of ice cream and I fell in love with the Salted Oreo.  It was just your basic “cookies ‘n cream” ice cream, but not. Afters took that basic ice cream and added a saltiness to it that was sort of like the magic of salted caramel but creamier and lighter. And then snuggled it in a donut. OMG. I trotted back to the stand after we finished our first Milky Bun and proclaimed to the crew that the treat was worth the flight from Portland. I stopped short of hugging them when they informed me Afters is a local (to them) chain and I can enjoy a Milky Bun on all future visits to Southern California.  And I shall.  Paired with an In-n-Out cheeseburger “Animal Style, ketchup and mustard instead, extra pickles” might be the most perfect of SoCal meals.

The ice cream was Strawberry Cookie
Crunch where the cookies were
Famous Amos Chocolate Chip.
SO GOOD!

Overall, I would say the LA County Fair was good but not great. I missed seeing animals and shows, and the food was sort of disappointing. But the wine garden was great, and it was fascinating to see what inspires creativity in Los Angeles. I also loved a part of the fairgrounds that wandered up a hill with lots of shade trees and park benches.

For some reason, not a popular spot.
We practically had it all to ourselves!

There was also a portion of the hillscape that was dedicated to ecology and environmental stewardship.  That’s where I was gleefully reunited with Woodsy. 


The best part of the LA County Fair, though, was that it was a FAIR. It had food and rides and animals and quilts and mops and fantastic people-watching. It had two 5-mile walking days, and a fun logo that looks like Porky Pig. It had history, it had tradition, it had a Ferris Wheel ride at sunset. It was perfect.   




 

 




3 comments:

smolin said...

What fun! Thanks for sharing. Hope to see you soon!

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog after buying your book, from you. (Donuts)! We also love fair going. Well Hubby does more than me but I’m always happy to indulge him. He made me promise we will do one fair at least this year after Glacier.

Toni at Woodhaven said...

Donuts!! Ours made it home fine, thankfully, despite my almost-drop! If you poke around my blog, you will find I ADORE our local Fair! We typically go every day and I write about it every night. However, that will change this year because it is EXHAUSTING and I'm two years out of practice. But we will be there! And we will be volunteering some mid-day shifts at the gazebo next to the fire station. If you see us, stop by!!