SUMMER STORIES -- A fair share of things to do

Andrew Glazer

FAIRGROUNDS -- It was a field of dry grass and golden dirt last week.

Thursday, a scattering of scaffolding, paint buckets and trailers. But by

next Friday, it will be a sprawling community of restaurants, amusements,

concerts, contests and 750,000 visitors.

“There’s just grass everywhere at first,” said Dan Stephens, 50, a

six-year fair veteran who helped choose paintings for the walls of the

Orange County Fair’s Visual Arts building. “Then all of the sudden barns

start popping up.”

On Thursday, the fairgrounds appeared far from ready. Fair staff was

busy building barns and bars, painting walls, setting up barbecue,

blooming onion, fish fry, snow cone and sausage stands, potting plants,

hanging paintings, curating art exhibits, displaying antenna ball, Elvis

45s, Matchbox car and CD-ROM collections, delivering rides, building

rides, awaiting the arrival of prized fruit, chickens, ducks, rabbits and

pigs, and receiving entries for pie, cake and cookie contests.

“It can be a challenge organizing thousands of people who don’t know

the routine and system,” said Phyllis Morrow, who turns 50 today and has

helped run 16 fairs. Morrow, who wore red chili pepper earrings

reflecting the fair’s “Hot! Hot! Hot!” theme, is in charge of the Orange

County-themed building.

“It’s quite amazing,” she added, “starting from nothing and winding up

with a whole city.”

Some people preparing for the fair were more relaxed than others.

Don Rondeau -- charged with building a 46-foot red barn on the

fairgrounds -- said after three and a half months, he is finally able to

relax.

“There were some setbacks,” he said, looking calm in his

air-conditioned trailer as his crew secured door frames. “But at this

point, I know it will be finished.”

In the Collectors Corner, which will display private collections

including buttons, old copies of Life Magazine and antique tools, fair

workers took hours to set up each display.

“The secret is choosing the right fabric, one that complements the

display,” said Mikki Fischer, 41, as she draped a lavender piece of

fabric near a toy soldier exhibit. “You have to put it together like it’s

your own.”

But the 200-person crew from Ray Cammack Shows -- the Arizona-based

traveling carnival company providing rides and carnival games for the

fair -- is accustomed to swooping in and setting up.

“Our adrenaline definitely gets pumping,” said Chris Lopez, a company

spokesman. “But we operate much better under pressure. If we got too much

time, we’d be sitting around.”

Lopez said the crew would stage the larger rides, including the roller

coaster, bumper boats and the Sky Diver, before setting up the carnival

booths.

But on Thursday, not a ride was in sight.

Lopez shrugged and parroted the mantra of nearly everyone else here:

“It will be ready by early next week.”