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All is o7 fairf7 in love

ANDREW GLAZER

FAIRGROUNDS--For one couple, the Orange County Fair isn’t quite as

magical as it was in 1993.

“Maybe we’re getting older, maybe the rides aren’t as good, but I

don’t think so,” a petite Danielle Hessley, 24, said Friday. “It was just

that I had that twitterpated feeling seven years ago, where I was so

excited and my heart was racing. It’s difficult to match.”

It was seven years ago that she met Tony Fisher at the fair. Since

then they have dated, fallen in love, broken up and gotten back together.

And today, on the anniversary of their meeting, they will marry in

Anaheim.

“I thought it would just be fun that night and then done with,” said

Fisher, 27, a robotics engineer who lives in Anaheim. “I guess it turned

out to be more than that.”

Hessley was just 17, enjoying the fair with a girlfriend. They spotted

three young men at the midway.

“They were really good-looking, but they kept walking,” she said as

she strolled down the same midway, this time hand in hand with her

fiance.

“So we followed them. I’d never been the type to go up to guys but my

friend was, and [Fisher] had such beautiful eyes.”

The guys noticed the girls following them but played coy. They

meandered to the bumper boats, hopped aboard and climbed from boat to

boat.

“I figured we’d goof around for them,” Fisher said. “Either it would

get their attention, or they’d be thrown off.”

It turned out the girls were impressed.

They serenaded Fisher and his friend with a rendition of “Whomp, There

It Is!”

Fisher immediately took Hessley on the Zipper ride. While upside down,

their change flew out of their pockets.

“It was a great way to break through my shell,” she said. “It showed

he could really have a great time.”

The pair have returned to the fair each year, trying to re-create the

magic. The closest they’ve gotten, Hessley said, is when they ride the

Ferris wheel to watch the sunset together.

“The fair is very special for us.”

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