2010 OC Fair welcomed 1.15 million guests.

“The 2010 OC Fair's success is based squarely on the community's participation in and love of their 120-year-old tradition. In this pivotal year, we could not be more pleased to have experienced the best Fair imaginable,” said OC Fair CEO & President Steve Beazley.

The Pacific Amphitheatre also had a record-breaking year with nine sold-out concerts. The top-attended concerts were Sublime with Rome/The Dirty Heads, Train, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts with The Runaways’ Cherie Currie, Adam Lambert/Orianthi and John Legend. (Also check out the following article about Pacific Amphitheatre's No. 1 ranking.)

The Heart Attack Cafe

More than 170,800 Fairgoers took advantage of the values offered with a variety of gate promotions featuring discounts or free admission. More than 11,100 people purchased the popular Super Pass, a season pass which granted 23 days of admission plus other discounts, coupons and front-of-line access.

The five most popular carnival rides this year were: La Grande Wheel, Sky Ride, Hi Miler, Euroslide and The Wave in the Main Carnival; and Pirate’s Island, Survivor Island, Lil Dipper, Bumble Bees and Silver Streak in the Kiddie Carnival.

The Fair’s unofficial Fry King, Chicken Charlie, ended up using more than 4,000 gallons of soybean oil to deep-fry more than 12,000 pounds of flour that coated everything from Twinkies and Oreos to frogs’ legs and new-for-2010 Klondike Bars. At the Burger Joint, a few hundred 11-inch Belly Buster Burgers and more than 4,500 Colossal Curly Fry Cones expanded Fairgoers’ waistlines.

Wild Child in The Hangar

In the Action Sports Arena, the top five most thrilling events, in order of attendance, were: Motorhome Madness Demolition Derby; Orange Crush Demolition Derby (both events ranked top five); X-treme Freestyle Moto-X and Bull Riding.

The Hangar, the Fair’s newest entertainment complex, quickly became a popular destination for live music with the top shows being Sweet & Tender Hooligans (tribute to Morrissey and The Smiths); Wild Child (tribute to Jim Morrison and The Doors); Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez; “Led Zeppelin Live!” starring Heartbreaker (tribute to Led Zeppelin); and Purple Reign (tribute to Prince).

Here are more numbers for the 2010 OC Fair:

• 2,000 multi-layered Jumbo Mexican Funnel Cakes were eaten and only one Fairgoer met the challenge to consume one alone.
• The new Heart Attack Café shocked hearts and stomachs with more than 8,000 orders of deep-fried butter and 1,500 orders of deep-fried chocolate-covered bacon.
• Chicken Charlie deep-fried more than 4,000 pounds of frog legs, 8,000 avocados, 10,000 Klondike Bars and 30,000 Oreo cookies.
• 3,574 exhibitors submitted 9,872 entries which received 3,952 award ribbons and won more than $28,600 in cash awards.
• 243 livestock entries were sold at the Junior Livestock Auction earning local youth 4-H and FFA members more than $174,312. A total of 500 livestock exhibitors presented some 2,800 animals during the 2010 Fair.
• More than 860 people purchased a Carnival Fast Pass to get to the front of the ride line.
• For the eight unlimited carnival ride wristband days offered in 2010, some 44,000 daredevils took advantage of the weekday promotion.
• For the four “We Care Wednesday” community donation drives, 83,916 generous Fairgoers donated 50 tons of food, 60,000 children’s books, 99,000 pounds of gently used clothing, and 86,112 new school supplies.
• Born into the Centennial Farm family this year were 19 piglets and a calf.
• Patron survey results showed fairgoers felt a “Good-Excellent” overall satisfaction on their visit to the Fair with a 4.28 out of 5 average rating.
• Survey results also showed that on average fairgoers made 2.8 visits to the Fair and averaged 5.3 hours per visit.

Details on the 2011 OC Fair will be announced when available.

Pacific Amphitheatre Ranked No. 1 by Industry Magazine

The 2010 Pacific Amphitheatre season at the OC Fair earned the top spot for the highest grossing venue in the nation for its capacity by industry magazine Venues Today.

Adam Lambert

Announced in the September issue of Venues Today, the ranking compared ticket grosses of the Pacific Amphitheatre season against similarly sized venues (5,001-10,000 seats). Pacific Amphitheatre features 8,500 fixed seats and in 2010 offered limited lawn seating for select shows, a first for the venue since its reopening in 2003.

The 2010 season had nine of 24 concerts sell out and overall sold 75 percent of seats available for purchase which is more than 155,000 tickets.

This year concertgoers flocked to the Pacific Amphitheatre to rock out with Train, Ziggy Marley, Adam Lambert, Orianthi, John Legend, Sublime with Rome, The B-52s, Styx, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts with The Runaways' Cherie Currie, ZZ Top, Bad Company, The Pink Floyd Experience (tribute), Jeff Dunham, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, Julianne Hough, Ratt, Dokken, Sammy Hagar and The Wagos, The Fab Four, Blondie, LeAnn Rimes and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Joan Jett

2010 also marks two additional milestones since the venue’s 2003 reopening. With this eighth consecutive season complete, the Pacific Amphitheatre has been in operation more years than it was closed, which was due to litigation. “That milestone may be the most important of them all. For the Pacific Amphitheatre to have been a good neighbor and a key provider of quality concerts for these eight years bodes well for the future,” President & CEO Steve Beazley said.

The new season of free school tours at the Centennial Farm starts October 4.

Pre-registered guided and self-guided school tours are held Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

The Farm is open to the public Monday-Friday from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Parking and admission is free. Admission fees apply during all-grounds events. Visit our online Event Calendar for a list of events.

Tour reservations can be made online at ocfair.com/centennialfarm. The 2010/2011 tour season ends May 31, 2011.

Share Our Selves (SOS) will return to the OC Fair & Event Center (OCFEC) with its 41st annual Adopt A Family program on December 13-16, 2010.

Adopt A Family pairs pre-registered donors with local families in need to provide new children's gifts and/or a holiday family dinner. Donations will be collected at OCFEC on Thursday, December 16.

SOS estimates that more than 1,600 families with children in Costa Mesa and Santa Ana schools will have brighter and better holidays because of these efforts and charitable giving.

Donor sign-up starts October 27. Interested donors can sign-up by either sending an email to AAF2010@shareourselves.org or by downloading the donor form from SOS's website (Form is not available until after October 27).

Smaller donations of food or toys will also be accepted and will be combined for families that are not matched with a donor. Local companies, school groups and religious institutions are asked to consider holding food and toy drives to help cover families that are not paired with a specific donor. Email AAF2010@shareourselves.org to schedule a special donation drop-off.

For more information about volunteer opportunities email AAF2010@shareourselves.org.

For more information about Share Our Selves and its other programs, visit shareourselves.org.

Vibe at this year's fair is best yet

This year's Orange County Fair has shaped up to be one for the books. I would be hard-pressed to imagine a future fair with more success attached to it. Not that attendance won't rise or new attractions won't be presented, but because this year's success is teamed with the 120-year-old tradition's greatest challenge: The sale, now referred to as the "community gut check."

While a cloudy, cool summer has certainly lent to the success of this year's fair, dark clouds of uncertainty loomed above it. This has summoned superheroes to break through the clouds to save the day: the Fair staff (The Team).

The Fair Team has held the ship steady in rocky waters and made the fair feel so inviting and neighborly, you'd think you were attending a backyard barbecue as much as an OC mega-event.

This is the great American story, folks. Middle class toil during leadership turmoil. If JFK were writing his "Profiles in Courage" essays today, he would, no doubt, include an entry on the Fair Team. Grace under pressure, nose to grindstone and focus during fracas all come to mind as descriptors for this group of people who thrive on and strive to make their community smile. During this maelstrom, psyches are bruised, spirits invigorated.

Many have commented to me that the enjoyment of this fair has exceeded all others, though they can't specifically point to a reason why.

I can. It's the vibe.

The ever elusive vibe is not something to be bought or brought in. It's in the organic exuding of spirit, joy. Guess who is excelling at that? Yep, you got it.

The Beach Boys hit, "Good Vibrations," says "I'm picking up good vibrations, she's giving me excitations…"

'Nuff said.

So this record-setting fair belongs to the whole community for its participation, but the 2010 OC Fair highlights the people who struggled day and night to keep a wobbling fair upright. This is a story of the triumph of the human spirit, all at your local county fair.

And finally, we have been saying time and time again, no matter what the future holds, now two things are certain: The Beat Goes On. The Team Goes on…

(As printed in the August 13, 2010 issue of the Daily Pilot.)