Let the fun and games begin! O.C. Fair returns Friday with theme ‘Happy Together’
With the start of the Orange County Fair not days but mere hours away, the Costa Mesa fairgrounds are abuzz with activity, as organizers, vendors and work crews make the final preparations for the event’s grand opening Friday.
This year’s fair, themed “Happy Together,” runs Wednesdays through Sundays and ends Aug. 13. Tickets must be purchased online in advance.
“I’m so excited,” Michele Richards, chief executive of the organizing OC Fair & Event Center, said Wednesday, after an early morning walk through the site. “Imagine putting on the most elaborate party and inviting hundreds of thousands of people to come.
“You want everything to be perfect. You want everything to be in its place as that kickoff time gets closer and closer.”
While daily attendance will be capped at 45,000 visitors — a move started to ensure pandemic-era social distancing that remains an efficient means of reducing crowds and improving the guest experience — people who purchase special passports can enter on any day.
Similarly, people who purchase admission to concerts and ticketed events on the fairgrounds will be allowed one-day entrance into the fair, even on days where general admission has been sold out.
Richards spilled the beans Wednesday on some of the new additions that will greet visitors at this year’s fair, including aerial trapeze performances and the return of live band karaoke and the Extreme Rodeo at the Action Sports Arena.
Although guests may not enter the fairgrounds with bottled beverages, those who bring empty water bottles will be able to enjoy plenty of fresh, filtered water at one of several chilled water stations throughout the park.
In other water news, the fairgrounds will open the tap on its Main Mall water fountain, which traditionally beckons young children with its darting jets and streams of water but has recently remained dry.
“I absolutely love it — the kids just get sopping wet,” Richards said of the returning attraction.
When it comes to the ever-expanding menu of fair food and refreshments, several new items will be making their debut this year, including an egg roll hot dog from Pink’s, an agua fresca stand offering traditional and “spiked” beverages, fresh Bavarian pretzels, a western saloon with whiskey tasting and a slate of vegan and gluten-free items at the California Grill.
Three new rides will also make a first appearance at this year’s fair. Joker 360 promises loads of multidirectional fun for those with iron stomachs, while a giant slingshot defies gravity, and a new inverted roller coaster, Raptor, will thrill riders with its back-and-forth banking motion.
A new exhibit coming to the fairground’s Huntington Beach building is “The Art of Music Experience,” which takes guests on an immersive journey through themed galleries, where they can flip through bins of vinyl albums at a pop-up record store, watch a live painting of album cover art and vote on their favorite covers.
Promising a little something for everyone, whether it’s the brand-new features or tried-and-true favorites like baby piglets at Centennial Farm and the competition displays, Richards says the theme “Happy Together” is intended to be a true celebration of unity.
“Coming out of the pandemic, it seems we’ve struggled a bit coming together. People are learning how to relate to each other again on a social basis, so we wanted to reflect that,” she explained.
“The O.C. Fair is a place where you can forget about all that’s going on. You can come and just be happy together, in this moment and in this time when you can be with your family and friends.”
For tickets, times and more information, visit ocfair.com.
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