Fair Play : Event-Goers Will Find More Than Typical Food and Attractions at County Carnival

COSTA MESA —  Veggie burgers. Baked potatoes. Fresh fruit salads and vegetables. These items typically hit menus at trendy restaurants and hip hangouts.

But when the homespun Orange County Fair opens today, revelers will find food booths sporting more than the popular beefy chili dogs and greasy onion ring loaves.

Fair organizers wanted to cater to the health-conscious and vegetarian public and have expanded their culinary selections to include meatless and low-fat items.

“We wanted to offer food and rides that cover all of our visitors,” said Jill Lloyd, spokeswoman for the fair. “And with more and more emphasis on healthy foods, what better place to have fun while eating healthy than at the fair?”

The 103rd edition of the Orange County Fair opens its doors to the public today, with new rides, new foods and new entertainment.

This year’s theme, “Come to Our Garden Party,” celebrates the horticulture and nursery industry, and organizers covered the fairground with blooming sunflowers.

But the center feature this year is the simulated rain forest exhibit, Thunder Lagoon. The $100,000 jungle attraction depicts one of nature’s richest phenomenons with elaborate landscaping and high-tech lighting and sound. The indoor spectacle, the size of a third of a football field, features a 12-foot waterfall that drops into a serpentine-shaped lagoon. And about 150 strobe lights and computerized graphics will demonstrate a tropical rainstorm.

During the six-minute show, a dense fog will blanket the 5,000-square-foot exhibit where spectators walk through orchids, bamboos and 1,200 other types of plants and trees.

An explosive storm will send heavy rains down, splashing some of the viewers. Finally, the sun will break through purple clouds and birds will chirp at the end of the rainstorm.

“I got soaked!” shrieked 9-year-old Courtney Thompson, one of a few children who got a sneak peek at the exhibit Thursday. “It was neat!”

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Thunder Lagoon, which was conceived in January, is one of the most “dramatic [shows] in Southern California because of the volume of people it can handle in an indoor facility,” said Ken Inouye, the project coordinator. The exhibit can accommodate up to 400 people at a time, and organizers expect to draw a larger crowd to the fair this year.

Also new this year is the Trampoline Thing, a tamer version of the bungee jump. Participants are strapped to two bungee cords attached to poles across from each other. The rider stands on the trampoline and jumps, while the cords keep the jumper centered. This ride should be popular with the kids, Lloyd said. But for the braver fair-goers, the Ejector Seat is back. Lloyd said this contraption operates on the same principles as the bungee jump and was popular last year.

A variety of entertainment rallying around the horticulture theme, along with Thunder Lagoon, will include a number of garden contests, livestock shows and a towering mound of (non-fragrant) fertilizer that will sit in the middle of the fairgrounds.

Also, acrobatic and high-flying dogs catching Frisbees will entertain fair-goers three times a day. The act, titled, Rocket’s K-9 Comets, features an Australian cattle dog, a Chesapeake Bay retriever and a standard black poodle.

The Orange County Fair runs for 17 days, through Sunday, July 23. Hours are Monday to Wednesday from noon to midnight, Thursday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to midnight.