Cattle driven out again

Everyone was watching in 2007 as hundreds of cattle ran across the sand of Huntington Beach and then paraded around the major traffic arteries of Costa Mesa as part of the Orange County Fair Cattle Drive. Helicopters filmed from overhead: All of the major news stations came out.

After the anticipation built up by the unique event, thousands of city residents came out and lined those same streets in 2008 for the encore performance. It was a revival of the stunt, which hadn’t been done since 1994.

But 2009 will be the end of it — again. The fair’s Chief Executive Steve Beazley said Monday that the enormous and unusual production is losing its novelty and becoming too predictable, thus this summer it will be seen for the last time — at least for a while.

“We just feel like the idea has run its course, and it needs to die for something else to be born,� Beazley said.

Running the fair is a balance between tradition and innovation, he added. Some attractions like the Ferris wheel, the hypnotist and the pig races have been around for ages and won’t ever change. Others like the cattle drive, where the allure comes from the singularity and surprise of the happening, have to continually be reinvented.

“We can always bring it back in five years,� said fair board President Julie Vandermost.

This year the fair is investing a lot of effort and money in a couple of new ventures, though, that organizers hope can recharge some of the excitement brought by the most recent cattle drives. First, to honor the history of the fairgrounds’ home in Costa Mesa — which used to be a military air base — the fair is installing a new, multimillion-dollar exhibit hall designed to look like an airplane hangar.

Then, the hall will be filled with what the promoters of the fair are heralding as a one-of-a-kind exhibit in which singer/songwriter Weird Al Yankovic has been commissioned to make a 10-minute, 3D video guiding kids through a model of the human brain.

“I think that all ages will enjoy it,� Vandermost said.

Fair organizers want the cattle drive to go out with a twist. For its final year, the route is going to change.

Instead of just having the cattle march around the Westside, they will parade past South Coast Plaza, over the 405 Freeway and around the L.A. Times building.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].