Three weeks of bunking in the hustle and hype of the Del Mar Fairgrounds ended Sunday, the last day for hundreds of employees and exhibitors at this year’s San Diego County Fair.
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Fair workers and presenters generally agreed the run that began June 5 was a success, although it will be a few days before fair officials release numbers showing whether attendance topped last summer, when 874,000 visitors passed through the turnstiles.
Shawn Jackson of Phoenix, Ariz., like many temporary employees, spent his nights in the jockeys’ quarters at the fairgrounds for the run of the fair. Each day he sold small bottles of Ghost Scream and Black Label hot sauce and other products from a booth in Bing Crosby Hall. He’s worked the county fair every summer for 12 years.
“The sales are good,” Jackson said. “Our chili garlic jam has a cult following. People will come to the fair, park, find us, buy this and leave.”
Jackson said the cool coastal climate has been fun, and a break from the desert heat of Arizona, but by Sunday he was ready to head home and see his family again.
Every fair worker is different. Some work events across the United States, some stick to California, some are just San Diego County teens who need a summer job.
“It’s a little like a village,” he said of life at the fairgrounds. “But it’s dusty, noisy, and there’s animals everywhere.”
Along the nearby midway, two young women were selling kettle corn at one of the fair’s three kettle corn booths. The small bag was $9.99, a medium was $11.99 and the large was $13.99. They were looking forward to a night of deep cleaning before loading their equipment up for the next event.
“The last few days were super busy, but not as busy as our opening day,” said employee Kaila Byrum, 21. It was her sixth summer selling kettle corn.
“I love working the fair,” Byrum said. “It’s great to see all the new faces, the old faces and the smiles. It’s the second-happiest place in California.”
(And yes, she said, the No. 1 happiest place is Disneyland.) Her partner in the kettle corn booth, Peyton Johnson, 19, also had worked the fair for several summers and said her mother first sold the sugary treat at the fair when she was 15.
Farther down the midway, near some carnival rides, Tim Haines of Pueblo, Colo., was looking for people to play the “bottle up” game. It consists of trying to use a stick with a string tied to a hoop at the end to lift a long-necked beer bottle to the upright position. Success wins a stuffed animal or a sports jersey.
“It’s all balance,” he said. “You have to keep it balanced and pull it up straight.”
Another temporary tenant of the jockeys’ quarters, Haines said he’s been eating meals at the fairgrounds “cook shack” that’s an option for employees, and a lot of dinners at a nearby Denny’s Restaurant. He, too, was ready to head home.
“We made it, thank God,” Haines said. “It’s been fun … a good fair.”
Workers were taking down some of the fencing in the cavernous “beef barn,” but plenty of animals remained lazing in pens.
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“We brought 104 head of cattle,” said Diana Cardey, whose family owns ranches near Oakdale and Turlock, an eight-hour drive from San Diego. She and about eight friends and relatives have been sleeping on cots in a room off the barn during their one-week stay.
“My husband already made one trip home today (with a truck carrying about half the livestock),” she said. “He’ll be back tomorrow.”
One of their shorthorn bulls was named “supreme champion bull” of the fair, a honor that comes with a premium prize that helps make it worth their trip. Her husband first participated in the fair in 1957, and they’ve been back “off and on” for 50 years.
“It’s been a wonderful week,” Cardey said.
Kids and their parents were still lining up for the petting farm and a chance to lay hands on some of the 40 or so animals on display, including goats, sheep, a small cow, a miniature donkey, a wallaby, a llama, a pot-bellied pig and more.
“(The animals) love it,” said petting farm manager Sarah Roitsch of Texas, who takes the menagerie to fairs across the country. “They never get tired of the people. They love the people and the people love them.”
After Del Mar, the animals’ next stop is the Orange County Fair that starts July 17.
Packing up at the end is “the most intense part of the fair” at the popular Design in Wood Show, said exhibit coordinator Jim Strawn of Bonita.
“We have four days,” Strawn said. “We pack it up and load it into a trailer. If we do it wrong, next year we pay.”
Woodworking is growing in popularity and several new clubs have formed, he said. This year there were 364 exhibits in the show, up 67% from the 232 exhibits last year.
Flowers are also popular. New blooms and fresh arrangements are set out each Tuesday and Friday of the run.
“When the growers come in it’s as serious as the Oscars,” said Parker McPhinney of Vista, an attendant at the floral show.
“You can hear a pin drop,” she said. “They bring buckets of cuttings, and they have three hours to choose what they display. Then they are judged before the fair opens.”
Sunday’s display included roughly 160 different dahlia blooms, 65 versions of roses, plenty of gladiolas and more.
Unlike some fair participants, McPhinney was in no hurry to see it end.
“It’s been great,” she said. “I have met so many people here. It gives me hope for humanity.”
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