Merced County Fair a Rocking Success
By Diane Booth Conway,
Merced County Fair Communications & Marketing Director

Six days of beautiful summer weather with warm days and breezy evenings, and a new discount admission tickets offer, played a big role in getting the community to come out to the 2008 Merced County Fair.

The 2008 Merced County Fair is a wrap but the 117th event will go down as a rocking success – it was a bigger entertainment value than ever, it was a huge showcase of the community’s talents and the weather was awesome.

“The unaudited 2008 Fair attendance looks to be even with the 2007 Fair, which was 79,118,” said the fair’s CEO, Robin Hauck. The figure is for paid and unpaid fair admissions.

“It was an excellent fair with quality livestock, exhibits and entertainment. We’re happy that a lot of people came out to see how much fun it was,” said Hauck, adding, “We were really fortunate that the weather was so comfortable.”

For the first time, the fair sold discount general admission tickets that cost $6, a $2 savings off the regular $8 general admission price. The tickets were good any day of the fair. The bargain admission tickets and the discounted carnival tickets were sold before the fair started and were very popular with fairgoers, Hauck said.  

Although many of the venues from the Grandstand to the Outdoor Theatre and the Carnival, Midway and Kiddieland were often crowded, fairgoers were well-behaved and there were no incidents reported at the fairgrounds. According to the fair’s chief of security, Richard St. Marie, there were no serious problems at the fair – everything went smoothly even though there were thousands of people on the fairgrounds through the fair’s six-day run.

Here are some of the fun numbers from the “Come Rock With the Flock” fair (these stats are through Saturday, July 19):

10 hours – the time it takes a Butler Amusements crew to assemble the “Big Wheel” Ferris Wheel. The popular ride gives passengers a birds-eye view of the fairgrounds, holds up to 132 passengers and takes about 6 1/2 hours to dismantle.

5,000 scoops of gelato – Italian ice cream served up in cones and bowls at Colossal Gelato. The Paso Robles business poured more than 110 gallons of milk to make about 2,000 pounds of the creamy dessert and went through more than 1,200 waffle cones. Favorite flavors included Birthday Cake, Tiramisu, Chocolate and Strawberry.

425 pounds of granulated sugar – used to make cotton candy at Rawlings Concessions. The Modesto stand sold more cotton candy than any other item (pink was the preferred color over blue) but they also sold a lot of caramel and red candy apples – about 700.

39,600 pounds of ice – delivered by Jack Frost Ice to concessions, the Director’s Lounge and other locations to keep everything icy and chilled.

900 pounds of popcorn – popped at the Kettle Corn booth run by DS Concessions of Fresno, across from the Outdoor Theatre.

1,900 cinnamon rolls – devoured by fairgoers at JP’s Old West Cinnamon Rolls of Pismo Beach. Several varieties were on the menu but the rolls topped with frosting are the most popular.

70 giant stuffed animals – won by kids of all ages at “The Big Race,” game at the Midway. Winners of the water race game, based in Manteca, took home armloads of prizes including the 4-foot tall teddy bears, “I love you” bears, hippos and frogs.

Prizes by the dozens – including plastic hand clappers, lollipops, Spider Man masks, Superman horns and rings and other Super Hero goodies such as T-shirts, pens and notepads – were given away by the Livestock Office crew during Sunday’s annual trivia contest. This year’s theme was “Super Heroes.”

102 entries – submitted by exhibitors in the “Day of” cooking contests. Fairgoers brought a homemade recipe to the fair to be entered and judged and they got into the fair free that day. Categories included “Shepherd’s Pie,” “Salsa,” “Sweet Potato Pie” and “Chocolate Passion.”

1,000 plus surveys – conducted. Fairgoers participated in a survey by Wyndham Resort Properties in partnership with the fair. Fairgoers were asked a short list of questions and were entered in a drawing to win prizes including a two-night stay at the winner’s choice of WorldMark Resorts in Angel’s Camp or the Marina Dunes in Monterey. They could also spin a wheel to win trips to Las Vegas, Disneyland and a Baja cruise.

22 turkey races – run during the six-day fair. “Wild West Turkey Stampede Races” featured Tom Turkeys racing around a track, chasing after a remote control truck filled with turkey chow. 65 pounds – is how much “Turkules,” the race’s mascot turkey weighs.

3,000 milkshakes – served to smiling faces at the 4-H Milk Bar, in the Livestock area. The fundraiser booth purveys all things dairy including milk and ice cream bars but milkshakes are their No. 1 seller. At this year’s fair, chocolate shakes were the top choice over vanilla.

400 gallons of fresh-squeezed lemonade – poured and served up at Clint’s Lemonade, of Pasco, Wash., the stand that looks like a giant lemon, next to the Livestock Office.

800 ears of roasted corn – grilled over a wood fire and sold at All American Wild West Barbecue of Fresno. The corn-on-the-cob, barbecued racks of ribs and tri-tip sandwiches are the concession’s most popular menu items.

600 curious fairgoers – slapped down 50 cents for kids and $1 for adults to check out the 13-foot alligator named “Big Al,” over by the Grandstand. “Big Al” is a Mississippi or pike-headed gator, tipping the scales at 1,200 pounds and lists his age as 65 years – this senior gator winters in Florida, where else?

For information, call the fair office at 722-1507 or email to Info@MercedCountyFair.com or fax at 722-3773. Visit the 2008 Merced County Fair’s award-winning website, www.MercedCountyFair.com

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