County Fair Folds Its Tent With Record ’88 Turnout

As the 10-day Orange County Fair drew to a close Sunday, an estimated 38,700 people turned out for a last look as it completed another record-setting year.

At 6 p.m. Sunday, the total attendance reported was 474,553, “well ahead of last year’s,” which was 472,243, fair spokesman Donald Escalante said.

At least 11,000 more people were expected to enter from 6 p.m. Sunday to closing at midnight to shop for last-minute bargains or see the 9 p.m. Elvin Bishop rock show, Escalante said.

“It has been a busy year,” he said.

He added that gate receipts for the 10-day run will not be known until today.

Parking Lots Opened

Escalante said that on Saturday, which is traditionally the heaviest attendance day of the fair, auxiliary parking lots had to be opened at Orange Coast College and at a nearby high school.

Escalante attributed the record crowd to expanded hours. This year the fair opened at 10 a.m. each day; previously it opened at noon on weekdays and 10 a.m. only on weekends.

As in years past, the fair created parking problems. A man was arrested for refusing to pay the $2 parking fee and pulling a realistic toy gun and pointing it at a parking attendant.

Then two cars collided in the fairgrounds parking lot hard enough to overturn one of them and send its driver to a hospital with minor injuries.

And a nearby resident was arrested on suspicion of assault after she allegedly pulled a gun on a rowdy teen-ager whose group refused to be quiet or leave the area.