The World’s Fair, Chicago, 1893, is my second favorite fair, next to this year’s Orange County Fair.
A fair is entertainment and enjoyment. It also educates and introduces. In 1893, Chicago architecture was forever influenced. Nicola Tesla illuminated an exhibit to bring alternating current, and the ability to transmit electricity over distances. The Original Ferris Wheel was 264 feet high. The world saw Juicy Fruit Gum, Quaker Oats, Shredded Wheat and the hamburger for the first time.
Words like “community” are necessary in the lexicon of sustainability. According to Steve Beazley, its president and CEO, the OC Fair, the eighth-largest in the country, is a fun story, rooted in community, secure in values. The OC Fair is an expression of community at its best when it mirrors us.
The OC Fair upholds traditions and introduces new attractions. Traditions typically have food as a component of community. Some may think the fried food at the OC Fair represents experiments gone terribly wrong, and many others will be entertained by Chicken Charlie’s creation of deep fried Kool-Aid. Me, I notice the 55-gallon drums that the used oil is transferred to.
Not too long ago, the OC Fair had to pay someone to come in and dispose of the used oil. Now it is a commodity that a company pays to come pick up and use in the creation of biofuels.
For a green experience, heed the call, go left young man. Past the entrance, go left into Centennial Farm, a year-round working farm that 800,000 kids experience annually. One does not need to read it in a book, they can come to the OC Fair to experience local agriculture and learn that food does not come from the Ralph’s bush.
A family or a date can view the windmill that Jerome Hoban, VP of operations, shepherded – a great green project. Not long ago, a group of Boeing volunteers hunted for replacement parts to restore the vintage display piece that is now a fully functional air motor, demonstrating how wind power works.
You can tour Mesa Water District’s demonstration of their Waterwise Garden. You can participate in a composting workshop. I think taking succulents, that are easily propagated, and planting them in ReUSe items such as old teacups, a used boot, or a former egg carton, is an exercise in problem-solving skills. You can get some great DIY tips and you can also enter your homegrown lemons, vegetables and succulents into contests to win ribbons.
Next you can stroll through the Crafters Village. It is shaded and comfortable. Here you can observe a master blowing glass. You can interact with the gal throwing pottery.
Go left and enjoy.
Another sustainable tradition is music. The OC Fair embraces the keenly classic, like Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby or BB King. It is cutting edge with Big Time Rush and Selena Gomez. Amphitheater sales are up over last year.
The OC Fair is sustainable because it is an economic engine for our community, for hotels and for restaurants. The OC Fair creates 1,200 jobs for students, teachers and those in transition. When the OC Fair hires local, many can bike or walk to work.
Many other elements of operating a fair in a green and sustainable way are achieved through best practices. On paper, it sounds easy to achieve state mandates of diverting 50 percent of trash from landfills. However, it takes efficiency and reliable processes to feed more than 1 million people, and still meet that requirement. Energy use has real cost-saving potential. Vendor lights go on no earlier than 7 p.m., and parking lot lights are lowered during off hours.
Mesa Water District performed a water audit that identified leaky toilets and provided irrigation solutions to yield meaningful water conservation savings. Remember, the Fairgrounds is a year-round facility and needs flat flex space, so there is lots of hardscape. When the Main Mall is redeveloped, just outside the new Hanger building, the existing buildings will have their façades refreshed. The new exterior will have earth walls, a living wall to soften the existing buildings, maybe for next year’s OC Fair.
Mostly, I enjoyed experiencing and observing family. My own, existing families and the romance of dates. Wondering hopefully, perhaps some future family units will be created. I know my kids will never forget watching their mother beat their father in the “squirt water to blow up a balloon game,” twice. The plush toy may go, but not the sustainable memory.
Please post your favorite green OC Fair story in Comments.
