{"id":12352,"date":"2018-07-18T00:25:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T07:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noelophile.com\/?p=12352"},"modified":"2018-07-17T20:37:27","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T03:37:27","slug":"inner-farmers-food-and-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/?p=12352","title":{"rendered":"“Inner Farmers”, Food and Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Noella Noelophile\u00ae<\/h6>\n
\"Lighted<\/a><\/h6>\n

Summertime and the Orange County Fair<\/a> just go together.<\/p>\n

And they have, for 128 years and counting.<\/p>\n

The Orange County Fair, in Costa Mesa, opened last Friday, July 13th and will be running from now through Sunday, August 12th.\u00a0 And yes, this is Edition #128 of the Fair, which started in 1890 as a horse race and a few exhibits in Santa Ana, according to the Fair’s history page.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Orange<\/a><\/p>\n

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, the Fair opens today at noon and runs through midnight–and the same on Thursday and Friday.\u00a0 If you’re planning a weekend Orange County Fair visit, their gates open at 11, Saturday and Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n

And as usual, you’re in for a great time.<\/p>\n

Themed “Free Your Inner Farmer”, the Fair has more than we could see in just one visit.\u00a0 While the Peking Acrobats and the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs are favorites, we’ll be catching those next time.\u00a0 Same goes for the decorated tables in Home Arts, which we always love.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there are contests, parades, performances, livestock, cooking and craft demonstrations…<\/p>\n

…And, no one would want to miss…<\/p>\n

\"Sow<\/a><\/p>\n

…the nursery.\u00a0 These babies were just about a week old last weekend.<\/p>\n

There’s also another sow who looks to be expecting her litter very shortly, so you may just get to see even younger piglets than these.<\/p>\n

\"black-and-white<\/a><\/p>\n

“He’s got a heart on his head!” exclaimed one young fairgoer in the livestock area.\u00a0 And this adorable little calf certainly did–and seemed to have no problem greeting his adoring public!<\/p>\n

We never do want to miss Fine Arts or Home Arts.\u00a0 And I never envy the judges their tasks of choosing the best exhibitor.\u00a0 People are so talented!<\/p>\n

Be sure NOT to miss the decorated cakes in Home Arts.\u00a0 You will get a chuckle–or maybe be inspired for your next creative project.\u00a0 And the woodworking is breathtaking, especially that butcher-block chess piece.\u00a0 The miniatures, in another area, remind me of how much I wanted a dollhouse like that, several decades ago!<\/p>\n

\"Selfie<\/a><\/p>\n

Wow, this “selfie quilt” is one you can actually touch, if your hands are clean!\u00a0 It’s hanging on the wall at Home Arts, as well. \u00a0 (After innumerable fairs and signs that politely request that I keep my hands to myself, that was certainly a strange feeling!)<\/p>\n

Fireworks happen at 8:30 every evening of the Orange County Fair, and the tribute bands are fantastic!\u00a0 I’m disappointed to miss “Kenny Metcalf as Elton<\/a>“, who’s scheduled for this evening (when we have work commitments, of course!).\u00a0 But YOU might be able to go, and it’s well worth it.\u00a0 He puts together a fantastic multimedia show and seems to have a great time doing it.\u00a0 Showtime is just after the fireworks, in The Hangar.<\/p>\n

(One warning: while the shows in The Hangar are excellent, the acoustics, off those hard cement surfaces, are such that you may want to bring earplugs!\u00a0 Our first time at The Hangar, we had to walk out, which we rarely do, even though the show was excellent.\u00a0 The volume and bounceback literally hurt our ears!\u00a0 After that, we wore earplugs and could still hear every note without the pain.)<\/p>\n

Other shows, if you can’t go tonight?\u00a0 Well, the Amphitheatre has a full concert schedule during the Fair, and the Hangar will be hosting nightly tribute bands, including “Freedom”, which is a George Michael tribute band, and “Wild Child – A Jim Morrison Celebration”.\u00a0 Here’s the link for the tribute-band concert schedule<\/a>, and for the shows at the Pacific Amphitheatre.<\/a><\/p>\n

\""Farm<\/a><\/p>\n

And what would the Fair be without rides and crazy Fair food?\u00a0 Sorry, we are NOT going to try fried frog legs.\u00a0 Or chocolate bacon.\u00a0 But those curly fries and hand-dipped ice cream bars, well–everyone’s got to have a weakness, don’t you agree?<\/p>\n

The 128th Orange County Fair runs Wednesday through Sundays at 88 Fair Drive, in Costa Mesa.\u00a0 Here are their\u00a0 maps and directions<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Noella Noelophile\u00ae Summertime and the Orange County Fair just go together. And they have, for 128 years and counting. The Orange County Fair, in Costa Mesa, opened last Friday, July 13th and will be running from now through Sunday, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[1768,1767,1648,1647,1765,1766],"class_list":["post-12352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-the-year","tag-138th-orange-county-fair","tag-costa-mesa","tag-oc-fair","tag-orange-county-fair","tag-pacific-amphitheatre","tag-the-hangar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12352"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12367,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12352\/revisions\/12367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}