Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/oc-fairgrounds/)
Efforts to feed the hungry in Orange County still wage on even as more people begin to return to work following months of business closures forced by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The cancellation — expected for weeks as the 150-acre fairgrounds property had all but closed its facilities to the public and other county fairs up and down the state already cancelled theirs — was made official by the OC Fair and Events Center Board of Directors at their Monday special meeting.
The OC Fair is getting travel trailers and is looking at three buildings on its 150-acre state property in Costa Mesa for potential emergency housing and medical services, as county officials try to find ways to stretch out hospital capacity for coronavirus response.
Fair Board directors at their first nighttime meeting on Thursday didn’t vote to approve any ticket price hikes at the fair gates for this summer, following public backlash and uncertainty by some directors that they had enough information to make such a decision.
Potential admission price hikes come as some community members ask: does the OC fair really reflect Orange County? Or is it losing its way as a callback to the county’s farming origins and drifting instead toward a more Disneyland-like business venture focused on vendor contracts, concerts, and being a major event venue?
The struggling Orange County Marketplace swap meet, where hundreds of mom-and-pop vendors set up shop on the county fairgrounds on the weekends, wants an annual $600,000 from the Fair Board to cope with a longtime decline in business and attendance.
OC fairgrounds board members will scrutinize contracts and employee separation agreements and ensure all board members receive future audits.
OC Fair and Event Center CEO Kathy Kramer faces questions from state auditors about a potentially illegal $75,000 separation agreement as well as a public showdown with her Finance VP in front of board members in public session. Since Kramer was hired in 2015, the fairgrounds have gone through four VPs of finance.
Voice of OC has published a series in our opinion section of some of Orange County’s most notable veterans who received the highest honors the U.S. military bestows on soldiers for their heroic actions in combat. Plaques honoring these individuals are showcased at Heroes Hall at the Orange County Fairgrounds.
This Veterans Day Voice of OC is publishing the most recent plaques on display at Heroes Hall honoring some of Orange County’s most decorated veterans. The most recent plaque was erected to honor the 84 men who were killed when the plane transporting them to Viet Nam crashed into Loma Ridge after take off from El Toro Marine Air Station on June 25, 1965.