Fairgrounds extends swap meet contract
The Orange County Fair Board approved a contract this week with the fairgrounds’ longtime swap meet operator, a move that will maintain the weekend event in Costa Mesa for years to come.
The board approved an agreement with Tel Phil Enterprises, owner of the Orange County Market Place, that will last for 10 years, with an option for 10 more. The state-owned fairgrounds would receive an estimated $43.7 million in rent from Tel Phil over 20 years.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for having the vision and the foresight for allowing us to continue what, I think, has been a very worthwhile endeavor for not only this organization and my company, but for the [fairgrounds] as well,” Jeff Teller, president of Tel Phil, told the Fair Board on Thursday.
The Market Place has been a fairgrounds’ institution since 1969, when it was called “Trash and Treasures.”
In recent years, amid the contested but ultimately failed fairgrounds sale attempt, the relationship between Tel Phil and the board turned hostile.
In September 2011, following declines in rented vendor spaces and attendance, the Fair Board voted to evict the swap meet, a move Teller compared to a “terrorist threat.”
“We will do whatever we need to do to protect our business interests,” Teller said at time, alleging that it was retaliatory move in reaction to his public opposition to the fairgrounds sale attempt.
The move gave Tel Phil an 18-month eviction notice, though by that November, the board reversed its decision, voting to reverse the notice it issued two months before.
By November 2013, after months of negotiation, the relationship was in calmer waters, with the board approving financial terms and conditions with Tel Phil.
On Thursday, Teller called the Market Place a great opportunity for small independent businesses who can start the “entrepreneurial American dream.”
“Knowing that we have this time now, to be able to continue this, I couldn’t be happier,” Teller said.
Tel Phil’s agreement next faces a final approval from the Division of Fairs and Expositions, which is part of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, according to a Tel Phil news release.
