Traffic, crowds are fairly manageable

Sue Doyle

COSTA MESA -- Although hundreds of thousands of cars have flocked to

the city for the Orange County Fair, officials have reported fewer

traffic problems than expected.

In fact, all has remained quiet since the fair began July 14, and many

hope the lull will continue. City officials and residents have learned

from years past exactly what works and what doesn’t.

“It’s been very smooth and quiet here. As far as traffic goes, we’re

very pleased. Not a lot of drunk driving arrests or anything,” Costa Mesa

Police Lt. Dale Birney said Monday.

Birney chalked up part of the success to more signs on the roads and

freeways directing people to parking. This also saves locals from

out-of-towners driving aimlessly through side streets, which often

happened in years past.

Fair visitors have also become wiser. Some, like Darryn Lowenstein,

carefully chose the days he would travel to the fair.

“I just thought that Monday would be less crowded,” Lowenstein said.

“It was easy to get in and there was not a lot of traffic.”

Lowenstein, a Huntington Beach resident, comfortably pushed her

daughter in a stroller through the fair’s large open spaces.

Parking was no problem, either. There are approximately 8,000 parking

spots at the fair and 10,000 more in the spillover lots at Costa Mesa

High School, Davis Education Center and Orange Coast College.

Approximately 100 attendants service the lots.

This year, employees must park at Orange Coast College and ride

shuttles to the fairgrounds to free up parking spaces for patrons, said

Mark Entner, traffic manager for the fair.

But some fair-goers weren’t concerned about feeling crunched by big

crowds.

“It didn’t matter to me. I knew I was going to a public place where

people would be, so I’d expect to wait,” said Augie Valdivia of Granada

Hills.

On Monday, as of 6 p.m., the fair counted 27,460 attendees. Saturday’s

attendance spiked to 78,039. While parking and crowding did not create

problems, authorities kept a close watch on alcohol consumption.

A policy at the fair allows patrons to purchase two alcoholic drinks

before 8 p.m. One drink at a time can be purchased between 8 and 11 p.m.,

said Becky Bailey-Findley, the fair’s general manager.

Still, that doesn’t stop people from hopping from vendor to vendor and

purchasing more drinks, which is something fair officials cannot control.

On Saturday, alcohol sales shut down at 10:30 p.m. at the

recommendation of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which has a

substation set up at the fair.

People were not getting out of hand, but officials were concerned

about the large crowds, said Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Demaio.

“You can’t gauge if it was successful or not,” Demaio said. “You just

go with your instincts.”