THE CROWD:Living the sheltered life, like Louis the llama

We arrived in Orange County in July, leaving city life an hour north on the San Diego Freeway. The year was 1992. America was in a recession. The glamour of the Reagan years was fading rapidly. A coin toss of sorts directed us to Newport Beach, away from everything we considered familiar about life in Los Angeles. More to the point ? everything familiar about life in total. Newport had always been associated with summer vacation, swimming in the bay, crossing the channel on the auto ferry and crashing into the kids in bumper cars at the Fun Zone. Was there life to be discovered year round in this vacation fantasy?

My wife had a college friend living in Newport with his wife and young family. We all bonded. We were adjusting, reaching out and trying to fit in. Actually, we were adrift. At least I was. My wife was comfortable from day one. She knew we had made a positive change.

In our first month in what is now known as the O.C., these new friends invited us to join them for a night at the Orange County Fair. The husband was a member of the Centennial Farm Board. What was that, I asked? I was told I would see when I got there. What mattered was the fact that our friend had a coveted parking pass and we were all invited to a special dinner under the stars and amid the crops.

Confession time. I had never been to a fair. Never. As in no fair experience in 39 years of life on the planet. I had never seen a movie about the fair, not even the classic “State Fair,” which I’ve now practically memorized. As long as I’m confessing in print, I had never been to a farm. The only crops I’d ever communed with were in the vegetable aisle at Vons. Yes, I’d seen them grow by the side of the highway. I’d even seen cows grazing in a meadow alongside the highway. Such a sheltered life.

We arrived at the O.C. Fair that July night and entered a time warp of Americana. The barrage of unfamiliar yet oh so familiar sights and sounds, images and odors, came over us instantly as we passed through the Arlington gate on the Costa Mesa property. Even though I had never been to a fair, I felt as if I had always been a part of fair life. This from a person who hates crowds, noise, clutter, and tank top shirts. Who knew?

Fourteen years later we have returned to the O.C. fair faithfully each year. There is comfort in the sameness of the setting. Like Christmas, the fair will come again next July and despite changes and additions, it will still be the fair. Walking around last Thursday evening, people watching, eating fried everything ? from artichokes to Oreos ? the sights, sounds and odors were once again intoxicating, if only for a brief moment.

We found a table by Heritage Stage and shared all our fried foods with close friends Sharon and Gary Grimes, Sharon McKinnon and some of our children who dared to be seen at the fair with mom and dad. Taylor Grimes, a Stanford sophomore; Jaime McKinnon, a Southern Methodist University sophomore; and Sabrina Cook, a junior at the University of Hawaii, all former Newport Harbor kids reconnected in the petting zoo with Louis the llama, Paul the pig, DoDo the deer and Charlie the chicken. Yes, the chicken actually likes to be petted.

With the last bite of barbecued corn on the cob, hypnotist Mark Yuzuik began his first show of the night on Heritage Stage. The show is exactly the same as in years’ past. I mean exactly. I’m surprised Mark doesn’t put himself in a trance it is so much familiar territory. Well, actually it’s not exactly the same. Last year it was performed at a different stage.

And the people are different ? I think. They still act the same. And another confession ? I always pretend, at some point, to be hypnotized in the audience and I drop my head onto the shoulder of my friends sitting next to me. Sooo corny. I promise I’ll do it again next year.

The all-Alaskan Racing Pigs remain a big draw. So are the baby pigs ? born every year in the pen on the Centennial Farm grounds. The corn still grows as high as an elephant’s eye. And the elephants still go round in circles offering rides for peanuts. Actually, I think the rides cost six bucks.

You can still see some very big name stars in the Pacific Amphitheater. I’ll bet Bill Cosby and Cindy Lauper never thought they’d be on the fair circuit. Acrobats fly through the air on the Plaza Arts stage.

Flower demonstrations take place in the Silo Building, poultry judging is in the animal tent, and jewelry cleaner and hammocks are being sold in the products building.

It’s all happening at the fair ? the center of O.C. social life in July ? then, now, possibly always.