Monday, May 8, 2017 (3:44 pm)

Imaginology rocked STEAM activities

Almost 36,000 people attended Imaginology, the free three-day celebration of imagination and learning, at OC Fair & Event Center last weekend.

The festival focused on STEAM activities: science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The family-friendly event featured hundreds of hands-on workshops, shows and exhibits for youth from preschool through high school.

As an added bonus at this year’s Imaginology, one of Centennial Farm’s ewes gave birth to two lambs during the event – a real-life lesson in biology. 

The farm also hosted milking demonstrations, blacksmithing, planting activities and more science in action.

There was live entertainment, food and many make-and-take projects for kids to bring home. Attendees could participate in aerial fitness classes, pet pythons, see horse vaulting demonstrations, enter robotics competitions and play chess with kid-sized game pieces.

 “Families, classes and kids of all ages had an amazing time,” said OC Fair & Event Center’s VP of Business Development Michele Richards. “The fun was really all about learning about STEAM subjects and exposing everyone to the possibilities of careers for these budding engineers, artists and rocket scientists. We want to show them that their dreams can come true.”

Imaginology also hosts student competitions in categories including crafts, fiber arts, fine arts, photography, poetry, video, science and engineering. This year, more than 3,000 students entered the contests and their entries were displayed at Imaginology. A full list of winners will be published soon on ocfair.com/steam.

This is the 38^th year that OC Fair & Event Center has hosted a community event aimed at providing fun, hands-on learning experiences for students of all ages.  The long-running Youth Expo was rebranded as Imaginology in 2014 and the focus was shifted to STEAM.

The free event is underwritten by OC Fair & Event Center and sponsors and also offers 4H and FFA students the opportunity to sharpen their skills with early competitions and get ready to show their animals at the 2017 OC Fair, July 14-Aug. 13.

For more information, visit ocfair.com/steam.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016 (6:45 pm)

Every year during the OC Fair, we host a nightly show in Main Mall and at The Hangar.

This year, that show can include photos of YOU!

During the 2018 OC Fair, our Main Mall show will highlight our theme, “Free Your Inner Farmer.” To be included, share photos of you, friends and family freeing your inner farmer by doing things like working in the garden, planting crops, cooking your harvest, working with farm animals, or even just mowing the front lawn! 

Here’s how to submit:

Facebook: Tag OC Fair and use #freeyourinnerfarmer

Instagram: Tag @oc_fair and use #freeyourinnerfarmer

Twitter: Mention @ocfair and use #freeyourinnerfarmer

Snapchat: Send a snap to @ocfair

Sharing through social media requires us to be able to see the photo, so make sure your privacy settings are set to public. 

OR, submit online: Go to wetransfer.com and upload your photo. From wetransfer.com, email to freeyourinnerfarmer@ocfair.com, and make sure to include your name, the city in which you live, and a description of your image. Please do not directly email your image to the address mentioned as we cannot guarantee receipt through our spam filter. 

The fine print: Photos and videos shared with us should be highest resolution possible. By  submitting a photo via any of the instructions above, you are giving OC Fair & Event Center permission to use the image in the nightly show and in any related marketing efforts. Submitting a photo does not guarantee inclusion in the nightly show. 

Friday, May 5, 2017 (3:45 pm)

Imaginology judge is a community arts leader

Trinh Mai is not just a judge for Imaginology, she’s also an arts advocate, educator and community leader.

Through Cal State Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) program, which helps bring art to low-income communities, Mai works with Heninger Village Senior Apartments in Santa Ana to help facilitate workshops that focus on sharing residents’ stories through visual arts.

The goal of the workshops is to help residents to not just create art, but to help heal them as well. 

“My aim has been to help them get involved outside of their environment, since the elders are often isolated,” Mai said.

Since starting in February 2016, Mai has been able to get her students’ work displayed at the Bowers Museum, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Grand Central Art Center and, most recently, Coastline Gallery in Newport Beach. 

Through Community Engagement, a nonprofit that is funding Mai’s residency, GCAC also provides artists-in-residents with housing, studio space and support.

Mai was also a featured artist in The Artist Odyssey’s award winning documentary Honoring Life: The Work of Trinh Mai. The film went on to be the Audience Choice Award winner for Best Short Film at the 2016 Viet Film Festival in Orange.

With the help of Mai’s influence, some of the “Villagers” have started taking life drawing lessons at Q Salon in Santa Ana. Even some of their family members have taken inspiration from Mai.

Parker Cupa, 8, is the son of one of the villagers, and he had a painting on display at Imaginology.

“It’s amazing how they’ve been growing and are now so excited about getting involved in the art scene,” Mai said.

Imaginology is an annual educational and entertainment event focusing on activities related to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math held at OC Fair & Event Center.

Visit ocfair.com/steam for more information.

Monday, May 1, 2017 (3:44 pm)

New Program Gives Underserved Kids a Trip To The Fair

We’re launching a great new community giveback program at this year’s fair: OC Fair Kids Club. In its first year, the goal is to provide a free fair experience and bus transportation for 1,000 underserved children. The young fairgoers from local Title 1 afterschool and summer programs will also receive carnival coupons and a gift card for food and beverages.

“We are so excited to offer this program to help young people who would normally not be able to afford a trip to the fair,” said OC Fair & Event Center CEO Kathy Kramer. “Wewant to help these children enjoy the best event of the summer and can’t wait to provide them with a memorable fair experience.”

OC Fair Kids Club joins service programs that include We Care Wednesdays, serving local nonprofits, and Friends of the Fair, a special annual event for disabled fairgoers. These initiatives were winners of the Western Fair Association’s Merrill Award for industry excellence in 2016.

For more information about these community programs, or to submit an application for your Title 1 program (minimum 50 participants, maximum of 70 including chaperones) to be a part of OC Kids Club, contact ocfinfo@ocfair.com.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 (3:29 pm)

Kathy Kramer: Looking toward the Fair

Our 2016 OC Fair television commercial not only caught the eye of our Fairgoers, won the prestigious ADDY award given by the American Advertising Federation. It’s a great honor to be recognized in the first level of a three-tiered national contest with over 40,000 entries, so congratulations team on that accolade.

Our bill SB741 just passed the requirement to being print for 30 days prior to being heard for the policy committee. Gonsalves & Sons continue to work with key stakeholders for support of this bill.

Staff is in full production mode focusing on delivering Imaginology, which happens in less than 30 days, and the OC Fair, which opens in exactly 113 days.

I’d like to share some highlights of how our summer concert series is  shaping up for this OC Fair. We have 14 shows already on sale, including two pre-fair performances, Gabriel Iglesias, aka, Fluffy, and Steve Miller Band performing with Peter Frampton are racing towards a sellout. Kenny Loggins and the B-52s featured in the Pacific Symphony are selling very well. We have a 12 percent increase in the number of concert tickets sold year-to-date over 2016, and a 30 percent increase in gross revenue year-to-date over 2016.

One of our goals for this year’s OC Fair was to expand the Hispanic programming. I’m excited to share a couple of new initiatives to 10 support this goal. We added another performance, Mariachis Sol de Mexico on August 6. There now will be two performances in The Hangar, one at 1:30 p.m. and the other at 6:30 p.m. Sol, for short, has been performing here for the past seven years, and they generally sell out. So we felt this was a perfect opportunity to expand this entertainment.

Another new initiative this year is the 19 partnership with the organizers of the Mariachi Youth Nationals and Summer Institute. This event brings around 150 to 175 mariachi students from around the world, and I do mean “around the world,” if you go to their website, quite impressed with the countries that are interested, they come together with some of the best professional mariachis in the country.

This year the winners from the competition have been invited to perform on stage August 6th with Sol. The organizers of the Youth Mariachi Nationals and Summer Institute are thrilled to have their students be part of the OC Fair. We are going to continue to work with them to develop 8 additional programming next year to include having 9 their competition here on that Saturday before. 10 So we are very excited about that partnership and 11 connecting with them.